9 reasons why your smartphone is charging slowly

Charging your smartphone is one of the easiest things to do. But if you are in a hurry, you will have to optimize the process. Here are some tips on how to do it.

As simple as it is to recharge your smartphone, iPhone, or other device, the operation becomes more delicate when you’re short on time. Where you plug it in, what features are turned on or off, what kind of charger you have – all this affects the speed of charging. And if you are really in a hurry, it is very important to know how to optimize your work. Here are 9 tips and tricks you need to know.

Stop using your old charger

The fastest way to charge your smartphone is with a quick charger. This will allow you to get 50% and several tens of minutes, or even completely charge the device in about an hour. If you are in a hurry, choose the most powerful charger.

Apple no longer ships a power adapter with the new iPhone, only a cable, but you can purchase a 20W charger from the Apple website or Amazon. You can also use a compatible charger, but you need at least 20W to really benefit from it.

A wireless charger can help

A wireless charger can help, Apple’s MagSafe charger with 20W adapter and iPhone 12 or 13 to take full advantage of 15W charging. This gives about 30% battery life in 30 minutes of wireless.

However, be careful, if the MagSafe charger supports 15W, the QI charger – the current industry standard – is limited to 7.5W, which is much slower than with MagSafe and slightly faster than a traditional 5W wall outlet. Non-MagSafe certified magnetic wireless chargers are also limited to 7.5W.

Stop charging your smartphone from your computer

Your laptop might seem like a convenient way to charge your iPhone, especially if you use it all day, but your car will still charge your smartphone more slowly than any wall or wireless charger.

Your computer’s USB port, whether it’s USB-A or USB-C, can’t provide the same amount of power as a wall outlet, not even a 5W power adapter. Even more so if you have an older computer with a finicky USB port or an incompatible charging cable, which can slow things down even further.

Don’t Touch iPhone While Charging

If you want your iPhone to charge as quickly as possible, try not to touch it. If you watch videos or play games while charging, the battery will charge much more slowly.

An easy way to speed up your charging

Even if your device’s screen is off, your smartphone is still running in the background updating apps, sending notifications, waking up the screen, etc. Which drains your battery. If you want to recharge quickly, it is better to turn off the device.

If you don’t want to disable it, do this instead

If you don’t want to turn off your smartphone and enjoy the fastest possible charging, you can activate airplane mode, which deactivates wireless connections that consume a lot of power. If you need to quickly check a message, you can turn airplane mode back on briefly.

Settings to be adjusted to optimize charging

All the settings you already know to save the autonomy of your device can be used to charge your smartphone faster.

• Power Saving Mode: Activate it to reduce power consumption “automatically”.
• Dark mode. Dark mode saves battery power in smartphones with an OLED display, so it’s a good idea to turn it on while charging.
• Reduce screen brightness: The brighter the screen, the faster the battery drains and the harder it is to charge.

This iOS feature can slow down charging

Apple has a built-in tool to slow down the iPhone battery as much as possible, but this feature also slows down charging. It may be useful to disable it when you are in a hurry. Go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health and turn off Optimized Battery Charging.

You may need a new battery

On the same settings page, you can check the battery status. If you see the message “The condition of your battery has deteriorated significantly,”you should make an appointment at an Apple Store for a battery replacement. A discharged battery does not hold a charge well, so it discharges faster. A new battery will solve the problem. Depending on the model, replacing the battery costs a different price.