“Sometimes I hear that it is bad for the battery of your smartphone to charge it overnight, but I have also heard that this is no longer harmful nowadays,” writes a KIJK reader. “What about that?”
Anyone who constantly charges a device risks it being ‘overcharged’. As long as the plug is plugged in, the voltage increases – even if the battery is already fully charged. As a result, the battery wears out faster and holds a charge less well over time. Because you sleep longer at night than the phone needs to charge, this can cause unnecessary strain on the battery for hours.
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Smart charging saves battery
But, indeed: in modern smartphones this is no longer a big problem. Built-in chips monitor the battery to ensure that the power supply is automatically curtailed when the battery is full. That also has some impact on your battery, but not much.
Recent software updates also make your phone charge smarter at night. iPhones and Android devices charge up to 80 percent and try to predict what time you will wake up the next day, for example by looking at your alarm clock. The software then ensures that the last 20 percent is fully charged shortly before the alarm goes off. This way you can be sure that the battery is not unnecessarily ‘topped up’ and the battery wears out (slightly) less quickly.
You could find this question in KIJK 11-12/2023.
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Text: Bastiaan Vroegop
Opening image: Alphotographic/iStock/Getty Images
Tags: unwise charge smartphone night
