You may have heard a tip about running down your phone to 0% before charging it back to 100%. This supposedly helps your battery “remember” the full range of its charge. While cycling memory may have worked with nickel-cadmium batteries, this isn’t the case with lithium-ion batteries.
Some apps claim that they can help to charge your battery faster. Is there any merit to that claim? The answer is a bit complicated. Tap or click here to find out the truth behind fast-charging apps.
One thing that’s certain is that your charging habits affect your smartphone battery’s lifespan and performance.
The sweet spot
Smartphone manufacturers constantly try to one-up each other, but they all agree that you should not let your battery charge run down too far. Or too high up, for that matter:
- Apple has a battery-saving feature that limits your iPhone from charging past 80% in certain situations (more on that below).
- Google has a similar battery-saving feature for Android phones.
- Samsung recommends against repeatedly letting your battery drain to zero.
- Huawei recommends keeping your battery level at 30% to 70%.
The verdict: Keep your battery charged between 20% and 80% and you should be good.
Battery optimization on your iPhone
Apple’s Optimized Battery Charging keeps your battery healthy by reducing the time your iPhone remains fully charged. Turning on this feature will limit your battery to an 80% charge when it’s plugged in and not in use.
The battery-saving feature learns your charging routines, such as plugging in your phone at bedtime. The system predicts when you’ll remove the phone from the charger and will delay charging to 100% until then.
Go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health and toggle on Optimized Battery Charging.
Battery optimization on your Android phone
With Google’s Adaptive Battery feature, apps you don’t use much will be removed from your phone’s memory and thus not drain your battery. Meanwhile, the apps you use more often will be prioritized.
Go to Settings > Battery > Adaptive preferences and toggle on Adaptive Battery.
Battery life tips
Follow these tips to extend your battery life even further:
- Don’t leave your phone in the sun or under your pillow. Not only is this bad for your battery, but it’s also dangerous.
- If you want to put your phone away for a while, leave it at half charge.
- Check up on your battery health. If you have an iPhone, go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health. Android users can go to Settings > Battery > Battery Usage.
- The less often you need to charge your battery, the better. Go to your phone’s settings and turn off any features or tools you’re not using, such as Bluetooth, location services and push notifications.
- Lower your screen brightness and set your lock screen to automatically activate in a short amount of time.
Keep reading
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