How to charge your smartphone faster

Charging is a process all of us go through, not just our smartphones. Being chained to a wall plug while waiting for your phone to charge, eliminates any mobility, reduces your productivity, and if you forget to charge your phone on time, might even affect your plans. While power banks can help you out when on the move, not everyone may have one or like using one.

In such a scenario, the best you can do is hope your phone charges faster, and yes that is possible. Not by prayer, but by some neat tricks that allow your battery to juice up faster than usual. Here are some ways to charge your phone faster.

Get the right charger and cable

With most smartphones now using the global USB Type-C standard, it is easy to overlook specifics like charging standards and cable types. But did you know that your charging adapter and cable play a huge role in determining your charging speeds? Whether your phone and charging adapter are actually compatible with Quick Charge, USB PD, or any other charging standard will actually determine if you’re reaching your max charging speeds.

ALSO READ: Tips to ensure your iPhone battery life stays optimised

However, this can get confusing for a lot of people. So, the best way to ensure you’re getting the best wired charging speeds is to use the charging adapter and cable that came with your phone. If your phone didn’t come with an adapter, it is best to buy the official one from the same brand.

Switch off your phone

If you use your phone when it’s plugged, it is losing some of the battery it gains while charging. But even if you don’t use it, connectivity features like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, your cellular network, or simply the functioning of the OS can deplete your battery and increase charging time. Hence, for the best speeds, it is best to switch off your phone or at least put it on Airplane Mode.

Turn off unnecessary features

If you cannot switch off your phone for quickly charging it, the next best thing you could do is identify battery-sucking features and turn off the ones you don’t need. These may include GPS, NFC, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. If you simply need your phone on because you’re expecting an important phone call, you can turn off all the above-mentioned connectivity options and see better charging times.

Use wired charging

If your phone supports both wired and wireless charging, going wireless may be more convenient, but wired charging for most smartphones will always be faster. Even phones that support fast wireless charging will likely have even faster wired charging speeds. So, plug in your wire and you should see your phone racing towards 100 per cent battery significantly faster.

Keep phone in ideal temperature

While this may not be always an option, when it is, always make sure your phone is charging in its ideal temperature range. Extreme temperatures are bad for your phone, and especially for your battery, and they can affect the charging speed as well as the overall battery health.

ALSO READ: 7 tips to improve the battery life on your smartwatch

Those are some quick and easy ways to improve your smartphone charging speeds and save some time. Most of these will also apply to any other battery-powered gadget, including tablets and laptops.