8 Biggest Myths About Your Phone Battery

1. It’s good to occasionally turn your phone off to save the battery life

No, not really. Especially in the latest smartphones, with advanced lithium-ion batteries, it’s not the case anymore. They’re as smart as your phone, so when you are not using your phone, the state of the battery is almost the same as being switched off completely. Hence, your smartphone doesn’t really need a breather, in that sense, to save battery.

Also, do bear in mind that turning your phone back on actually uses more power! So simply resuming it from sleep mode could be a wiser move.

 

2. Leaving a charger plugged in the socket, without the phone, doesn’t waste energy

Actually, it does. Some believe that unlike TV and laptop cables, the wire of your phone charger almost never draws any energy if the phone is not plugged in. According to an article in the Mirror, one of the biggest culprits of wastage is ‘vampire energy’, where electrical appliances are plugged into the wall socket but aren't in use. And phone chargers were found to be among the worst offenders for it!

Another research published in Research Gate concludes that “the actual recharging of batteries consumes only 40% of the total energy; the rest is wasted mainly by unnecessarily plugged-in chargers consuming 55% of the total energy”.

3. Charging your phone all night will overcharge your battery

For modern-day smartphones, with lithium-ion batteries, ‘overcharging’ is no longer an issue. So even if you leave your cellphone plugged in overnight, it will only charge as much as required. Most smartphones come with a built-in chip and don’t draw current from the charger once they hit 100%. In fact, many good quality chargers also boast protection chips that prevent them from releasing more power than needed, and turn the charger off.

4. Fast charging may damage your phone’s battery

Not true. Yes, slow charging did the ‘pre-lithium-ion-days’ batteries a lot of good, by causing them less strain or load, thus, potentially, even averting damage (and that’s why most devices then came with a limit, so they don’t charge too quickly). But with advancement in technology, smartphones now allow easy ‘fast-charge’. The lithium-ion batteries have a charge-controller that monitors the flow of the current, and prevents any  sudden (thus harmful) spikes. The phones charge quicker because there is more current received, comparatively, but it is ensured, all along, that it’s not more energy than the device can absorb.

5.You should let the battery discharge to 0 per cent before putting the phone for recharging

Technically, batteries are said to be most-strained when they’re fully charged or fully empty. So some experts even believe that the best place to be would be anything between 20% to 80%. Charging the phone when the level hits 30% is considered ideal.

Also, draining the battery completely is said to cause chemical reactions that may adversely affect its life in the long term. That’s why phones usually have an in-built feature that prevents the battery from fully emptying out and powers the phones down after a certain mark, showing you low-battery warnings a bit before it actually hits 0.

6. You shouldn’t touch your phone when it’s charging

With modern phones, it’s okay to take calls or use apps, while your phone is plugged in for charging. When you use your phone while charging, in smartphones, usually, the battery charges at a slower rate than normal, to allow enough power for the ongoing usage. Just that, in some cases, it may cause the battery to longer to charge, affecting the aging of the battery in the long run. In those cases, perhaps heavy usage, like gaming, while charging could be avoided. But other than that, there is no danger in using your smartphone while it's charging. 

 

7. It is okay to charge your phone in a computer or a public port

If you’re worried about privacy, it may not be such a good idea. According to an article in the Mirror, security experts claim that plugging your phone into a computer to charge it up is enough to get you hacked. According to researchers at Kaspersky Lab, it states, “plugging your iPhone or Android phone into a computer results in a whole load of data being exchanged between the two devices”. This could include the phone’s name, the manufacturer, the device type, the serial number, firmware information, the operating system information, the file system, and the electronic chip ID, depending on the device and the host.

Many other experts claim that even using  a cord in a public port for your dying phone can be a potential security threat that put your information at risk—giving hackers access to stuff in your phone—emails, texts, photos, and more.

 

8. It’s fine to use a cheaper, knock-off charger
No. They often don’t meet the necessary standards, and often don’t include any safety mechanisms, such as against fluctuation. All this can adversely affect your phone, the battery as well as the charger port. Also, smartphones, typically, use a universal charging interface, but if the charger does not match the original, it will do your battery more harm than good. Always use original chargers, or products that are manufacturer-certified and branded.