Have you been charging your phone wrongly…?

Most smartphone users would probably like a better battery life and might think their phone just isn’t as good as it was. It could be down to general wear and tear but you might just have been charging your phone wrong all these years. Most of us plug our phones in before we fall asleep so it’s ready to go in the morning, right?

The overnight charge sets our smartphone up for the rest of the day (or even a few hours) and can get all the just it needs while we’re in scroll-free sleep. But it turns out, experts have revealed, we might actually be doing more harm than good with our night time charge.

Cadax , a company that offers devices that test smartphone and other batteries, runs a free educational website called Battery University. As spotted by BusinessInsider , it offers a host of tips for prolonging the life of your phone.

Charge your phone little and often

Have you been charging your phone wrong? We’re all used to plugging in our mobiles for the long, overnight charge. But it turns out that juicing up frequently and in small doses might actually be the best option for your battery’s health.

It doesn’t matter if you only charge up 10 per cent or 20 per cent as, according to Battery University: “Partial charges cause no harm.” Don’t let your phone run out before you plug it in We’re often told that you should fully deplete your battery before you charge it right back up again.

According to the experts, a “deep-discharge” where you run it down to a fraction of its power is actually bad for batteries and will wear them out quicker. So avoid the red warning if at all possible.

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Keep your phone’s battery between 65 per cent and 75 per cent

It turns out there’s an optimal point to maintain your phone’s power – kind of like the optimal speed limit for burning gas and covering distance in a car. According to the team at Battery University, the sweet spot is between 65 per cent and 75 per cent of your battery’s full charge. Best keep that power pack handy.

Never fully charge your battery

This one might seem a bit counter-intuitive – but it appears that you should never charge your phone up to 100 per cent. That’s because modern lithium-ion batteries do “not need to be fully charged, nor is it desirable to do so.” The website states: “In fact, it is better not to fully charge, because a high voltage stresses the battery”.

You don’t need to remove the charger when it’s full

If you do decide to ignore the point above, the good news is that you don’t have to remove the phone after you’ve hit 100 per cent. Battery University points out that the charger automatically turns off when it hits 100% so you’re not doing any extra damage by leaving it connected to your device. That being said, if you’re not doing the battery any good by keeping it at 100 per cent, it might be best to leave it alone overnight.