If you’ve found your phone dying while charging- despite the battery icon showing a positive charge- this usually means your battery needs to be recalibrated.
(Either that, or your phone charging habits really need to change!)
Your phone may need to be fully drained and then fully charged back up- just like a 10-month old baby needs to be fully exhausted before being able to sleep throughout the night.
A phone typically doesn’t need to ‘nap’ or charge throughout the day. Rather, it simply needs to expend all its energy first!
However, most smartphone owners make certain mistakes and believe in far-fetched myths that lead to phone battery drainage issues.
We’ll get straight into those below!
2 Common Myths And Mistakes When It Comes To Battery Damage
Never drain your battery to 0%, and then charge to 100%
Cell phone lithium-ion batteries have a fixed number of charge cycles; i.e, the number of times you can charge up to 100 percent and exhaust to 0 percent.
An average iPhone has about 400-500 charge cycles- so if you let your phone ‘die’ every day before charging it, your battery will only last 500 days!
That’s why the battery ‘recalibration’ above might solve the battery-charging issue, as your battery might have a couple of ‘resets’ left yet.
You can leave your phone to charge overnight
It is totally okay to leave your phone charging overnight.
There’s a myth about overnight charging that’s a leftover from years ago when phones had nickel-ion batteries.
Nickel batteries suffered from something called “memory charge,” where if you didn’t let them deplete entirely, the batteries would “forget about” the part that didn’t get used.
That’s no longer true about lithium batteries.
Nowadays, our batteries and phones are much better at power management. Phones will automatically stop accepting power after they reach 100%.
Therefore, there’s no risk of damage to your battery if you leave it plugged in overnight!
What To Do If Your Battery Level Drops While Charging
Battery level decreases happen when the phone’s ‘draining speed’ is faster than its charging. Here’s what you can do to fix the issue:
Charge your phone with the phone’s branded charger
Generic chargers are cheap and readily available, but the more affordable adapters cannot always offset the draining charge of the phone.
Branded cables are of higher quality and will balance the output current with positive chargers.
Clean the charger port and charger
There may be some dust, dirt, or grime in the charger port that weakens the contact between the phone and charger cable.
Clean the charger port and make sure the connection between the phone and cable is stable and secure.
Don’t game, video, or photograph while charging
Power-intensive apps like games, cameras and video apps may make the draining speed higher than the charging speed.
Power-intensive apps also increase a phone’s temperature. The charging current may also decrease when a device’s temperature rises.
Turn off your phone while charging
Because the draining speed affects how quickly the phone charges, switching off the phone while charging is actually best.
Switching off your phone will decrease the amount of time it takes to charge to 100%. Powering off the phone also prevents temperature and battery drainage issues!
Always charge from an outlet and not a USB/computer
It’s inevitable that you may sometimes forget to charge your phone overnight, or that it runs out during the day.
The only way to charge your device in these situations may be through your laptop or computer.
That’s fine- as long as it’s not the only way your phone is charged. For the same reason that brand chargers are superior, outlet charging is superior to USB charging.
USB charging is slower because the computer’s current is not as high as an outlet. Because of draining vs. charging speed issues, a USB might not even charge the phone at all!
Put your phone on ‘Airplane mode.’
Our phones constantly connect and communicate even when we are inactive on them.
Airplane mode will guarantee that the phone is not speaking to any nearby devices, networks, and connections when it’s supposed to be ‘resting’ and charging.
Reset to factory settings
If all else fails, this is the last resort.
Restoring to factory settings will uninstall any apps, data, and saved files your phone has that may be draining its battery.
Make sure you backup your storage before resetting the phone; otherwise, all memories and information will be lost!
If Everything Fails, What Should You Do?
If you’re positive the battery is the issue, there’s no shame in investing in a power bank or a new battery.
A golden rule in technology is the ABCs – Always Be Charging.
A phone is a device that uses power. It’s normal for it to drain, even though it’s inconvenient when you need to be out of the house and away from a power outlet.
But that’s what power banks are for! They’re relatively inexpensive, and will save you from deleting all your apps and getting frustrated when that doesn’t solve the issue.
Buying a new battery for the phone may not be worth it if you’ve had the phone for years, but it’s likely less expensive than replacing a modern smartphone.
Technology is not bulletproof, and some phones just have bad batteries after a few years.
So, To Recap:
- Don’t drain the phone to 0% and charge to 100% every day.
- Charging overnight is fine.
- Clean your charger’s port and use the phone’s branded charger.
- As much as possible, don’t use the phone while charging.
- It’s best to turn off your phone or put it on Airplane Mode when it’s in charge
- Resetting the phone to factory settings is the last resort (and may not work)
- When all else fails, a power bank or new battery is best!