Cellphone battery performance, health and maintenance.

[ExtraSlow]

So one big gripes people have about cellphones is the battery life. Both my wife and I have been using the AccuBattery app recently to monitor battery health. As I think we all know, these batteries loose capacity over time.

Here's what it says about my battery right now:


Currently showing that its only got 75% total capacity left. And in case anyone is confused, that's not the charge level.

Anyone else use this app? Takes a few days to start getting the full results.

[rage2]

The trick is to not fast charge unless absolutely necessary. USB PD high speed charging absolutely destroys the battery over time.

[ExtraSlow]

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The trick is to not fast charge unless absolutely necessary. USB PD high speed charging absolutely destroys the battery over time.

How do you not fast charge? Can you turn that off, or do you need to find an old charging brick somewhere that doesn't have the output?

[ThePenIsMightier]

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How do you not fast charge? Can you turn that off, or do you need to find an old charging brick somewhere that doesn't have the output?

You can turn it off on a Samsung.
Settings, Device Maintenance, Battery, 3-dots, Advanced Settings, Off.

[rage2]

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How do you not fast charge? Can you turn that off, or do you need to find an old charging brick somewhere that doesn't have the output?

If you can't turn it off, pretty much have to find a non PD charger.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Lithium batteries in general require a certain amount of care, and this applies to smartphones/tablets as well. If you want to maintain the best possible battery health, DO NOT:

- Leave your phone on the charger overnight
- Let your phone battery get extremely low or die
- Leave your phone battery at a low charge for a long period of time
- Leave your phone battery at 100% charge for a long period of time
- Let your battery get extremely hot or extremely cold, especially for long periods of time
- If you aren't going to use the device for a long time, store it with around ~40-60% charge, and charge/discharge the battery back down to ~40-60% at least once every 2-3 months or so in the cases of long term storage.

Generally these things aren't a big deal with most people getting a new smartphone every year, but if your goal is to properly maintain the battery, especially over several years, there are lots of things people do that they shouldn't. Ideally you keep the charge somewhere in the middle as often as possible (say, 30-70% roughly speaking).

Lithium batteries do not like too much heat, or being cold during discharge/use. Fast charging is far less damaging than if you abuse your battery in some other ways (like leaving it at 0% for a long time). They also don't fast charge up to 100%, most devices slow the rate of charge significantly once it reaches somewhere around 50-80%, and the last bit up to 100% is almost always trickle charged. Slow charging is overall better for battery health over the long-term though. If you don't want to fast charge, just buy any one of the many generic, high quality 2.4A chargers on Amazon from Aukey, Anker, or Ravpower for a few dollars. They will charge around 10-12W max, which is standard for a 'slow' charger. Some devices allow you to disable fast charging through the settings as well.

One of the most common things I see is people wrecking their lithium lawn care tool batteries by leaving them in the garage for 6 months in the winter. People forget about them, they eventually discharge to 0%, get really cold, and are then either useless or have dramatically reduced capacity come Spring.

Most people do not take care of their batteries at all, which is actually one big reason why I almost ever buy used electronics - especially drones, where a poorly maintained or abused battery can make your $2000++ investment fall out of the sky.

Every smartphone I have owned for 1-2 years has reported 99-100% of it's battery capacity/health by the time I sold it, even with quick charging. They will lose capacity over time, but there is a lot you can do that requires virtually zero effort to slow that down. It's more important that you avoid doing the other things that are extremely bad for the battery.

[ExtraSlow]

Some awesome info in this thread.

[Swank]

Airplane mode is a very powerful feature for battery health. Overnight my phone will drain ~20-30% just sitting there because there's always communication happening, but in airplane mode it goes down ~3-5%. If you're on call and have to have it on 24/7 then you shut off wifi, bluetooth, gps, etc but that can be a bit of a pain, though there are apps that simplify it. I also use airplane mode when at the gym, long drives, and when charging my phone. The less you drain it, the less you charge it, the longer your battery should last especially when following the other advice given already in this thread. Airplane mode is also good for mental health, it's so nice to unplug from the world.

[Mitsu3000gt]

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Airplane mode is a very powerful feature for battery health. Overnight my phone will drain ~20-30% just sitting there because there's always communication happening, but in airplane mode it goes down ~3-5%. If you're on call and have to have it on 24/7 then you shut off wifi, bluetooth, gps, etc but that can be a bit of a pain, though there are apps that simplify it. I also use airplane mode when at the gym, long drives, and when charging my phone. The less you drain it, the less you charge it, the longer your battery should last especially when following the other advice given already in this thread. Airplane mode is also good for mental health, it's so nice to unplug from the world.

Something else is going on with your phone if you're losing 20-30% over night, that is nuts. I could leave my phone alone for days and not lose that much. The last 3 phones I've owned lose 1-3% when they go to "sleep" overnight with everything turned on (WiFi, bluetooth, etc.) - any modern phone should be similar under normal circumstances. Sounds like there is an app or process preventing your phone from going to sleep. If it's an Android you can manually disable background data usage on a per-app basis as well which can be very helpful.

[rage2]

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Lithium batteries in general require a certain amount of care, and this applies to smartphones/tablets as well. If you want to maintain the best possible battery health, DO NOT:

- Leave your phone on the charger overnight
- Leave your phone battery at 100% charge for a long period of time

These 2 aren't really problems anymore. It's been for a few years now that devices are smart enough to drain the battery and charge, while still showing "100%" to make you feel like you're at 100% but actually doing it's best to maintain battery life by going through a slow charge/discharge cycle.

I have an iPod touch that's plugged in all the time as a baby monitor, and still has surprisingly good battery life.

[killramos]

I leave my iPhone X on a wireless charger at work, next to my couch, and on my bed side table at night. Regardless of charge.

Supposedly my battery is at 92% after 16 months. I can live with that.

[ExtraSlow]

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These 2 aren't really problems anymore. It's been for a few years now that devices are smart enough to drain the battery and charge, while still showing "100%" to make you feel like you're at 100% but actually doing it's best to maintain battery life by going through a slow charge/discharge cycle.

I have an iPod touch that's plugged in all the time as a baby monitor, and still has surprisingly good battery life.

How long have phones been that smart? The Samsung phones particularly.

[Swank]

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Something else is going on with your phone if you're losing 20-30% over night, that is nuts. I could leave my phone alone for days and not lose that much. The last 3 phones I've owned lose 1-3% when they go to "sleep" overnight with everything turned on (WiFi, bluetooth, etc.) - any modern phone should be similar under normal circumstances. Sounds like there is an app or process preventing your phone from going to sleep. If it's an Android you can manually disable background data usage on a per-app basis as well which can be very helpful.

Must be nice! Android OS, Android System, and Screen are by far the biggest drains, and there's no option to shut down the background data usage when on wifi. Maybe my 3 year old Sony just isn't modern enough.

[Mitsu3000gt]

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These 2 aren't really problems anymore. It's been for a few years now that devices are smart enough to drain the battery and charge, while still showing "100%" to make you feel like you're at 100% but actually doing it's best to maintain battery life by going through a slow charge/discharge cycle.

I have an iPod touch that's plugged in all the time as a baby monitor, and still has surprisingly good battery life.

Those are far from the worst things you can do to a battery on my list, but it's still best practice not to do those things. The charge/discharge cycle is very shallow to my knowledge, for example 95%-100%-95%-100%.

Like I said, most of these things are not going to affect anyone over the typical 1-2 year phone life unless you really abuse it. But there is still a difference between what is usually OK to do without any significant negative effect, and best practice.

Not leaving a battery at 100% for too long also has safety implications, because if it gets too hot and swells, you do not want it at 100%.

- - - Updated - - -

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Must be nice! Android OS, Android System, and Screen are by far the biggest drains, and there's no option to shut down the background data usage when on wifi. Maybe my 3 year old Sony just isn't modern enough.

If your screen is using battery overnight, that could be part of your problem. I am not familiar with Sony's Android overlay so it's possible you don't have some of the options I'm used to seeing.

[D'z Nutz]

Mitsu, most of what you posted isn't really relevant anymore and is just old stuff that just keeps getting recycled over and over on the internet so much that people think it's true. Some people still think batteries have memories so you have to completely drain and recharge a new device a few times to train it!

I came across a post by a battery engineer that said most of this stuff used to be issues in the past, but not so much now. I tried looking for it, but can't find it. Yeah, the extreme heat and cold one is still true, but whole leaving an optimal charge and not keeping it plugged in thing, no. People who go through all these extra steps to extend the health of their batteries aren't going to see much difference than someone who doesn't, if any.

I have phones and devices plugged in non-stop, while in use at home, and overnight. I have phones and devices that are uncharged and left off for 4-6 months, sometimes even a year. I still get great battery life out of them after a full charge. This includes a 7 and 9 year old laptop and a 6 year old Nexus 4 that I keep as a emergency backup. Sure, not as good as brand new, but pretty damn close still.

The biggest drain on your battery is having all these apps that do data polling in the background. All the social media, email, messaging, etc background data adds up. Then you add the regular screen time stuff you do with your phone on top of it. You want better battery life? Delete apps you're not using and disable background polling for things you only want on-demand if you can.

[Mitsu3000gt]

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Mitsu, most of what you posted isn't really relevant anymore and is just old stuff that just keeps getting recycled over and over on the internet so much that people think it's true. Some people still think batteries have memories so you have to completely drain and recharge a new device a few times to train it!

It is still relevant, just not typically in the 1-2 year life cycle of most people's smartphones, which I mentioned above. I think the important takeaway is it's best practice if you plan on keeping the battery for a very long time, which does not apply to most people. There is still a difference between best practice, and what most people do, and the consequences of that do vary. Not everything on my list is equally as bad, which I think I made clear above, or at least I thought I did. Not everyone will care about losing 20% capacity over 5 years (just as an example), but if you can avoid that with little effort, why not. You're right though that some people still think you need to 'train' Lithium batteries which is not the case - they prefer to live between roughly 30-70% all the time, but that is rarely convenient or even practical. It can be a good idea to cycle them though if they have been in storage for a long time (3 months+). I don't see this information recycled often at all because most people have no clue how to properly care for lithium batteries - fact of the matter though is that most people typically do not own their various devices long enough for many of these things to become an issue unless they do something really bad. Like I said, the really bad ones are heat, 0% charge, and cold with low charge. Leaving your phone on the charger overnight isn't going to wreck anything, it's just not optimal.

I have an eReader that I left at 0% charge for too long and now the battery lasts 3 days instead of 3 weeks. It still works, it's just mostly useless. My friends have wrecked a bunch of their lawn tool batteries by letting them drain to 0% over the winter and leaving them for months out in the garage - again they still work, but with a dramatically reduced run time so they are pretty much garbage now. My GF has an old Macbook that was in storage for a year or so and now it only works if it's plugged in. All batteries aren't created equal either, some are more tolerant of abuse than others.

Drone batteries in particular (they are Lithium just like smartphones) require very strict care, and I have read of countless people's drones falling out of the sky due to abusing their batteries (I.e. running them so low they get a voltage drop, or randomly getting a voltage drop and later admitting they stored them at 0%). To be fair, if you abuse your phone battery, the consequences really aren't that bad, but depending on the application, improper care of a $150 battery can easily cost you $3000++. In fact the batteries ship with an entire manual on proper lithium battery care. The OP seemed to be interested in what is going to maximize his battery life and if you follow my post, you will get just that - how much each point makes a difference though will depend.

At the end of the day just do what you're comfortable with. If you have anything really expensive that relies on lithium batteries though I would definitely suggest putting in the extra effort for optimal care. I see the consequences of people abusing their batteries all the time, so I am probably more anal about it than the average person.

[firebane]

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Must be nice! Android OS, Android System, and Screen are by far the biggest drains, and there's no option to shut down the background data usage when on wifi. Maybe my 3 year old Sony just isn't modern enough.

The biggest thing about the Android system is to go in and disable ANYTHING you don't use, turn off Sync for all the crap you also don't use. Turn the brightness down instead of being at 100%. Other things are the difference between LED and OLED screens.

Your phone should go into a deep sleep when its not on and if its not something is keeping it awake in the background which are called "wake locks" and this will drain your battery fast.

My Galaxy S7 which I picked up something like 4 years ago? I don't even remember now is only down 10% battery life because I've never fast charged it, I rooted it from day one and threw a custom OS on it. Depending on my usage I can kill the battery fairly quickly or it can last a day or more.

[revelations]

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Drone batteries in particular (they are Lithium just like smartphones) require very strict care, and I have read of countless people's drones falling out of the sky due to abusing their batteries (I.e. running them so low they get a voltage drop, or randomly getting a voltage drop and later admitting they stored them at 0%). To be fair, if you abuse your phone battery, the consequences really aren't that bad, but depending on the application, improper care of a $150 battery can easily cost you $3000++. In fact the batteries ship with an entire manual on proper lithium battery care. The OP seemed to be interested in what is going to maximize his battery life and if you follow my post, you will get just that - how much each point makes a difference though will depend.

At the end of the day just do what you're comfortable with. If you have anything really expensive that relies on lithium batteries though I would definitely suggest putting in the extra effort for optimal care. I see the consequences of people abusing their batteries all the time, so I am probably more anal about it than the average person.

The average phone user is not going to care about optimizing their battery life - in fact many go on to install 'battery optimizers' that cause further degradation ... lol

The average DRONE user however, should (and many do) care about their Lipo batteries. I use all proper LIPO battery storage/use/drain protocols that are recommended - for eg. storage charge - charge/discharge cycle once a month - keep the batteries in the fridge, etc.

It gets geeky very fast and really DOES make a difference for things like drones.

[Mitsu3000gt]

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The average phone user is not going to care about optimizing their battery life - in fact many go on to install 'battery optimizers' that cause further degradation ... lol

The average DRONE user however, should (and many do) care about their Lipo batteries. I use all proper LIPO battery storage/use/drain protocols that are recommended - for eg. storage charge - charge/discharge cycle once a month - keep the batteries in the fridge, etc.

It gets geeky very fast and really DOES make a difference for things like drones.

Yup, that's pretty well what I said

The consequences for poor battery care are very different between someone flying thousands of dollars in the air (even more so if commercially above people), and a teenager with their first iPhone. Best practices however do not change, it's just how much they matter to you and/or your application. Personally I maintain all of my lithium batteries the same way because the effort to do so optimally is so low.

[HiTempguy1]

Going on 1.5 years with the OnePlus 5.

Have noticed zero difference in battery life. I only "normal" charge overnight at 2amps, the fast charger travels with me in my backpack/luggage. I do normal charge all night though.

So I'd say 75% of charging is normal charging (not to be confused with "slow charging", which seems to be 1amp or less in my testing).

With the advent of fast charging, its alot easier to get away with abusing the battery as well. Battery draining quickly? Plug it in.