You’ve been charging your smartphone wrong

Do you know how to keep your smartphone’s battery healthy?


BEAM Team

4 Jan, 2018

You’ve been charging your smartphone wrong | BEAMSTART News

- From our Sponsors -

You may have been hastening the death of your phone’s battery with your charging habits.

Charging to 100%, or overnight? Fully discharging before plugging in? These common practices can shorten the usable life of your battery, according to Cadex, a company that offers devices that test smartphone batteries, among others.

Related: Join Entrepreneurs and Investors at Entrepreneurs Retreat 2018

How to best extend the life of batteries has been a prime topic since Apple disclosed last month that it was slowing down iPhones with degraded batteries to prevent the devices from shutting down unexpectedly.

It turns out that if you want to delay having to replace your battery or buy a new phone, there are specific percentage levels within which you should keep your phone’s battery.

Here’s how to – and how not to – charge your phone.


The best way to charge your phone is a little at a time, whenever you have a chance.

Just plug it in whenever you can, even if it’s for a few minutes, and you’ll be fine.

“Partial charges cause no harm,” according to Battery University.


Don’t fully discharge your phone before plugging it in.

Battery University says that so-called deep discharges – when you use your phone until only a small portion of its battery life is left – wear down batteries.

Samsung echoes that advice in a blog post offering tips on how to extend your phone’s battery life.


Try to keep your battery’s charge level between 65% and 75%.

According to Battery University, the lithium-ion battery in your smartphone will last longest if you keep it 65% to 75% charged at all times.

Clearly, it’s impractical to always keep your phone charge between those levels – but at least you know what’s ideal.


If you can’t do that, shoot for keeping its charge level between 45% and 75%.

The second-best charge range for batteries inside smartphones is 45% to 75% – probably a lot more realistic for most people on a day-to-day basis than 65% to 75%.

You could even develop a daily routine to plug in your phone at particular times to keep its charge within those levels.

But you have some wiggle room. If you typically keep your phone’s charge level between 25% and 75%, you most likely won’t cause too much long-term damage.


Never fully charge your battery — and particularly not from a low charge level.

Charging your phone’s battery to 100% from a low 25% – or pretty much any amount – can reduce its capacity and shorten its lifespan.

According to Battery University, lithium-ion batteries do “not need to be fully charged, nor is it desirable to do so.”

“In fact, it is better not to fully charge,” it says, “because a high voltage stresses the battery” and wears it out in the long run.


You probably shouldn’t charge your phone overnight.

I’ve seen a lot of debate about the effects of charging your smartphone overnight.

But if charging to 100% causes the most damage to a phone battery’s lifespan, you should probably cut it out.


And unplug your phone once it reaches 100%.


Author Info:
This article was first published by Antonio Villas-Boas on Business Insider US


Related:

- From our Sponsors -

Latest Jobs

Founding Product Designer

AviaryAI

New York,

Full Time

USD 80000 — USD 115000 yearly

Mid Market Account Executive

Prodigal

California,

Full Time

USD 200000 — USD 280000 yearly

Frontend Engineering Intern

vly.ai

California,

Internship

USD 5200 — USD 8700 yearly

Summer Software Engineering Intern (now and Summer 2026)

Browser Use

California,

Internship

USD 6000 — USD 16000 yearly

Account Executive/GTM

Solve Intelligence

England,

Full Time

USD 100000 — USD 200000 yearly

ML Research Engineer

Zoa Research

New York,

Full Time

USD 150000 — USD 300000 yearly

Founding Engineer

Zaymo

Utah,

Full Time

USD 80000 — USD 180000 yearly

Founding Engineer

Lendtable

New York,

Full Time

USD 160000 — USD 190000 yearly

Computer Vision Internship/Co-Op Fall 2025

Yondu

California,

Internship

USD 9000 — USD 15000 yearly

Product Engineer

Adaptyv

Vaud,

Full Time

Salary Undisclosed

BEAMSTART is a hub for everything Startups, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation. Connect with a global community of people, and stay updated with the latest startup jobs, news, and discussions.

 
© 2016 - 2025 BEAMSTART. All Rights Reserved (Legal).