Our smartphones have come a long way since the 1990s. However; there are still a lot of common
myths surrounding our tiny devices. One of the most misunderstood features of a smartphone is
the battery. Although there are a lot of myths out there aimed at prolonging your battery life, it
is important to understand that most are false. Here are 10 myths about mobile phone batteries
that are increasingly popular:
1. Smartphone batteries are designed to last forever
If you are a heavy smartphone user that utilizes lithium-ion batteries, your battery is only
designed to survive 300 to 500 full cycles, which is about a year for a frequent user. The capacity
for your battery diminishes every time you charge it.
2. You should only use original brand chargers
Manufacturers include this instruction in their manuals simply because they prefer you to
purchase only their accessories. Any high-quality charger can work on any smartphone.
3. You should let your battery run out
If you want your battery to last, never allow it to run out completely as it is bad for it. Charge
your battery until it attains 80% charge and re-charge it when it is at 20%.
4. Leaving your battery plugged in can damage it
Contrary to popular belief, you can leave your battery plugged in all night and nothing will
happen to it. Nowadays batteries and chargers are now smarter than before and most will stop
charging as soon as the battery is full.
5. Closing apps will improve your battery life
Open apps, even multiple ones, have no effect on your battery. Closing apps that you use
commonly and re-launching them actually forces your phone to load back into the memory
again, which actually puts more stress on your battery.
6. Disabling Wi-Fi and the location services can extend your life
Previously, the Wi-Fi would require so much energy that consumed your battery life but the vase
if different today.
7. Never use your phone while charging
Although incidences of exploding phones, phones on fire and electrocuting phones have been
reported online, there isn’t actual proof that they occurred.
8. Your battery should drain before charging it
This was true of nickel-zinc batteries, but it does not apply to lithium-ion batteries which are
used for most devices nowadays.
9. Storing your battery in the fridge
Keeping your battery in the fridge will only damage it instead of making it last longer.
10. Task managers and memory tools help
Not only are task managers and memory tools unnecessary, but they may end up slowing down
performance. Instead, you should disable background features for your apps if you want to
extend your battery life.
