Do you charge your mobile phone properly? 5 tips to extend battery life

There isn’t a person who doesn’t use a mobile phone these days. Many of us can’t leave home without an electronic assistant that has long stopped being just a phone—it’s become something more than just a phone. But using your mobile phone also means charging it.

How to take proper care of your phone battery?

Without a battery, your favorite smartphone becomes a piece of dead electronics. Batteries have a limited lifespan and, over time, start losing energy faster, while charging takes longer. If you learn a few good tricks, you can keep your energy reserve alive for longer.

1. Unplug the device when it’s fully charged

Leaving your phone plugged into the power outlet after it reaches a full charge is, in the long run, not good for the battery and shortens its lifespan. As soon as your smartphone reaches 100% energy, the discharge process begins—but the connected charger tries to recharge the battery.

That’s why it keeps the battery at a high-voltage state, which leads to faster depletion of the battery’s chemical components. If the battery is fully charged, take the phone off the charger as soon as possible. It’s like giving yourself a break after a tough workout—you’d be pretty unhappy too if you had to work nonstop for hours.

2. Avoid wireless charging

Wireless charging is very convenient and increasingly popular among users. However, it also has its downsides—one of them is that it can shorten battery life. Inductive chargers generate a small amount of waste heat.

Wasted energy is just warm air, but during this process the battery being charged heats up more than with regular wired charging. That again increases wear on the battery’s electrolyte. Even though it’s less convenient, standard charging with a cable keeps your battery alive for longer.

3. Never let it hit zero

It turns out that the batteries in our smartphones are much “happier” when we charge them repeatedly throughout the day. It’s better than letting the battery drain down to zero. There are studies that even claim that the ideal is to keep the charge level between 45 and 55%.

It’s good to plug and unplug your phone several times a day. Not only will this ensure optimal smartphone battery life for longer, but your phone will be practically charged throughout the whole day. If you don’t have the option to keep topping up your phone all the time, try to keep it at least in the 20 to 80% range.

? Xiaomi Planet TIP: For your smartphone, we recommend buying a power bank – an external battery. That way you’ll always have power with you. There are compact, slim power banks on the market that fit easily even in your trouser pocket. The best prices on power banks you’ll find on Deal Planet.

4. Use only authorized chargers

Ideally, use a charger that came in the box with your phone. That charger has precise parameters designed for that specific phone and battery. If that isn’t possible, try to use a certified charger approved by the phone manufacturer.

? Original Xiaomi EU charger ?

Cheap alternatives can significantly reduce battery life and even damage your phone. There are cases where unapproved chargers caused an explosion or a fire. So it’s definitely smart to invest in an original or high-quality charger.

5. Use fast charging only when you really need it

Many new phones have fast charging. It’s a useful innovation, especially when your phone is out of battery and we don’t have much time to charge. With fast charging, your phone can go from zero to about half in roughly half an hour. However, fast charging is only at the beginning of the charging cycle.

The phone and charger’s smart features add voltage later only when it’s absolutely necessary.

Even though in this case the battery life reduction isn’t significant, it’s still recommended to use certified chargers with stable charging and lower voltage.

We don’t have lab tests that precisely specify how much, in a given process, we extend battery life. That’s why treat our article as a recommendation—or a good piece of advice.