Chances are, you plug in your phone before you go to bed at night, thinking it's best to greet the morning with a fully charged device. Is this a good idea? That depends. Here's the thing.
Many people don't expect to keep their phones for much longer than two years. For the most part, experts say, those people are not going to notice much damage to their phone batteries before they start hankering for a new device.
If that sounds like you, feel free to charge every night, and as often as you like in between.
But frequent charging takes a toll on the lithium-ion batteries in our phones. And it's not because they can be overcharged, said Edo Campos, a spokesman for Anker, which produces phone chargers. "Smartphones are, in fact, smart," Campos said. "They know when to stop charging."
Android phones and iPhones are equipped with chips that protect them from absorbing excess electrical current once they are fully charged. So in theory, any damage from charging your phone overnight with an official charger, or a trustworthy off-brand charger, should be negligible. But the act of charging is itself bad for your phone's battery.
