Smartphone battery life may not improve by shutting it off at night

smartphone battery life

Even if you try to give your mobile devices a nap at night, it won’t necessarily improve the lifespan of its power supply.

Among the most common practices of mobile device owners in order to try to improve – or at least maintain – smartphone battery life is to shut the device down at night in order to give it a rest from being used.

However, a technology expert is now suggesting that this habit doesn’t necessarily provide any benefit.

According to the founder of iFixit, Kyle Wiens, a tech expert, “I would say that shutting down your phone at night isn’t something that necessarily falls under routine maintenance.” He went on to explain that smartphone battery life will not necessarily benefit from shutting off the device each night. The reason that this doesn’t really make any difference is that it isn’t likely that the smartphone would actually be used during the overnight hours that it was shut off.

While there are certain things that can be done to extend smartphone battery life, this doesn’t appear to be one.

smartphone battery lifeWiens explained that “Batteries in phones have a finite lifespan — the more that you use them, the faster that battery wears out.” The majority of smartphone batteries can be fully charged and fully discharged between 300 and 500 times. Even if the device is used only a small amount before it is recharged completely, the amount that was recharged still counts toward a total cycle. Every little bit adds up. Wiens provided the example that “If you wear your battery down 50 per cent then charge it back up, that’s half a cycle.”

For that reason, turning off mobile devices at night won’t do anything to preserve the battery because there isn’t anything that would be draining it during that time, as the user is likely asleep.

That said, limiting the amount of video streaming, GPS use, and overheating in direct sunlight can help to preserve the lifespan of the mobile device battery. Moreover, Wien also suggests that the battery be occasionally completely drained and then completely recharged for proper maintenance.

It also doesn’t hurt to have a backup portable battery pack such as Mogix power banks on hand, to give your device a boost even when the smartphone battery life isn’t large enough for your needs. Taking care of your device and keeping backup power handy is the best you can do.

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