When I talk to family or friends about why they had to upgrade to a new phone, the main reason I always hear is that their old phone’s battery was no longer lasting long enough. It’s not because the phone is running slow, the storage is full, or they don’t like the way it looks. The main culprit is always battery life. People rightly care about their phone’s battery and want it to last all day.

The truth is that phone battery performance naturally degrades no matter what you do. That’s how the science behind the lithium-ion cells in most phones works. While it’s impossible to completely prevent battery degradation, there are things you can do to mitigate and slow it down. Smartphone batteries have gotten a lot better in the last decade, whether you’re using an iPhone or an Android device.

Phone hardware and software have become more efficient when it comes to battery life and health, but there are still things you can do to extend the life of your phone’s battery and get the longer life you want. Here’s what to look out for to avoid damaging your smartphone battery.

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1 Let the phone die

But make sure you plug it in before it reaches zero

It’s happened to all of us, and it’s not the end of the world if your phone battery dies completely occasionally. But the easiest way to protect your phone’s battery is to not let it completely drain.

If you do this frequently, the battery will weaken and its lifespan and charging capacity will be reduced. How, you may ask?

Fully discharging your battery regularly speeds up its chemical degradation process, as the materials in the battery are subjected to greater stress when the device is recharged. This stress on the chemicals reduces the lifespan of the battery, thus slightly increasing the rate at which the battery naturally degrades. The best way to prevent your phone from getting too close to zero is to plug it in when you get the “low battery” message, usually when there is 20% charge left. This will help extend the life of your phone’s battery.

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2 Extreme temperatures are not great

Be careful of overheating and cold

Extreme temperature conditions can damage your phone’s battery. Phones are designed and tested to operate and charge in specific temperature conditions. Your phone battery will be affected by extreme heat or cold.

Apple states on its website: “Avoid using or charging your device in ambient temperatures above 35°C (95°F), as this may permanently reduce battery life.” The heat speeds up chemical reactions in the phone’s lithium-ion battery, causing it to wear out faster. That’s not to say that using your phone in the summer or hot weather will affect battery life, but be careful when charging and using it. If it gets too hot, let your phone cool down. Most phones will tell you when it’s too hot to operate.

For example, I recently received a notification on my iPhone that charging had stopped due to heat. It was a hot day and I had to wait for my phone to cool down before I could safely charge it without damaging the battery. While this only took a few minutes, it shows that heat affects the battery and charging.

Cold weather also affects your battery. Usually, extreme cold slows down the chemical reaction in your battery rather than speeding it up. This makes your battery less efficient and its capacity decreases as the phone uses more power to keep the battery and its components warm and at optimal operating temperature. To protect your phone’s battery, pay attention to weather conditions and let your phone recover if it gets too hot or too cold.

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3 Bad chargers and cables are a major reason

Use the charger from the manufacturer or a trusted brand

Pocket lint

Using a trusted phone charger and cable can help you avoid damage to your phone battery. Usually, the charger that came with your phone from the manufacturer is always the best choice. However, there may be times when you no longer have the original and need a new cable and power adapter.

A bad charger can damage your phone’s battery if it doesn’t deliver the right voltage, causing it to drain faster. So if you’re looking to buy a new phone charger and cable, buy it from the manufacturer or a trusted third-party brand like Anker and Belkin that is sure to deliver the right voltage and adequately charge your phone battery.

Cables are also something to be careful about. For example, I once bought a cheap cable from a supermarket to charge my iPhone in the car. I didn’t know that the cable was not up to standard and caused my phone to heat up and barely charge. Then when I just used my regular Apple charging cable, my phone charged just fine. By not using cheap or low-quality cables to charge your phone, you are protecting your phone and its battery.

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4 Do not use optimized loading

Let your smartphone protect its battery itself

Most phones have built-in protection mechanisms that automatically stop charging once the maximum capacity is reached, so overcharging your phone and destroying the battery is more of a myth than a fact.

However, there is still a chance that your battery performance may degrade slightly by continuously charging at 100% as the phone still consumes a little energy and power to stay charged at 100%.

Most phones now have adaptive charging settings that allow you to manage charging and optimize it based on your usage. On iPhones, this feature is called “Optimized Battery Charging.” On Pixels, it’s called “Adaptive Charging.” On Samsung phones, it’s called “Battery Protection.” While they have different names, they all have the same goal: to optimize battery charging and extend battery life.

On my iPhone, I use the Optimized Battery Charging feature every day. When I plug my phone in at night, it automatically stops charging at 80% and starts charging to 100% just before my alarm goes off. That way, my battery is fully charged in time for when I wake up.

In summary, don’t worry about leaving your phone plugged in overnight or for too long, the risk to the battery is minimal and phones are smarter than ever, optimizing charging and reducing the risk of trickle charging and thus battery degradation.

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5 Keep an eye on the time

The ancient answer is still the key

The biggest factor that can damage your battery is time. No matter how well you take care of your phone’s battery, how many optimization settings you use, or how sparingly you use and charge your phone, over time the battery will wear out. That’s life.

As your phone’s lithium-ion battery drains and is charged daily, its chemical materials naturally break down. Over time, the more charge cycles the battery goes through, the less charge it retains, resulting in reduced battery life.

Most phones let you see the battery health in the settings menu or through an app, so you can monitor it over time. On my last two iPhones, the battery level has typically deteriorated by about 10% in two years, from 100% to 90%. It’s just time.

While you can’t prevent the passage of time, you can mitigate the effects on your battery by paying attention to things that damage your phone battery, like the ones I mentioned in this story.

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