Charging your iPhone – a task which seems as simple as just plugging your device into a charger. But, have you ever thought about whether you are doing it right?
With so many conflicting opinions found on the internet, it can be difficult to distinguish between the wrong and right ways to charge your
iPhone.
Actually, you may have been charging it wrong all this time.
First of all, it’s important to understand that iPhone’s use lithium-ion batteries, and these batteries are susceptible to their own versions ‘stress’. As such, charging your iPhone wrongly could be detrimental to its continuance and even cause long-term damage to the battery.
We want to make sure you are making the most out of your device and are taking the necessary steps to maximize the battery life of your precious iPhone.
So, in an effort to help you understand how to efficiently charge your iPhone and to clear up any confusion, we have explained the 5 most popular iPhone battery myths. Check them out below:
Myth #1: Never use your iPhone whilst its charging
Many articles on the internet states that using your iPhone whilst it’s charging can be unsafe. They argue that being on your iPhone can cause the phone to explode, damage the battery, or even trigger an electric shock.
Opening apps, answering phone calls, and checking your text messages whilst your iPhone is plugged in iscompletely fine. The only issue you may experience is that your battery may take longer to charge up.
Results: Although it might take longer to charge up, using your iPhone whilst it is connected to power is completely safe. Just make sure you use genuine, high-quality chargers and charging cables.
Myth #2: Charging your iPhone overnight can destroy the battery
Perhaps the most common misconception many people have is that charging their iPhone overnight can damage the battery. A few years ago, this was the case. However, today’s phones have extra protection chips built into the battery so overcharging can’t take place. As soon as your iPhones internal battery reaches its full capacity, charging stops.
Nonetheless, it’s important to note that leaving your iPhone plugged in to charge overnight will use up quite a bit of energy. Every time your iPhone dips to 99%, your device will use energy to obtain full battery – this is known as trickle charging.
Results: Although charging your iPhone overnight is safe and won’t destroy the battery, trickle charging can cause your iPhone to heat up. This isn’t something you need to worry about but if you can, take your iPhone out its case whilst charging, ensure you place it on a flat, hard surface, and if you wake up in the night at any point, unplug it before you go back to sleep.
Myth #3: You must use the official Apple charger to charge your iPhone
Most people believe that they must use the official Apple charger to charge their iPhone. However, this isn’t the case. As long as you aren’t using a cheap knockoff charger, then using a charger which isn’t made by apple is completely fine. When purchasing a charger for your iPhone, make sure you buy high-quality chargers from reputable brands.
Results: Using a third-party charger to charge up your iPhone is absolutely fine. Just ensure that you aren’t using a super-cheap, knockoff, faulty charger – this is when the damage to your iPhone could be caused.
Myth #4: You should always charge your iPhone up to 100% and let the battery drain all the way down to 0%
For many years, a lot of people have been under the impression that allowing their iPhone to completely drain down to 0% before charging it back up to 100% was the best charging method, and that chargingan iPhone in small bursts could cause damage in the long run. But as a matter of fact, it’s better not to fully charge because a high voltage can put the lithium-ion battery under significant stress. The lengthened stress could result in damage to your iPhone battery’s continuance.
Results: Avoid charging your iPhone full cycle (0-100%). Instead, try to top it up regularly in shorter chargers. If it’s possible, keep your iPhone’s battery charged with a good amount of power as the day goes on – partial charging is the way to go.
Myth #5: It doesn’t matter if I never turn my iPhone off
The vast majority of people make the mistake of leaving their iPhone’s on all day whilst using them and leaving them on all night to charge. But much to everyone’s disbelief, turning your iPhone off and resetting the device could actually help to conserve the battery. Your iPhone is a machine that has multiple apps constantly running in the background, so it’s important to give it a break every once in a while.
Restarting your iPhone only takes a few minutes, but that time could help preserve the battery life of your much-treasured device.
Results: If you don’t do it already, try turning your iPhone off at least once a week to reset it or when you go to bed and it’s not in use. Turning it off from time-to-time allows your iPhone to take a break and preserves the battery’s longevity.
Myth #6: Closing All Your Apps saves battery
Last on our list is an oldie, but a goodie. Despite many clearly-stated, unequivocal answers which echo a resounding “No!” I still see people closing their active apps. There hasn’t been a more succinct answer on this topic than from Apple’s Senior Vice President of software engineering Craig Federighi. Answering a customer’s e-mail originally intended for Tim Cook, as he often does, Mr. Federighi categorically denies any necessity for closing apps.
“No and No” from Apple’s VP of software engineering is good enough for us, but to elaborate just a bit, here’s the reason: Essentially, apps that show up in your “recent apps” are in such low power states that they’re not impacting battery life really at all. Coupled with this is the simple fact that you use your iPhone, and if you close all of your apps – no matter how light your usage is – when they need to be reopened, by you or the system, more CPU power and therefore battery power is used getting them open again.
There are a few quick caveats to this approach. With apps that are background-resource-heavy like Facebook and other social media, closing them without disabling “background app refresh” will not do you any good. Also, in the case of location-tracking apps, limiting location services is also recommended. Other features like the iPhone’s “Share My Location” feature are also good ones to turn off for hanging on to your precious juice. Settings like “Bluetooth Sharing” may transmit data from Bluetooth accessories, such as wearables, to their respective apps even when they’re not running, but this transmission should have very minimal effects on your battery life.
If you think there’s an errant app draining your iPhone’s battery, it’s quite easy to manipulate these authorizations. Firstly, you can check an apps background usage from the “Battery” menu in General settings. Tap any app in the list to see a breakdown of battery drain due to on-screen time versus background activity.
Next, from the Privacy menu in the main settings you’ll see location services while the rest of these relevant preferences can be found within the app in question’s dedicated settings, also found in the iPhone’s General settings menu. Beware, of course, not to disable something like background app refresh on a work communication app such as Gmail if you rely on its notifications for work or disable cellular connectivity on WhatsApp if you need to be available even when you’re not on Wi-Fi. Otherwise, you can tweak the aforementioned settings to your liking or use them to limit an app’s access to your iPhone’s resources and see for yourself if an app truly is running wild.
Oh, and as always, using the auto-brightness and True Tone options are also effective ways to limit your usage without having to think too much about it. Finally, you can disable Wi-Fi network when you’re out and about to keep your iPhone from constantly searching for possible networks to connect to.
Results: Don’t close apps, but rather keep them in check with set-it-and-forget-it options in your iPhone’s settings. And use auto brightness!
Making the most out of your battery:
Most of us would love to own a phone where the battery inside it never dies, but with the powerful, battery draining features today’s phones are built with, this is implausible. However, by following the above tips, you could help to extend your battery’s lifespan and keep your iPhone full of juice for longer.
See our article on
how to improve iPhone’s battery life.
Do you know any other iPhone charging myths that we haven’t covered above? Let us know in the comments section below!