If you spend much of your life on your phone as most people do, then you’re likely familiar with the struggle to keep your battery charged. It’s tempting to put your phone on to charge in the evening and leave it on all night, waking to find that 100 percent battery sign.
However, experts have wanted this may not actually be best practice, and could actually degrade your battery over time. Replacing your smartphone battery can be expensive, frequently costing over £100, so it’s best to do what you can to preserve yours.
Lithium-ion batteries, commonly used in smartphones, degrade faster when kept at full charge for extended periods, according to PC Mag.
Consistently charging overnight can shorten the overall lifespan, as the battery has to work to keep itself consistently topped up. Just having the phone switched on will drain the battery, so charging for eight hours as you sleep means it is constantly being topped up.
However, according to Apple Support if you have an iPhone 15 or later, this isn’t so much of a concern. According to Apple”With iPhone 15 models and later, if the charge limit is 100 per cent, you can also turn on Optimised Battery Charging. Your iPhone has these settings by default.”
“Your iPhone will charge to within a few percentage points of your chosen limit and then stop charging.”
It further detailed: “If the battery charge level drops more than 5 per cent while connected to power, charging will resume, again charging to within a few points of your chosen limit.”
It is extremely important that if you are charging your phone overnight you do not put anything on top of it.
This includes books, bottles and especially bedding – such as your pillow or blanket.
This will cause the phone to overheat and although it’s unlikely this will lead to a fire, it will degrade the battery.
It’s also very important to use the correct charging cable. If you have lost your original it’s tempting to buy a random knock off but this could damage your battery. If the cord and device aren’t compatible you can find yourself in hot water.