5 everyday mistakes that can destroy your phone’s battery

Key Takeaways

• Don’t let your phone’s battery hit zero to prevent rapid deterioration.
• High temperatures can damage your phone’s battery, so be careful.
• Use a reliable charger and cable to protect your phone’s battery life.

Whenever I talk to family or friends about why they had to upgrade to a new phone, the number one reason I always hear is that their old phone’s battery just didn’t last long enough. It’s not that the phone is slow, or out of storage, or they don’t like the way it looks. The main culprit is always battery life. People rightly care about their phone battery and want it to last all day.

The truth is that phone batteries will naturally run down no matter what you do. That’s how the science behind the lithium-ion cells in most phones works. While it’s impossible to stop battery degradation completely, there are things you can do to help slow it down and slow it down. Smartphone batteries have gotten better over the past decade, whether you’re using an iPhone or Android.

The hardware and software on phones have become very effective at helping battery life and health, but there are still things you can do to help preserve your phone’s battery life and get that extra bit of longevity you’ve always wanted. Here’s what you should be aware of and look out for when it comes to preventing damage to your smartphone battery.

1 Letting your phone die

But make sure you plug it in before it reaches zero

It’s all happened before, and it’s not the end of the world if your phone battery dies completely from time to time. But the easiest way to protect your phone’s battery is to not let it drain to zero.

Doing this regularly will degrade the battery and reduce its life and charging capacity. How can you ask?

The best way to prevent your phone from getting too close to zero is to plug it in when you get a low battery notification…

Regularly fully discharging the battery will speed up its chemical degradation process, as the materials in the battery get harder the more the device is charged and alive. This chemical hardening reduces the life of the battery, therefore slightly increasing the rate at which the battery naturally degrades. The best way to prevent your phone from getting too close to zero is to plug it in when you get a low battery notification, usually when it has 20% charge left. Doing this will help preserve your phone’s battery life.

2 High temperatures are not good

Be aware of hot and cold conditions

High temperatures can damage your phone’s battery. Phones are designed and tested to operate and charge in certain temperature conditions, and your phone’s battery will be affected if it is placed in extreme heat or cold.

Apple says on its website, “Avoid using or charging your device in temperatures above 95° F (35° C), which can permanently reduce battery life.” Heat accelerates the chemical reaction in a phone’s lithium-ion battery, causing it to degrade faster. This is not to say that using your phone in the summer or in the heat will kill its battery life, but just remember when you charge it and use it. If it’s too hot, let your phone cool down. Most phones will let you know if it’s too hot to operate.

For example, I recently received a notification on my iPhone that it stopped charging due to heat. It was hot, and I had to wait for my phone to cool down before I could safely charge it without damaging the battery. This only took a few minutes, but it shows that the heat is affecting the battery and charging.

The cold affects your battery, too. In general, extreme cold slows down the chemical reactions in your battery rather than speeding them up. This makes your battery less efficient and reduces its capacity, as the phone uses more power to keep the battery and its components warm and at proper operating temperatures. To protect your phone’s battery, be aware of weather conditions and let your phone recover when it’s too hot or too cold.

3 Bad chargers and cables are a big culprit

Use the manufacturer’s charger or a trusted brand

Using a reliable phone charger and cable is the easiest way to avoid damaging your phone’s battery. In general, the one that came with your phone from the manufacturer is always the best bet. But, there may be some situations where you no longer have the original and need a new cable and wall brick.

A noisy charger can damage your phone’s battery if it doesn’t use the correct voltage, it will be damaged quickly. So, if you’re in the market for a new phone charger and cable, buy from the manufacturer or a trusted third-party brand, like Anker and Belkin, that will safely supply the right voltage and adequately charge your phone’s battery.

Avoiding cheap or defective cables to charge your phone protects it and its battery.

Cables are also something to look out for. For example, I once bought a cheap cable at the store to charge my iPhone in my car. I didn’t know the cable was substandard and it caused my phone to heat up and not charge at all. By simply switching to my standard Apple charging cable, my phone charged perfectly. Avoiding cheap or defective cables to charge your phone protects it and its battery.

4 It does not use advanced charging

Let your smartphone protect its own battery

Most phones have built-in protection measures that automatically stop charging when they reach maximum capacity. So, overcharging your phone and destroying the battery is more myth than reality.

However, there is still a chance that your battery will be slightly damaged from charging your phone to 100%, as it is still cycling low power and the power will remain at 100%.

Most phones now have flexible charging settings to help manage charging and optimize it based on your usage. On iPhones, this feature is known as optimized battery charging. For Pixels, it’s called Dynamic Charging. In Samsung phones, it’s called Battery Protection. Although they may have different names, they all have the same purpose: to improve battery charging and extend battery life.

…don’t worry about keeping your phone connected overnight or for a long time at 100%.

For my iPhone, I use the Optimized Battery charger every day. When I plug in my phone at night, it automatically stops charging at 80% and starts charging at 100% around my set alarm; that way, my battery is fully charged by the time I wake up.

To summarize, don’t worry about keeping your phone connected overnight or for a long time at 100%. Its risk to battery life is minimal, and phones are smarter than ever; they will improve your charging and reduce the risk of slow charging and degrading your phone’s battery.

5 Look at the time

The old answer is still the key

Time is simply the most important factor in damaging your battery. No matter how much you take care of your phone’s battery, how many optimization settings you use, or how patiently you use your phone and charge it, the passage of time will degrade the battery; That’s life.

As your phone’s lithium-ion battery is depleted and recharged every day, its chemical properties naturally degrade. If the battery goes through more charge cycles over time, the battery wears down, leading to a reduction in battery life.

Most phones have an option to let you view your phone’s battery life in the settings menu, or through an app, so you can monitor it over time. Mine usually drops about 10% over two years on my last two iPhones, from 100% to 90%. It’s just time.

While you can’t prevent the passage of time, you can minimize its effects on your battery by looking out for things that damage your phone’s battery, like the ones I’ve mentioned in this article.