Should You Leave Your Phone Charging Overnight?
Learn whether overnight charging harms your phone and how to keep your battery healthy.
Rome: You may have heard that leaving your smartphone charging overnight—either plugged in or on a wireless charger—can damage your battery.
But is it actually harmful or dangerous to do that? Or is this one of those persistent phone battery myths that refuses to go away? Many experts say you can leave your smartphone charging all night as long as you know about some limits and details.
Most phone makers now include special computer chips that stop power when the battery reaches 100 percent. These power management chips also control battery charging, system sleep and wake times, and how much power goes to parts like the display and processor. They help your phone use less power overall and last longer. These chips also stop phones from getting too hot and reduce fire risk to almost zero.
But you still need to take care of your battery. The best way to keep batteries from wearing out is to keep the cell charged between about 30 percent and 80 percent. Doing this reduces heat and chemical stress on the battery cells. Use common sense with this advice: don’t always just recharge every night but mix in some more controlled daytime charging to keep the battery healthy.
Leaving the phone charging all night is not a problem, but pay attention to where you charge it. Putting the phone under blankets, on pillows, or near other heat sources increases temperature and can make the battery wear out faster.