When should you charge your phone?

These days, everyone likes to own the best smartphone on the market, and almost everyone spends some time thinking about their phone’s battery life. But there has been much overthinking by some others, which has resulted in plenty of myths and a number of pointless practices when it comes to the ritual of phone charging.

The truth is that there’s no black magic to see here. If you just follow a few general rules, you’ll extend or preserve your battery’s useful lifespan without having to jump through any annoying hoops.

When should you charge your phone?

Based on general data regarding current battery technology of smartphones, the advice is to charge your phone when it has around 30% of power remaining, and stop charging it at around 90%.

That’s not to say that anything catastrophic will happen if you choose to drain/charge outside of this range on occasion. When it comes to battery life and performance, it’s your average pattern of use that has the largest impact. So if there are times you need to use 100% of your battery power, then don’t worry about it.

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Overnight phone charging

One area that does require attention is overnight charging. In most cases, your phone will reach 100% charge shortly after you go to bed. This means that your device will spend most of the night plugged in at 100%.

Now, there’s no issue with this in terms of “overcharging”; the phone is smart enough to stop charging the battery at 100%. However, the device will begin to top up the charge once it’s dropped past a certain threshold.

Spending long stretches of time at 100% charge will wear out your battery more quickly. There are a few things you can do to mitigate this:

• Use a slow-charging method, such as wireless charging, so that the phone takes all night to charge the battery to full capacity.
• Fast-charge your phone once you wake up instead, however this too has implications for battery wear.
• Use normal charging speeds, which these days are fast enough to top up your phone before you have to leave home in the morning.
• Engage the charge-limiting feature on your phone, if it has one. For example, we’ve set our Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra to stop charging at 85%.

Unless you’re always away from a power source, you can simply keep your phone topped up in the ideal range using a car charger, power bank or wall charger at your desk.

Debunking phone charging myths

Few technologies draw as many myths as battery technology, and while many are harmless, others can actually have a negative effect on your battery or device. So let’s clear up some of the most common or pernicious myths.

Myth: You need to drain the battery to 0%

This has at its root older battery technologies, specifically nickel-cadmium units, which suffered from a “memory” effect; it could be countered by ensuring you fully drained the battery before charging it back up again. Modern lithium ion batteries don’t suffer the same issue – and, in fact, you actually want to avoid discharging your battery to such a level on a regular basis.

Myth: Leaving your phone plugged in harms the battery

As mentioned above, leaving your phone plugged in doesn’t harm the battery, but leaving it plugged in at 100% over prolonged periods of time will. However, some new phones now arrive with “bypass charging”, a feature that’s already present in devices such as laptops.

If your phone supports bypass charging, then it will draw power directly from the wall charger when plugged in, bypassing the battery and therefore diminishing associated wear and tear. This is great news for those who might choose to use their phone plugged in for any reason, and can help if you’re overnight charging.

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How often should you charge your phone?

There’s no right or wrong answer here. Simply charge your phone whenever the battery is low, or before you’re heading out. Make sure you have enough battery power to last until your next opportunity to charge.

If possible, keep your battery in that 30-90% range we mentioned above; but it isn’t necessary to slavishly adhere to it. Most modern phones are capable of charging to around 80% or 90% fairly quickly, which is a good point at which to unplug the device. There are also now plenty of opportunities to top up – using a power bank, for example, or in your car.

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Tips for maximising your phone battery life

When it comes to maximising battery life, we’re not only talking about getting the most out of a single charge, but also about keeping your battery healthy for as long as possible. And while it pays to be mindful about how you use it, you also don’t need to sweat the small stuff.

Ultimately, your phone battery is a consumable component of your phone. As such, phone makers such as Apple and Samsung will happily replace your battery for a reasonable fee, if it’s out of warranty – which is still far cheaper than buying a whole new phone.

Still, there are a few things you can do to push that day as far into the future as possible:

Avoid extreme heat or cold – Your phone’s battery operates best at an optimal temperature range, which you can look up. As such, the phone should not be exposed to temperatures outside that range. The consequences may go beyond just poor battery life; they could prove dangerous, resulting in an unstable battery that poses a risk of fire or explosion.

Use the power saving mode – Apple iPhones and most Android handsets feature a power saving mode that springs into action when your battery is running low; but you can usually turn it on manually at any battery percentage of your choosing. This will limit performance and turn off some features, extending your battery life dramatically, while still allowing you to do the basics such as take calls or receive messages.

Dim your screen or turn on automatic brightness – Your phone’s screen is likely the biggest power hog. If you’ve turned off automatic brightness, then consider turning it on. Alternatively, you can manually dim the screen to save a significant amount of power and reduce your phone’s temperature.

Keep these basic tips in mind, while also taking note of all the other areas covered above, and your phone’s battery should deliver optimum performance for as long as possible. You should also read our article on how to check your phone’s battery health and, if you’re always running out of juice at the most inconvenient times, we have a great roundup of the best power banks, as tested by our very own experts.