Is it true that we have to wait till our battery is at 20% and below to charge it

lmws214

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Hi all,

May I ask this question please?

Is it true that we have to wait till our battery is at 20% and below to charge it so as to protect the battery life span and to make the standby hours last longer ?
 

Vinu Jacob

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Jul 5, 2016
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Re: To charge only when it is less than 20%?

Hello, while this was true at some point in the past, this is no longer the case, the current generation of iphones have Li-Po batteries, which do not have any type of battery memory, and should be topped off when you have a chance to do so. They are capable of being charged from any point in their battery strength without any adverse affects. Hope that helps.
 

Rob Phillips

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Re: To charge only when it is less than 20%?

Hi all,

May I ask this question please?

Is it true that we have to wait till our battery is at 20% and below to charge it so as to protect the battery life span and to make the standby hours last longer ?

Nope. Nothing to worry about. Just as Vinu Jacob explained, battery memory is a thing of the past. Charge at your convenience. As a side note, you should store your device at 50% battery level if you don't plan on using it for a long period of time.

Batteries - Maximizing Performance - Apple
 

jsntrenkler

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Re: To charge only when it is less than 20%?

I have had thrown all of my idevices (since first iPhone) on the charger before bed every night and have never had a problem.
 

xboxbml

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Re: To charge only when it is less than 20%?

Me too... I get good usage out of this 6s+...9 hrs usage and 59 hrs standby...not bad..I'll top it off sometimes if I know I won't be able to charge for a while... No issues here...
 

gpobernardo

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Re: To charge only when it is less than 20%?

Hi all,

May I ask this question please?

Is it true that we have to wait till our battery is at 20% and below to charge it so as to protect the battery life span and to make the standby hours last longer ?

Lithium-based batteries (including Li-Po) indeed do not have battery memory effects, but they still suffer from battery wear. With this, one must try not to let the battery undergo a charge-discharge cycle that is greater than 50%. That means that you should start considering charging your phone once it reaches 50% if you intend to charge it all the way back up to 100%, or from 20% to 70%.

Even further, Lithium-based batteries last longer (not in terms of power delivery, but in terms of service life) when the charge is maintained at around 70-80%. But this would be extreme already, and would be obviously inconvenient for the user... yet it must be note mentioning that this is the reason some devices have the option to "extend battery service life by not charging the battery fully to 100% every time".

Personally, I keep a powerbank with me and charge my phone once it starts reaching 50-60%.

Memory effects in battery technology may be long gone, but right now battery wear is real. Unless we find better and more economical ways of containing ion-migration for portable energy storage, this would be our best practice: avoid a charge-discharge cycle greater than 50%.

P.S.
New technology is coming, though. Expect revolutionary changes in battery technology in 3-5 years (unless some marketing giant hinders it). Businesses (of course, including Apple) would release ambiguous statements as to how to exactly maximize the battery life of their devices because doing so would decrease after-sales revenues from replacement batteries or servicing units. But that is my advice - coming from someone whose research is partly in the field of energy storage.
 

CarRamRod2690

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I have never done this with any new phones and never had an issue. But I was always told you want it to run down all the way and then charge it back up but I'm someone who likes to have my battery fully charged all the time..haha
 

Ledsteplin

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I have never done this with any new phones and never had an issue. But I was always told you want it to run down all the way and then charge it back up but I'm someone who likes to have my battery fully charged all the time..haha

Years ago that was true. Not like that now. You can charge any way you want anytime.
 

robertk328

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Jun 7, 2010
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I have never done this with any new phones and never had an issue. But I was always told you want it to run down all the way and then charge it back up but I'm someone who likes to have my battery fully charged all the time..haha

It helps periodically if you're having issues with the battery meter (to calibrate it) but otherwise not necessary.