PexelsThe struggle is finally over – a team of scientists have come up with three proven ways to make your smartphone battery last longer.
Smartphones have the capacity to talk to you, sync with your bodily functions, and even make you look good in a selfie. Yet no one has figured out a way to make their batteries last longer than the time it takes to stream an episode of Stranger Things.
Enter the science boffins at the American Chemical Society, who have come up with a list of hacks – we use the term ‘hacks’ pretty loosely as they’re largely common sense – to make your phone last like a Duracell bunny.
- Don’t let your phone die
Science says don’t let your phone drain of battery before re-charging; modern smartphone batteries run on rechargeable lithium ion and letting them die can actually reduce their capacity.
Every time you burn through 100% of the battery’s charge, you push it through one charge cycle, which – and I quote – ‘inches the battery closer to DEATH.’
GIPHY- Don’t leave your phone turned off
If you’re independent enough to leave your phone switched off for any length of time – bravo, by the way – make sure it’s always got at least 50% juice before shutting it down.
Due to the way in which lithium ion batteries work, leaving your phone uncharged for a long time can cause them to destabilise, self-destruct or even explode. Seriously. What a wonderful excuse to use your phone all the time.
- Don’t let your phone get too hot
Heat does mean things to lithium ion batteries. Not only can it speed up the reactions inside the battery, thus lowering its life, it can also heat up the liquid inside the battery to the point of explosion.
Although this may not be a problem now that summer is apparently over, just don’t go putting your phone in a fire or oven or anything. Common sense, really.
GIPHYAfter too many evenings stranded, attempting to navigate home by the stars and bus journeys spent staring out of windows to avoid eye contact, millennials worldwide will welcome this news with open arms.
Long live the lithium ion battery.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.