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The battery is one of the components that most affects a phone’s lifespan, and the way it is charged directly influences how long it lasts before it starts to fail.
Much of what is believed about the subject are myths inherited from old batteries, and today specialists have clearer recommendations.
The golden rule: keep the charge between 20% and 80%
The advice most repeated by experts is to keep the charge, whenever possible, between 20% and 80%. Lithium-ion batteries (the ones used in phones) wear out more when they spend a lot of time at 100% or when they are drained to 0%.
In practice, this means that you do not need to wait for the phone to turn off to charge it, nor leave it plugged in at 100% all the time. Partial and frequent charges are better than taking it from one extreme to the other.
Heat, the great enemy
As important or more important than the percentage is the temperature. Heat speeds up wear on the battery, especially while charging. That is why it is advisable to:
- Do not charge the phone under direct sunlight or inside a hot car.
- Do not cover it with a pillow or the sheets when charging it at night, because it retains heat.
- Avoid using it intensively while charging (heavy games, for example), since that generates extra heat.
As a reference, Apple recommends using the phone within a mild temperature range, of around 16 to 22 °C.
Which charger to use
The accessory also matters. It is advisable to use certified chargers and cables or those from the manufacturer itself. Very cheap or uncertified products can cause voltage problems that damage the battery in the long term.
Myths worth discarding
- “You have to drain it to 0% before charging”: false. That applies to old batteries; in lithium ones, deep discharges wear them out more.
- “You should always charge it to 100%”: it is not necessary and, in fact, keeping it full all the time stresses it.
- “Leaving it charging overnight burns it out”: current phones manage it on their own.