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You’ve heard the warnings: do not charge your iPhone overnight. Charging your iPhone overnight is one of the biggest mistakes you can make if you are trying to preserve your battery.
And so on.
But what actually happens when you succumb to the convenient task of hooking your phone up to a charger as you settle in to sleep and simply leaving it there so that it’s ready to go when you wake up in the morning? Digital Lifestyle Expert Kim Komando explains, once and for all, why charging your device overnight is a bad idea and. what, exactly, takes place when you do it.
Smartphones have come a long way in recent years and, because of newer technology, the habit of charging your phone overnight won’t cause immediate destruction. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t slowly chipping away at your battery and causing long-term damage.
“The good news is that modern smartphones have built-in chips that keep them from overcharging,” Komando says. “They’re smart enough to stop taking in excess electrical currents once it reaches a full charge. The bad news is that due to the inherent properties of lithium-ion batteries, smartphone batteries are gradually losing their capacity with each charging cycle.”
This explains why people typically start noticing a significant degradation in their smartphone’s battery capacity after two years of constant discharging and recharging, Komando explains. “By keeping your phone on the charger overnight, every night, while you’re sleeping, you’re keeping it on the charger for about three to four months a year,” Komando says. “This means, while plugged in, it’s always in a state of discharging and recharging, slowly using up another cycle.”
A better way of charging your iPhone is to provide it with shorter, periodic charges whenever it dips down below 40 percent (but do not wait until your phone has drained down to zero, which is another no-no).
“The ideal charge level for a stable battery is in the upper mid-range,” Komando says. “Keeping a battery between 40 percent and 80 percent charged as often as possible will help you get the most out of its lifespan. This is because a battery containing a higher voltage is under considerably more stress, and stress can potentially have degrading effects on the overall battery life by wearing down the battery’s internal chemistry.”
Another good habit to embrace is unplugging your phone once it’s fully charged and not “storing” your phone on the charger.
“The myth that overcharging the battery once it is already at 100 percent will damage it is actually partially true,” Komando says. “Modern batteries have mechanisms in place that prevent additional voltage once a battery has reached its maximum charge. However, there are what are known as ‘trickle charges,’ which continually seep into the battery to maintain its 100 percent charge level. Holding a battery at 100 percent all of the time does place more stress on the battery overall, so it still may impact its overall lifespan.”
So, remember: quicker, shorter bursts of charging and NO overnight charging are easy ways to prolong the life of your iPhone battery and keep your device working longer and more efficiently.
