Smartphone batteries have come under limelight a lot in the past, be it the cause of smartphone explosions or be it the decision of an OEM to put bigger battery onto their smartphones. However, a lot of us still have this question in our minds – should we charge our smartphones overnight? Putting your smartphone plugged into the socket before you go to bed is a regular practice and a lot of us often wonder if it’s healthy for the batteries in general? Well, yes it is absolutely safe to keep our smartphones charge overnight and that is mainly because of our smartphones being smart.
Almost all mobile phones including smartphones come with lithium-based batteries these days which when compared to Nickel-based batteries, are a tonne of steps ahead. Irrespective of it being a lithium-ion or lithium polymer, these batteries can take in a lot of power in a much smaller size compared to Nickel-based batteries. Of the two, lithium-based batteries the lithium-ion can carry even more power in a thinner form factor, however, it is costlier to manufacture.
A lithium based battery becomes hot as it charges faster and can really release a lot of heat if not discharged at a proper time. However, our smartphones are smart enough these days and they stop charging the battery once it reaches its full capacity and uses the current coming from the power socket as its primary source of power.
But, a lot of times, software on our smartphones messes up the actual capacity of the battery and shows a false battery capacity. This is better known as a ‘poorly calibrated’ battery and can be fixed by simply discharging off your device to 0 percent and then charge it again to 100 percent. You might have to do this without powering on your device, in some cases. However, this won’t affect the overall battery life of your device.
Apart from this, there are some precautions you should take while keeping your smartphones plugged into the socket overnight. First, don’t keep your smartphone under your pillow while it juices up, overnight. This is because, a lot of smartphones still releases heat while charging and if kept under the pillow the heat can often accumulate and result in the device catching fire, in worst of cases. Further, it’s always better to keep your smartphone away from the bed to avoid any wire tangling while you are asleep.
Lastly, lithium-ion batteries have a certain number of battery cycles up to which they work at 100 percent efficiency so it is always recommended to keep your smartphone’s battery between 20% – 90% to avoid discharging your device completely and charging it completely very often.