Chances are, you’re one of the 90% of Americans who own a smartphone. It’s also likely that you’re doing one thing that’s shortening its lifespan, and you may not even realize it. Phones are expensive, so you need to stop charging yours to 100%. This innocuous action can significantly reduce your phone’s battery life. Most of us plug in our devices before we go to sleep and wake up to a full charge. Of course, many of us don’t like seeing that little battery icon in the upper corner of the screen at anything less than full during the day. Perhaps you can charge your phone in the car, at your desk, or even keep it plugged into a portable power bank in your purse or jacket pocket. Unfortunately, that quest to keep your phone at 100% isn’t doing your phone any favors. Why? — it’s all about temperature. While newer smartphones include baked-in safety features to prevent overcharging, continuously keeping the battery full generates unnecessary heat. That heat puts stress on lithium-ion batteries, which accelerates chemical aging. Just like you’re not supposed to keep your phone in direct sunlight, which significantly raises the internal temperature to damaging levels, excessively charging your phone via its USB port or through inductive (wireless) charging also limits your phone’s lifespan due to the heat generated. Instead, charge your phone to 80%, which is easy to do on newer-model phones that let you set charging limits. That should help extend the life of your smartphone’s battery.
