Smartphone battery: 7 habits that make it last longer
No miracle app required. A few charging habits are enough to slow battery wear and keep your phone in shape for years.
The lithium-ion batteries in smartphones wear out with use: after about 500 full charge cycles they lose on average 20 percent of their original capacity. You cannot stop the process, but you can slow it down a lot. Here is what really matters.
1. Avoid the extremes: neither 0 nor 100 percent
The greatest stress on a lithium cell comes when it is completely empty or completely full. Keeping the level between 20 and 80 percent as much as possible reduces wear. Both iPhones and recent Android phones have an option to limit charging to 80 percent (on iPhone under Settings > Battery > Charging; on many Android phones under Battery > Battery protection). If you don’t need the full range every day, turn it on.
2. Heat is enemy number one
A battery working at 35 °C ages much faster than one at 25 °C. Don’t leave the phone in the sun on the dashboard, don’t charge it under a pillow, and take the case off if it gets hot during fast charging or gaming.
3. Fast charging is fine, but not always
65 W or 120 W chargers are convenient, but they generate more heat. For overnight charging use the standard charger or “optimised charging”, which learns your schedule and finishes charging shortly before you wake up.
4. There is no need to “calibrate” the battery
The advice to fully drain the phone once a month dates back to the nickel batteries of twenty years ago. With lithium it is harmful: don’t do it.
5. Check who is draining it
Under Settings > Battery you’ll find the list of the hungriest apps. If an app you rarely use sits at the top, restrict its background activity or uninstall it.
6. Wireless charging in moderation
It is convenient but less efficient: part of the energy is lost as heat. Use it when it helps, not as your main method.
7. Use trustworthy chargers and cables
It doesn’t have to be the original, but it does need to be certified (USB-IF, or with proper CE marking and printed specifications). Anonymous chargers for a couple of euros regulate voltage poorly and can damage the battery, or worse.
When it’s time to replace it
When battery health drops below 80 percent of capacity, the phone starts shutting down unexpectedly or slowing down. A replacement at a service centre typically costs between 50 and 120 euros and gives the phone a couple more years of life.