Why is it not recommended to fully recharge your smartphone battery?

While people wait until their smartphones are completely drained before fully recharging them, this practice is not recommended. Tech&Co explains why.

Wait until your smartphone runs out of power before recharging it to 100%. This practice is adopted by many people to use their phones longer and not charge them as often.

However, it is not recommended to fully discharge and recharge your smartphone, as it may damage the battery slightly. Most phones today have lithium-ion batteries, which withstand short cycles better, with regular recharging, than the old nickel batteries.

Between 20 and 80%

To preserve your battery, it is recommended to keep it between two thresholds, that is, not less than 20% and not more than 80%. This way it will wear out less quickly. Apple and Samsung also offer options to limit your smartphone's charge to 80%.

On Apple's part, this option is only available on the iPhone 15. However, the company has been introducing another function on older models since iOS 13. Called “Optimized Battery Charging”, it is activated by default and is designed to “reduce battery aging”.

Concretely, once it reaches 80%, this option suspends the recharging process until its owner uses it. In other words, after 80%, the recharging continues according to the user's habits.