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We already know it’s convenient, but is leaving your iPhone on a charger overnight the best way to maintain its battery? It’s simple enough to plug in your phone, let it do its job, and wake up to a phone with a 100 percent battery charge that’s ready to take you through the day. But many tech experts say there is a much better way to charge your phone. This is the scary reason you should never leave your iPhone plugged in all night.
If you leave your smartphone/iPhone plugged in overnight, it's going to use a bit of energy constantly trickling new juice to the battery every time it falls to 99 percent, Marcus Clarke, founder of Searchant.co reminds us. “That is eating into your phone's lifespan,” Clarke says. “Don't worry about this too much. Plug the phone in (or place it on the wireless charger) when you go to sleep; if you wake up sometime in the night, unplug it/move it to prevent constant trickle-charging. If you don't wake much, plug your phone into a smart plug that's on a schedule so it turns off.’
Thierry Tremblay, CEO and founder of Kohezion, agrees and says there is a better way to charge your phone. “It's not recommended to store a phone battery long term under full power,” Tremblay says. “If you want the most extended battery life, keep it between 20% and 80% charge. Batteries at full charge or near zero wear out faster than those held half-full. However, the damage is not that big. Well, not in terms of what most people would consider "damage".
When you plug power into your phone, Tremblay says the charging process keeps going until the battery is full.
“When you leave your phone plugged in, power management circuitry is still monitoring the battery,” Tremblay says. “If that charge drops below 95%, give or take, the charging circuit will probably top it off again. Technically, this charging point is a matter of software, and phone manufacturers don't necessarily allow you to adjust it. But as of iOS 13, Apple is doing adaptive charging based on an AI agent that follows your phone use patterns. It is called Optimized Battery Charging. You have to set this model in the iPhone Battery Health preferences panel. Based on your history of activity, the phone will stop or delay charging past 80%.”
One important thing to remember (before you worry too much): if you do leave the phone plugged in all night, it's not going to damage your battery short term by overcharging, Tremblay says. “However, if you leave it partially charged through the night and charge in the morning, or maybe on the way to work, the battery will likely last a bit longer,” Tremblay says. “My point is that modern devices do not suffer from any sort of damage due to overcharging to a battery left charging.”
