Charging your smartphone overnight: is it harmful to the battery and what experts say

Modern smartphones can fast-charge, reaching a full charge in 30-60 minutes, making overnight charging less necessary. Peter Golden, the author of Talk Android, decided to analyze this process and abandon the habit of leaving the phone plugged in all night.

From his own experience, he noticed changes in battery performance. This is due to habits formed before the advent of fast-charging technologies. Lithium-ion batteries wear out faster when kept fully charged for long periods. When the phone reaches 100% charge, it can periodically “top up” its energy, leading to high voltage and temperature. These conditions negatively affect the battery’s health, reducing its service life and the device’s autonomy.

After abandoning overnight charging, Peter began using fast charging before bed, which took only 30-60 minutes. After several weeks of observations, he noticed that the battery charge decreased less significantly at night, and the smartphone worked more stably during the day. In his opinion, short charging sessions throughout the day proved much more effective than maintaining the battery at maximum charge, given the realities of modern fast-charging technologies.