3 Charging Habits Tech Experts Say Are Ruining Your iPhone

Charging your phone should be one of those actions that you never have to think about, right? You should be able to plug in your phone, let your charger handle the rest, and come back to find a fully charged, more efficient device that can last hours and hours until it needs another charge. But that isn’t always the case. Perhaps you already have a few great tech habits established that keep your phone running its best. Maybe that even includes swapping cheap chargers for Apple-certified chargers and lightning cables that are designed to suit your iPhone’s needs. But did you know that the length of time you charge your phone is as important as the accessories you use to charge it? Aimee White, the co-owner of Keyboard Kings, offers three charging habits tech experts say are ruining your iPhone. 

Charging your phone overnight is all kinds of convenient, there’s no doubt about it. But White considers this one of the worst charging mistakes that she says many people she knows make. “With many of us leading fast-paced lives, it can be difficult to find the time to stop and charge your phone,” White says. “The obvious solution is to charge it during the one time when we know we won’t need our phone and we won’t be going anywhere- overnight. You wake up and voila! The phone is 100% charged and ready for another busy day.”

Foolproof, right? Well, wrong, White says: “By charging your phone overnight, you are almost certainly overcharging your phone. This won’t have much effect on your phone’s battery life if it is only an occasional occurrence, but if you do it regularly, you will end up severely degrading the battery life of your phone over the long term. So, while overnight charging might be convenient, it’s best to try and keep it to a minimum if at all possible.”

An iPhone case is an important accessory that helps protect your device from chips and cracks. It serves a great purpose, for sure — but it’s important to remember to remove it when you’re charging your phone. “A lesser-known ‘bad charging habit’ that I’m certain most iPhone users are guilty of is charging the phone with the case on,” White says. “Charging a phone significantly increases its temperature, and the case ‘locks in’ this extra heat. Overheating puts stress on the battery and, over time, can contribute to a reduction in overall battery life.”

“A final mistake that I’m sure we’re all aware of, but do anyway, is letting the battery run down to single digits percent,” White says. “If you know the first thing about batteries, you’ll know that letting them run down to empty or nearly empty will reduce their battery life over time — it’s why when your phone goes below 15% you receive a prompt to ‘connect charger’. Being more prompt about putting your phone on charge when the battery gets low is a good habit to get into if you want to extend your iPhone’s battery life.”

Timing truly is everything when it comes to your iPhone and establishing better charging habits.