How to Zap Your Phone-Charging Phobias

Some of us feel powerless to resist plugging in the moment our phone battery drops below 90%. Others can’t be bothered until our charge is in the single digits. (Usually, these people marry one another.)

Either way, are your charging habits keeping your phone’s battery in good shape? Michael Pecht is a Distinguished University Professor of mechanical engineering and founder of the Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering, which focuses on product durability. Here, he offers tips on getting the most out of your cell phone’s battery.

DON’T BE OS-OBSESSED.
Green bubbles or blue bubbles don’t make a difference, says Pecht. Any name-brand phone running on an Apple or Android operating system is going to have a well-developed battery management system, which monitors the battery’s temperature and performance.

DON’T WORRY ABOUT REACHING 100%.
The higher you charge, the faster your battery’s lifespan fades. You may have noticed that getting up to around 80% is quick work, but the final 20% seems to take hours. That last bit is what degrades the battery, Pecht says, so don’t think twice about unplugging before you hit triple digits. (In fact, most current batteries aren’t operating at 100% charge even if they say they are—phones are programmed to generally avoid such topping off, he says.)

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OPTIMIZED CHARGING.
This nifty trick, which the latest iPhones do automatically unless told not to, learns based on your habits when you’re going to do your longest charging session—like overnight. It’ll pace its charging so that you don’t exceed that 80% threshold.

DON’T CONFUSE A SLUGGISH BATTERY WITH A DEAD ONE.
Cell phone manufacturers “have this screwy definition of end of life,” says Pecht—typically when your battery fades to about 70 or 80% of its capacity. But your phone will still work fine: “You just have to charge it more often.”