Before you charge your iPhone again today, hold that thought. You could be making one of these six common charging mistakes that aren’t just resulting in a phone that possibly charges slower and less efficiently, but could actually be messing with your phone in more drastic ways, including slowly killing your battery.
Since your phone battery is the heart of your device and necessary to keep it ticking, good phone habits will help prolong the health of your battery. If you’re making any of these six iPhone charging mistakes, it’s time to stop. Changing the way you charge your device will keep you on track toward owning your phone for longer and saving you money (and who wouldn’t want that?).
Charging in Extreme Temperatures
Charging your phone in direct sunlight during a heatwave or charging your phone in the car while snow is swirling outside your window are both recipes for battery disaster. Your phone’s battery is very sensitive to extreme temperatures, whether that means hot or cold. Always and only charge your device in a room-temperature setting to be safe.
Using Worn-Out Accessories
As much as you hate spending more money on more accessories for your iPhone, if the ones you are using are flimsy and worn, you could be creating a risky situation for yourself, while also using charging accessories that don’t work as effectively and can ruin your battery.
Using Your Phone While It Charges
Try to stay off of your phone while it’s charging. When you use it and it’s already generating heat from charging, you are contributing more heat to your device. Heat is death to an iPhone battery — committing to staying off of your phone can help avoid this potential problem.
Not Using Apple-Certified Chargers
While you needn’t purchase an Apple charger for your iPhone, it is important to use an Apple-certified charger that is capable of delivering the exact charge your phone requires — nothing less and nothing too speedy that can overheat your device.
Relying on Wireless Charging
Charging your phone in a wireless charger once in a while is fine — nothing is likely to happen. But because many wireless chargers are slower than a cable, you may find yourself needing to charge your phone more often because your wireless charger simply isn’t delivering what you need.
Storing a Device Fully Charged
The old rule still applies: if you are planning on storing your phone for more than a few weeks, always store it with a 50 percent charge — not fully charged.
