How do you increase the charge on your smartphone battery? You might think charging it while you're asleep to regularly hit 100 percent is beneficial, but that actually harms your battery and shortens its life.
Here's the truth about maintaining smartphone batteries—and why you shouldn't charge it overnight.
How Is Battery Life Expectancy Determined?
You want your tech to be usable for as long as possible; warranties are invalid if you fiddle with your device. Getting the most out of your battery is increasingly important as most people are uncomfortable changing the default battery.
Rechargeable batteries slowly lose capacity over time (even if you don't use them). You'll notice a capacity drop after the first year of regular use. For many, getting through a whole day on a single charge is impossible beyond the two-year mark.
Manufacturers specify the life expectancy of smartphones through "battery charge cycles." A charge cycle is defined as charging the battery from 0 to 100 percent and then discharged back down to 0 percent. The number of expected charge cycles will tell you how many full cycles the battery can handle before it noticeably starts to lose capacity.
Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) batteries are used in the majority of rechargeable tech. You can find some form of Lithium-Ion batteries in smartphones, vaporizers, laptops, Teslas, and even chainsaws.
The most popular Li-Ion battery is the 18650. This can take between 300 and 500 full charge cycles before being reduced to roughly 75 percent capacity. That's when major flaws start developing.
How To Look After Your Smartphone Battery
So, how do you look after your device battery? You might have already got into some bad habits when charging your phone, like plugging it in while you sleep. Fortunately, it doesn't take much time and effort to correct these practices.
Why Shouldn't You Charge Your Phone Overnight?
Unplug your phone when you go to bed and charge it after you wake up. This might be during your morning routine, while you're at work, or watching TV in the evening.
It might take an hour to so to charge your device, but leaving it plugged in while you're asleep means it's connected to the charger for much longer.
No, your phone battery can't overcharge. Manufacturers put safeguards in place to prevent this. However, when you charge to 100 percent, it adds "trickle charge," i.e., enough extra energy to compensate for what your device uses by default. By charging to 100 percent and keeping it plugged in, you're overusing your battery, forcing it to expend energy when it needn't.
This is on top of the fact that, if you leave it plugged in overnight, you'll certainly go above the recommended 80 percent charge.
