Having a phone with short battery life is disappointing, to say the least.
Keeping your phone’s battery charged is simple enough in the short term, but keeping the battery healthy in the long run is a much more complicated endeavor that has many questions attached.
In your quest to balance immediate utility with future longevity, something that you might be wondering is:
“Is it okay if I charge my phone three times a day?”
In actual fact, it’s perfectly acceptable to charge your phone three times a day- unless you constantly keep the battery levels near 0% or 100%.
Charging your phone three times a day (or even more!) is only safe for your phone’s overall battery health if you do not charge it to full capacity each time.
Just like the batteries of other mobile tech devices, smartphone batteries degrade over time.
This means that they will gradually lose their ability to hold power and resulting in decreased battery performance.
It is, therefore, imperative to adopt good charging habits to prolong your phone’s battery health as much as possible!
Is It Wrong To Charge Your Phone Multiple Times A Day?
No, it is not wrong to charge your phone multiple times a day.
It’s a common myth that we should not charge our phones multiple times throughout the day/
However, there are now experts that assert that it is actually a good idea to charge your phone several times if need be.
Modern Li-ion batteries have a fixed amount of cycles before depletion. As such, short charging sessions are actually the best practice if you want to prolong battery life over the long term!
Additionally, frequent plugging and unplugging your charger cable does not affect modern phone batteries.
Therefore, you can charge your phone as many times as you want within a day without worrying about damaging your battery (as long as you don’t charge to 100% from 0% each time!).
Does Charging Reduce Battery Life?
One of the most popular misconceptions about phone batteries is that charging reduces battery life.
Leaving your phone plugged in for long periods is not dangerous and does not reduce battery life, but it does make the battery age marginally faster.
Modern cell phones are way smarter than before when it comes to managing power.
They gradually reduce the amount of the current as the phone’s battery fills up.
However, it is true that when the battery is overcharged, both extreme heat and high charging power levels cause lithium-ion batteries to degrade faster.
In short, charging your phone up to 100% is slightly worse for the battery than unplugging it before it gets fully charged.
How Many Times Should You Charge Your Smartphone Per Day?
There is pretty much no hard and fast rule when it comes to the number of times you should charge your phone per day.
It all depends on the power level range that you want to stay in.
Some people suggest the 20 to 80 percent rule of battery level percentage, while some think that the 45 to 75 percent rule is better.
It really just depends upon how you tailor your charging habits according to your needs and daily routine.
The only thing to watch out for with modern lithium-ion batteries is how often you charge your phone to 100% or drain it to 0%.
These two habits have much more severe negative effects than charging them multiple times per day!
Should I Charge My Phone Overnight?
You may have come across warnings that you should avoid overnight charging. Are these true?
Well, there are several different opinions on this question.
Some researchers say that devices nowadays are smart enough to stop themselves from overcharging if you leave them plugged in overnight.
Others assert that it isn’t appropriate to let a phone battery charge up to 100%, and instead, you should always keep your phone charged (but not fully charged!).
If you charge your phone overnight, that means you will most likely miss the moment when the phone’s battery surpasses the 80% mark.
However, most cellphones have a built-in sensor that automatically disconnects charging when the battery hits 100%. If it’s turned on, the phone will then use up a small amount of power.
Consequently, you will get something called ‘trickle charge,’ which occurs when the charger attempts to return the phone’s battery to 100% as it naturally loses its charge.
This means your phone’s battery is constantly bouncing between full charge and 99%. As you might expect, this heats up the phone and will ultimately degrade your battery over time.
So, charging during the day is arguably better than overnight as you will be around to monitor the charging process and can easily unplug the phone when it exceeds 80%.
As such, our recommendation here at Mobile Tech Addicts is that you should not charge your phone overnight!
How Often Should I Charge To Prolong My Phone’s Battery Life?
When it comes to charging your phone and prolonging its battery life, balancing convenience with the battery’s longevity is primarily a matter of personal preference.
The first thing to keep in mind is that it’s best to recharge your phone once the battery drops to 10%.
Any deeper discharge beyond this point begins to degrade the battery more significantly.
It would be best to keep the phone’s battery as close to the middle range as possible. The extreme ranges- close to 0% or 100%- reduces battery capacity over the long term.
While the above measures can extend your battery’s life, they can also defeat the purpose of having a smartphone (namely, convenience).
As such, users can oftentimes find it very challenging to stick to such measures!
Can I Use My Phone While Charging?
Yes, you can easily use your phone while charging. There will be no harmful or negative effects on your phone or the battery while you do so.
Using your phone while charging is entirely safe because once your phone is plugged in, it will automatically use the external power source to operate the phone while the remaining power will go towards charging the phone.
This will, however, slow down the charging process, as part of the incoming power is used to run the phone.
How To Make The Phone Battery Last Longer
Here are some tricks and techniques that will help you in making your phone’s battery last longer:
Use A Portable Charger
A portable charger will help to top up your battery when you’re out and about and prevent it from dropping below 20% and consuming a charge cycle.
Turn Off Unnecessary Apps In The Background
Apps running in the background are one of the leading causes of fast battery drainage.
Even when the app is not necessarily used, some of its features that are turned on draw additional power from your phone’s battery.
So, turning these features off can give your battery life a massive boost!
Turn Off Bluetooth And WiFi
Bluetooth and WiFi also drain a good chunk of a phone’s battery. Try turning these off when you’re not using them to save battery life.
Turn On Low-Power Mode
Low Power Mode saves a lot of, well, power– as its name suggests!
However, turning it on will temporarily reduce performance and might disable features like email fetch, background app refresh, visual effects, and syncing of iCloud photos.
While it may sound like a good option when your battery is low, just know that it will slow down your overall performance if you intend to do resource-intensive tasks such as playing games or streaming HD movies.
Is It Bad To Keep Your Phone In Low-Power Mode?
Not at all!
Turning on Battery Saver mode is not bad for your phone or battery.
It only reduces the phone’s short-term performance to save more battery, so it may not be ideal for multitasking or gaming as you may experience lagging.
Turn Off GPS Location
GPS location services also drain a lot of battery life even when you’re not actively using it. Turning it off will give your phone’s battery a sizable boost.
Turn Off Vibration
The phone’s vibration feature also uses more battery than the standard ringtone. So, it’s a good idea to turn it off when your phone is running low on power!
Final Thoughts
Charging your phone three times or more in a day is not harmful to the battery.
Ideally, doing so can help you to maintain a mid-range level of charge- the best state for your battery’s long-term health.
Always remember that charging your phone to 100% and draining it to 0% is not good for battery health!
Instead, try your best to maintain it between 20% and 80% (or somewhere around those areas).
The main thing you need to avoid is dropping below 20%, as this will have the effect of degrading your battery more quickly.
This is because Li-ion batteries have a fixed number of battery cycles until they eventually need to be replaced!
Just like us, smartphones consist of pretty complex anatomy. Take a close look HERE at all the vital components that make up a modern-day smartphone!