Do you remember the time when you’d be able to go for days without charging your phone, and you’d even leave it at home sometimes because you weren’t surgically attached to it?
Halcyon days.
These days, most of us are glued to our phones because of work, socialising, and the irresistible allure of the NYT word games. Which of course means that we need to charge our phones more often, and while many of us will opt for overnight charging, tech experts actually advise against it.
Tech Advisor explained: “If you charge overnight, you are guaranteed to miss when the phone exceeds the magic 80% mark that is best for extended long-term life.
“While most modern smartphones have built-in sensors to shut off charging when they hit 100%, if still turned on they will lose a small amount of battery while idle.”
Instead, the tech experts recommend charging during the day to protect both your phone battery.
Additionally, when you do charge your phone, waiting until the battery trickles all the way down below 5% is actually really bad for the battery.
PCMag said: “Running a phone until it’s dead—a full discharge—is not the way to go with modern lithium-ion batteries. Try not to let it get close to 0%. That wears out a lithium-ion battery faster than normal. Partial discharge is the way to go.”
The experts at PCMag recommended that the phone is plugged in before it enters low-power mode which on iOS is at 20%. They added that phones should be plugged in at around 30-40%
Ideally, your phone battery should always be between 30% and 80% charged.
Finally, the London Fire Brigade said: “Don’t leave items continuously on charge after the charge cycle is complete... Never cover chargers or charging devices – that includes using your laptop power lead in bed.”
Noted.
