Here’s how to maximise your smartphone’s battery health

There’s nothing like leaving a house with 100 per cent battery, but within a few hours, we’re back to the anxiety of walking around with a draining smartphone. But despite your best efforts, if you find yourself struggling by the end of the day, there are long-term practices that might just help you maximise your device’s battery life. Check out some easy ways to boost your phone battery:

5 surprising ways you can boost your phone's battery life

Whether your device is brand new or a few years old, these tips can help you get a headstart at preserving your battery life long-term. Read on.

1. Try not to leave your phone empty or fully charged for long
2. Set a charging limit for your phone at 80%
3. Keep an eye out for your charge cycles
4. Don’t expose your phone to high temperatures
5. Don’t use your phone while it’s charging

1. Try not to leave your phone empty or fully charged for long

Sounds weird, right? But it will make sense once we explain the basics of lithium-ion batteries to you. For starters, imagine a tiny chemical reaction inside your phone’s battery every second you’re using it. This is the battery releasing its stored energy. It essentially has two terminals (positive – cathode and negative – anode). When discharging, your phone will move the negative side to the positive side through a gel-like substance called ‘electrolyte’.

When fully discharged, all your phone’s ‘usable’ energy will be depleted, and your phone will automatically shut down. Plugging your phone back into power will reverse this process and drive the lithium ions as well as electrons to their original positions.

Keeping your phone discharged, or at 100, usually places more stress on the battery internally and can speed up long-term degradation.

2. Set a charging limit for your phone at 80%

Now that you know how degradation usually works, try not to fully charge your phone. While it’s always satisfying to see it hit that ‘100’, having your device range between 20 to 80 per cent is actually healthy for its battery life.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ever fully charge your phone. The degradation often only happens when you keep your phone either discharged or fully charged at all times. Contrary to popular belief, charging your phone is, in fact, safer than letting it charge to 100 per cent.

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This is because most modern phones come with adaptive charging and are smart enough to regulate the power at nighttime. While charging your phone at 80 per cent will mean you will have a shorter battery, on the flip side, it will ensure the battery health of your phone remains intact for a longer time to come.

3. Keep an eye out for your charge cycles

Each time you power up your phone from zero to 100, it constitutes a complete charge cycle. This does not include the times you power up your phone, say from a 30 per cent to a 60 per cent. However, it will eventually count as a complete cycle when you hit 100, no matter how many short spurts of powering up it takes.

Several manufacturers today mention that a phone should be able to retain 80 per cent of its charging capacity after 800 such cycles. However, if you find yourself fully charging your phone a lot more than once, you might want to get it checked at an authorised service centre. In any other case, don’t worry about frequently charging your phone — after all, it is healthy to charge your phone every now and then, compared to fully charging it in one go.

4. Don't expose your phone to high temperatures

Have you ever noticed how your phone battery drains significantly faster when you’re out and about in the sun? It’s not a coincidence; high temperature often messes up your battery life and cause it to drain faster. But if you think colder rooms or cool temperatures can make this any better, you might want to reconsider!

Cooling your phone by the air conditioner or chucking it in a refrigerator may sound tempting, but it ends up permanently damaging the internals of your device. Instead, allow your phone to normalise naturally — switch it off and set it aside in a cool, dry corner. If you’re travelling in extreme conditions, you might also want to get an insulated pouch to protect your phone from the heat or cold.

5. Don't use your phone while it's charging

We’ve heard about this before, but never really paid heed. Your phone’s battery is like a sponge. While it does soak up water easily at the start, it will eventually stop absorbing or spill if you keep pushing it to take in water.

When you’re using your phone while it charges, your phone is also constantly pulling power from your battery to its components — while you’re pushing power into it. This tug of water eventually contributes to your phone generating more heat and causes long-term battery stress. The best way to avoid this is by making sure you don’t use your phone while it charges, at least till it’s about 70 per cent charged.

Some of these tips, although challenging to put into practice, could contribute to your smartphone’s long-term battery health. If you found these useful, make sure to let us know in the comments below and subscribe to Unboxed by Croma.