What could be more convenient than setting your phone on a charger and leaving it to power up all night long? The problem with this charging method is that it isn’t the best option when it comes to your phone’s ion-lithium battery — but you may still be wondering why. Your charging habits can make or break your phone battery and they could mean the difference between a phone that lasts a long time and one that will need to be replaced sooner. This is the scary downside to charging your phone overnight.
Overnight Charging Can Wear Out Your Battery
Charging your phone overnight can speed up its battery’s degradation process, according to Tech Expert David Wurst, Founder of WebCitz. “When you leave your phone plugged in while you sleep, it will stop charging at 100%, however, the battery will slowly discharge,” Wurst says. “It will use a bit of energy constantly trickling a very small amount of power every time it falls to 99%. It may not be noticeable, but constant trickle-charging takes some life off the battery. Another potential problem is overheating as trickle charges can generate heat.”
Is It Dangerous?
You may have heard of phones exploding because of too much heat produced when a battery is overcharged. Fortunately that isn’t the case with newer iPhone models. “No, you cannot overcharge your phone’s battery,” says Tech Expert Steve Anderson, CEO of Junk Yards Near Me. “To avoid this, manufacturers put safety measures in place. But when you charge your gadget completely, ‘trickle charge,’ or enough additional energy to make up for what your device normally uses, is added. You are overusing your battery and pushing it to use energy unnecessarily if you charge it to 100% and leave it plugged in.”
How Can You Avoid Overcharging Your Phone?
To avoid speeding up battery degradation, Wurst recommends changing your charging cycle. “Do not wait until your phone gets fully discharged,” Wurst says. “Plug it in when the percentage drops to about 40% to 35%. And to avoid overheating, make sure to remove your phone's casing before charging, and don't stack a bunch of other stuff on top of it, like putting your phone under your pillow. Leave your phone somewhere it's more likely to dissipate heat. And if you wake up in the middle of the night, check your phone to see if it's fully charged. Once it is, unplug it immediately.”
Other Tips
Some other tips that Anderson recommends for maintaining your iPhone battery include: purchasing a portable charger, turning off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth when you’re not using them, and utilizing battery-saving mode.
Heat and overcharging are the enemies of a smartphone battery, but with just a few simple charging changes you can help prolong the life of your device.
