How to increase the battery life of your smartphones, tablets and computers

There are many urban legends concerning the charging of your cell phone, tablet or even computer, especially on their battery, the charging cycles, their charger or even their case! We sort out the real from the fake.

One thing is certain, a battery wears out, it has a lifespan and you have to know how to protect it well to prevent it from deteriorating too quickly, whether for your phones or tablets.

Although several schools of thought exist, here is some useful information on how to maintain the batteries of electronic devices and increase their lifespan.

There are so many myths about the lifespan of electronic devices that it's easy to get lost!

Short 101 course on phone batteries

Battery or pile?

The eternal question: do we say a battery or a telephone battery? Well, if you have read this far, you will understand that we say battery, since the latter can be recharged, unlike a battery, which is not.

Types of batteries

Batteries built into electronic devices are not the same as those used in the past and require different maintenance.

We now power our phones and computers with lithium-ion or lithium-polymer batteries. These rechargeable batteries do not work the same way.

Cycle of a battery

The batteries used in cell phones have a certain number of cycles before they are no longer usable.

By cycle, we mean a complete discharge followed by a complete recharge of the battery. You should know that lithium-ion batteries have a lifespan of between 500 and 1000 recharge cycles.

It is normal for a lithium battery to lose storage capacity over time. After 1 year of use, which corresponds to approximately 300 recharge cycles, the battery is at 80% of its original capacity as shown in this table illustrating data from the Asus company.

The battery loses 20% of its original capacity after 1 year of use.

Asus recommendations for battery maintenance

Debunking Phone Battery Myths and Facts

Fully Discharge the Phone

Whether it is the first time you use your smartphone or during daily charging, it is not recommended to discharge your phone to 0% every day.

We prefer to stay above 20% charge. If we go below 5%, it could cause damage to the battery.

Some experts, however, recommend running a full cycle once a month, never going below 5%, and recharging to 100% afterward.

It is also possible to activate the energy saving mode, which allows you to extend the duration of a charge.

Use any charger

Only use the original charger where possible as although the plug is the same from cable to cable they may not have all the same strength or specification .

If we have to use another charger, we must check if it is suitable for our phone.

On the iPhone side, you have to be careful with the charging cables. Apple has an MFI certification that provides the correct dosage.

Note: Some chargers are made to stop charging when the battery is at 100%, so it's better not to use your old, outdated accessories.

Wireless charging

Wireless charging has become more popular in recent years, especially with Apple and their MagSafe charger.

An important part of this way of charging is that it does not degrade the quality of the phone's battery.

Yes, the wireless charger will generate some heat, but will not damage the phone.

The only small negative point is that the charger hardly consumes more than a corded charger, because the contact is less direct with the battery. This means that charging will be slower.

Keep the case on the phone

Batteries found in mobile devices may tend to overheat slightly once on charge.

Certain types of cases can generate even more heat and thus affect the functioning of the battery.

It is therefore best to remove the case in which it is located when recharging.

Do not pay attention to heat sources

It is obvious that extreme ambient temperatures are not acceptable for a smartphone. They are designed to operate in a range of temperatures, between 16 and 22°C.

Do not keep it above 35°C at all costs, as this heat could permanently damage battery life. Some phones notify its user when the device is too hot or it will simply shut itself down in an attempt to cool down.

On the other hand, in a cold environment, the battery life may decrease, but it will only be temporary, because when the phone returns to a suitable temperature, the battery will return to its usual capacity.

Charge a phone overnight

Some experts say it's okay to leave your phone charging overnight.

Indeed, when we talk about battery overheating, we are talking about the ambient temperature and not the fact that we leave our phone plugged in for a while. The charger maintains a constant voltage, while the phone draws power only when it needs it. So there is no risk of overheating or damaging the device.

On the other side, there are those who say to charge the phone for several 8 hour periods. It is true that if the case prevents the phone from "breathing" during charging, the heat produced by the charger could damage the phone in the long term.

The best thing in this situation would be to remove the case for the night.

It is recommended to remove the case from a phone at night.

Use your phone while it is charging

According to some schools of thought, it is important not to use the device while it is charging to increase its battery life. Again, not everyone agrees on this...

For laptop computers and smart phones, there is usually no danger of overcharging since the battery no longer stores energy when it has reached its maximum level, contrary to what many people think.

You could therefore leave it plugged in without fear, but since heat damages the battery and a charging device often gives off heat, it is best to unplug it as soon as the charge is complete.

The danger is not overcharging the battery, but exposing it unnecessarily to a heat source.

In addition, it is not advisable to always use your laptop plugged in. At a minimum, the battery should be allowed to drain to 20% and fully recharged once a month to prevent it from deteriorating and activating its internal materials.

If you don't use a device's battery for a long time because you always use it plugged in, some manufacturers say you can remove the battery. Storage advice should then be followed.

But in this case, if a power failure occurs when your computer is powered on and no battery is installed to take over, you could damage your device...

Phone and car: A good match?

It is not recommended to plug our phone in our car using the USB port, because car USB ports are not strong enough to adequately charge a smartphone.

The electric charge provided by the car will not be powerful enough and this could not only damage the phone charger, but also the car battery.

The older the phone, the more likely it is to damage the vehicle's battery, unless the car is fairly new.

Finally, using the cigarette lighter port is bad for the phone, as this port provides up to 10 amps, while the majority of phone chargers only use one to three. This could cause the device to overheat.

The cigarette lighter port may generate too much power for the amount needed to charge a phone.

Recycle a battery at the end of its life

Do not throw our lithium-ion batteries in the household trash or recycle them, as they contain dangerous metals that must be recycled properly.

Many pharmacies take back used batteries, otherwise there are ecocentres everywhere where you can drop off your batteries.

If you're in Canada, there's a website to find a place to recycle your used batteries and batteries: Call to Recycle

Learn more about iOS smartphone batteries

Learn more about Android smartphone batteries

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