Why stop charging your phone when it reaches 80%

2024-08-21 17:35:03

Plugging in your phone before bed and letting it charge overnight is a nightly ritual for many of us. But it’s actually better for the long-term health of your battery not to charge it to 100% every time.

Lithium-ion battery chemistry in question

First of all, it’s perfectly safe to charge your phone to 100% every time you plug it in, and you won’t risk damaging it. But because of the way lithium-ion batteries work, when it comes to long-term health, a charge of around 80-85% is ideal to get the most out of it.

In fact, preventing your phone from fully charging (or fully discharging) too often reduces some of the “stress” on the battery.

Like a movie theater

The best representation of a rechargeable battery that I have had is that of a movie theater. In an empty theater, moviegoers (electrons) easily find seats. But in a theater that is 80% full, seats start to be difficult to find, so much so that the last customers or electrons struggle to find the “lithium” seats. Then, the recharge speed decreases and the stress increases (e.g. the battery heats up more).



Why stop charging your phone when it reaches 80%

Screenshot of iOS 17.6.1

Apple

Stack Manager

Regardless of the brand, your phones have built-in battery management features. For example, the manager can detect that one or more applications are draining the battery, giving you the option to restrict them or simply close them.

On an iPhone, go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging to check Optimized Charging, which will reduce battery aging by evaluating your charging habits.

Same logic on Android using a Pixel phone as an example, open Settings > Battery > Adaptive Charging. By enabling this feature, your phone will learn from your routine and will only fully charge the battery when you really need it.

Another option is to charge your device normally, then receive an alert telling you that the battery has reached 80%, giving you the choice of unplugging it or increasing the charge depending on the day ahead of you.

But be careful, if you choose to install a battery management app. If it’s free, there will be ads, data collection about you, or both. Or pay for the subscription.

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#stop #charging #phone #reaches

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