Is your smartphone battery failing? Check now

You know by now your phone’s battery performance degrades the older your phone gets. That’s just how lithium-ion batteries work, unfortunately. With each charging cycle, they break down a tiny bit. Eventually, it gets too hard to ignore. 

Let’s look at the symptoms — and how to check your phone’s battery health.

Signs you can’t ignore

• Your phone used to last well over a day. Now you’re looking for an outlet in the afternoon.
• You unplug your phone, only to see the battery level drop quickly, even though you’re not doing anything unusual.
• You leave your phone plugged in for hours, but it never returns to a full charge.
• Your phone is off-the-charts hot when charging. You may even notice a physical bulge. Unplug it immediately if this happens.

Apple makes it easy

It’s easy to see if your iPhone battery is struggling. Open Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging. 

At the top, you’ll see your battery’s maximum capacity. Don’t panic if it’s below 100%. Your battery is designed to maintain 80% of its original capacity by 500 charges, so that number will tick down over time.

Under Peak Performance Capability, you’ll see whether your battery is operating normally. If your battery has seriously degraded, you’ll see a message about it here.

It’s a bit tricker on an Android 

Most manufacturers have different steps. Here are a few to try.

• Open the phone app, dial *#*#4636#*#* and look for an option to check battery health. If you don’t see it, move on to another option.
• On Samsung, open the built-in Samsung Members app. Tap Get Help > Check Android battery health.
• Apps like AccuBattery can provide a good estimate if all else fails.

Nobody likes a dead battery, even if it’s free of charge. And sorry, friend, but your laptop battery won’t last forever, either. Here’s how to check yours.