Question How should I charge my new iPhone 8?

[ryann39]

Hello,
I have heard much about how you should charge phones correctly for the battery, and some other ways how you should not. For example, I have heard that you should NOT let it go down to zero, and you should keep the phone between 40% and 80%. Is this correct? I got my new iPhone 8 for Christmas and we set it up a few days later. I want to charge it correctly, so I do not damage the battery. Should I charge the phone at 40%, and unplug it at 80%? Or should I plug it in at 40% and charge to 100% or is that bad? Or is there something else I should do to charge my phone? Please let me know the correct way to charge it, for the best health of the battery and phone.

Thanks,
Ryan

 

[bioax]

Doing what you stated above should not affect battery life. Usually, the only way a battery becomes worse is over time.

 

[WildCard999]

Pretty sure the only thing that'll ruin that battery is cheap non Apple chargers, not charging amounts/time.

 

[ryann39]

Pretty sure the only thing that'll ruin that battery is cheap non Apple chargers, not charging amounts/time.

What do you mean not charging time/amounts

 

[WildCard999]

What do you mean not charging time/amounts

For example I still have a iPhone 6 that lasts nearly all day and not much less from when I bought it. I've always used Apple approved chargers. I've had friends/family who end up buying cheap gas-station chargers for there iPhones and within a few months there battery doesn't last very long and ends up needing to be replaced. I've been told that it has something to do with the power delivery in the cheap chargers that ends up ruining the battery over time. Also I charge my iPhone overnight for hours on end even though it only needs like 2 hours to charge but even that doesn't affect my battery.

 

[ryann39]

For example I still have a iPhone 6 that lasts nearly all day and not much less from when I bought it. I've always used Apple approved chargers. I've had friends/family who end up buying cheap gas-station chargers for there iPhones and within a few months there battery doesn't last very long and ends up needing to be replaced. I've been told that it has something to do with the power delivery in the cheap chargers that ends up ruining the battery over time. Also I charge my iPhone overnight for hours on end even though it only needs like 2 hours to charge but even that doesn't affect my battery.

So it’s okay if I charge it to 100? I use the charger that I got from my iphone box. And would it damage the battery if I unplug it at 80 percent and charge it at 40?

 

[WildCard999]

So it’s okay if I charge it to 100? I use the charger that I got from my iphone box. And would it damage the battery if I unplug it at 80 percent and charge it at 40?

It would be fine to charge to 100. I doubt it would damage the battery if you unplug it at 80 and charge at 40. I've had situations were my battery died because I didn't have a charger around and that didn't hurt anything. I think the biggest thing is to avoid those cheap chargers. This also may be something you may want to ask on Apple's Support Community to get another opinion.
https://discussions.apple.com/welcome

There also may be a guide for charging in the manual that came with your iPhone.

 

[sizzling]

An iPhone has quite sophisticated charging and protection, I doubt there is much you can do beyond this to influence the life of the battery. I agree that cheap chargers that provide ‘dirty’ power could have a negative impact.

You may also be over worrying. I have an iPhone X and it’s just over 2 years old. Under the battery health in settings it claims to still have 95% of its original capacity. Now I don’t know how accurate it is but a 5% loss over 2 years is nothing to worry about. I don’t actually use Apple chargers, I have a high quality QI charger next to my bed, built in USB in the car I charge from and another Anker multi USB charger and between these 3 they must do 99/100 of my charging.

 

[ryann39]

An iPhone has quite sophisticated charging and protection, I doubt there is much you can do beyond this to influence the life of the battery. I agree that cheap chargers that provide ‘dirty’ power could have a negative impact.

You may also be over worrying. I have an iPhone X and it’s just over 2 years old. Under the battery health in settings it claims to still have 95% of its original capacity. Now I don’t know how accurate it is but a 5% loss over 2 years is nothing to worry about. I don’t actually use Apple chargers, I have a high quality QI charger next to my bed, built in USB in the car I charge from and another Anker multi USB charger and between these 3 they must do 99/100 of my charging.

I always have bad luck with batteries and phones so I really want to keep the battery good. So can I charge it overnight?

 

[sizzling]

I always have bad luck with batteries and phones so I really want to keep the battery good. So can I charge it overnight?

Yes you can. The phone will stop charging when it’s full. This is probably how the majority of users charge their phones. I don’t know about your other batteries.

 

[rynfrnk]

As already mentioned in the replies, the iPhone has some safeguards in both software and circuitry to prevent overcharging, as well as to optimize for battery longevity.

One thing you can do is to make sure that Optimized Battery Charging is enabled. You can find that toggle in Settings > Battery Health. After it calibrates based off of your charging pattern, it'll make longer times of being plugged in trickle-charge, which is better on the battery's lifespan. Make sure that's enabled, and then don't worry about unplugging it at X percent, etc.

My only recommendation beyond that is to keep it from getting under 20% as much as possible, as that's most detrimental from what I understand.

 

[newboyintown637]

iPhone 6 plus user here. Bought the phone 3 years ago, and the battery still works flawlessly. If Im not using the phone that much, I can charge once in two days, and that will be enough. I've noticed the pattern that I plug the phone to charge right after it hits 20% and dont plug off after it charges in full. Also, been using only a certified Apple charger all this time. This is something that worked for me even though I did not consciously tried to save the life of my battery haha!

 

[ryann39]

iPhone 6 plus user here. Bought the phone 3 years ago, and the battery still works flawlessly. If Im not using the phone that much, I can charge once in two days, and that will be enough. I've noticed the pattern that I plug the phone to charge right after it hits 20% and dont plug off after it charges in full. Also, been using only a certified Apple charger all this time. This is something that worked for me even though I did not consciously tried to save the life of my battery haha!

What do you mean dont plug off after it charges in full?

 

[LordVile]

Just don’t use wireless charging.

 

[XanPan]

I'm an iPhone 7 user and try to charge it frequently throughout the day. Since an iPhone battery is Lithium-Ion that means it doesn't have the "memory effect" like nickel-cadmium (NiCad) batteries used to have. So you don't need to wait for it to hit 0% to then recharge to 100%.

 

[Chelsie Sebon]

I'm an iPhone xr user. My phone charges every 2 days. I don't play games or watch movies on the iPhone.