Explore the electrifying truth (and risks) behind the safety of the common practice of charging a smartphone while in use.
Do your hands itch while waiting for your phone to finish charging? Want to use the device while it’s plugged in? Charging a smartphone while in use has sparked debate before and it’s still a relevant question, especially for high-powered models.
Here, we highlighted the crucial things you need to know: the good and the bad of this habit. Among these things, there’s one important factor that you must keep your eye on.
Using Your Phone while Charging
Modern smartphones are intelligent enough to manage charging based on your usage patterns. They can stop fast charging to prolong battery life under specific conditions. Some are even equipped with a charging limiter to promote battery longevity. But what do manufacturers think about it?
As per Samsung, you can use your smartphone while charging but it’ll charge slower than usual. Not a surprise since the device’s hardware is optimized to adjust charging speed during use.
“There is no danger in using your phone while it’s charging. When you use your phone while charging, the battery is charging at a slower rate than normal to allow enough power for the ongoing usage,” Samsung posted.
Meanwhile, Apple didn’t post an official answer, as of writing, but many users and websites say that it’s safe to use your iPhone while charging. Cupertino gave a lengthy discussion on how to take good care of the battery.
Even on Reddit, users are saying that it’s safe to do it in a general sense. There are caveats and one of them should be on your prime watch.
Watch Out for This One
When you charge your smartphone, one reality is unavoidable: heat. Heat is generated because of the chemical reactions happening inside the battery.
Too much heat is bad for electronic devices and their batteries, significantly reducing their lifespan compared to other negative factors. This is the thing you need to monitor when using your phone while charging.
You can use third-party apps to monitor the battery temperature if your phone lacks a native one. When the temperature reaches between 38℃ and 42℃, that’s considered hot. Once it peaks at 45℃, overheating is imminent and the phone will soon turn itself off for protection.
They are Consumables
Despite their flexibility, lithium batteries aren’t too advanced with average charge cycles between 300 and 500. They are consumables that only last a few years or shorter for hardcore users.
When you charge and discharge your phone, its battery naturally degrades. That’s why battery health plummets big time after a year, depending on the TLC.
If the device is consistently exposed to excessive heat, the battery degrades much faster and this will lead to lower than expected battery health.
A smartphone battery designed with 1,600 charge cycles should last three to four years. But without TLC when fast charging, the battery may not reach that lifespan with the battery health going down to 80% in a couple of years.
Charging the phone while in use also stresses the battery. The stress from pushing in and pulling out energy are often linked to shorter battery lifespan.
What Can You Do
Although stopping battery degradation is impossible, you can push battery longevity beyond expectations. To do that, here are some helpful tips for countering heat during typical charging:
- Avoid charging your smartphone while under direct heat, including direct sunlight.
- Lower the brightness to limit the heat generated by the screen.
- Charge your phone using normal speed. 5W is better but if you can’t wait that long, settle for 10W. 15W or higher will generate too much heat.
- If your phone lacks a native charging limiter and uses fast charging with its charger, don’t turn off the screen. Set the brightness to the lowest and set the screen timeout to the longest. This will make the phone think it’s in use.
For charging while using the phone for gaming or whatnot, here are some tips:
- Keep the device away from sources of external heat.
- Settle for an optimal brightness level, just enough for you to see what’s on the display.
- Enable bypass charging if your phone supports it.
- Use a low wattage charger (5W) or disable fast charging in the Settings.
- Direct a fan to your phone to help dissipate heat and prevent overheating.
The takeaway is you can use your phone while charging. If you’re just watching online content or browsing, it won’t cause much stress on the battery. But if you’re gaming, editing videos, or doing other intensive tasks, the stress will generate too much heat and that’s going to be a problem in the long run.
