This is an archived article and the information in the story may be outdated. Please check the time stamp on the story to see when it was updated last.
When you find it impossible to maintain a phone charge for longer than a few hours, it’s time to investigate what you could be doing to diminish the life of your battery. Simple errors in charging can add up to major battery power issues — but the good news is that they are a breeze to correct. Tech experts say this one everyday mistake could be draining your battery.
Charging Your Phone To 100%
It seems like the best thing you can do: if you charge your phone all the way to 100 percent, it will last longer, right? It may defy logic, but, actually, it’s far better to keep your phone’s battery percentage lower.
“It is best to keep your phone charged but not fully charged,” says Katherine Brown, founder and marketing director atSpyic. “Your phone battery will stop charging completely at 100%, but once it is down to 99%, it will again start getting charged. The charger will provide the power to get it back to 100. This is not necessary and consumes your phone battery life. So, it is better to take off your phone from charging when it reaches above 90%.”
Daniela Sawyer, founder and business development strategist of FindPeopleFast.net, takes the explanation even further by reminding us that an iPhone’s lithium battery gives the best performance when it’s around 50% charged.
“Most people tend to charge their phones overnight, use them all day, and set their phones only when the battery level is below 10%,” Sawyer says. “The low voltage operation has a severely detrimental effect on batteries' life, and regular quiet voltage operation causes batteries' health to degrade, leading to faster drain and less standby time. The best way to maintain a healthy battery life is to keep it around 50% all the time.”
Although Sawyer calls this the “ideal situation,” if that’s can’t be attained, the middle way she says she chooses is to set a preferable range in which she tries her best to keep the battery charge level. “I try to keep my phone between 25 to 85% all the time,” Sawyer says. “Operating within this 60% range provides the best operating environment for the battery and the phone, leading to slow drainage and more battery life. Though most of the experts suggest keeping this range between 30 to 80%, I found this range perfect for me based on my personal experience. It provides the best combination of battery life and its health.”
