Charging your iPhone is not a rocket-science genius moment, it’s just a plug-and-wait kind of thing. But when you are running late and your phone is charging painfully slow, it suddenly becomes the most important thing in the world.
So if you are heading out the door in 20 minutes and your iPhone is nowhere near an acceptable battery percentage, here are tips and tricks to make it charge faster.
Use a wall charger
Using a wall charger is significantly faster than charging your phone into a computer’s USB port. If you have one and an electrical outlet is available, use that instead.
However, not all wall chargers are made equal. Typically, the charger that comes with an iPhone is relatively anemic at 5 watts. If you have an iPad, use its wall charger instead. It delivers 12 watts and charges 33 percent faster.
Use a fast charger (for newer iPhone models)
The new batch of iPhone models (iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and the X family) is equipped with the ability to charge from zero to 50 percent in half an hour if you use the right wall charger.
One downside though, Apple doesn’t include a fast charger out of the box. You need to purchase a fast charger and a USB-C to Lightning cable separately. If you are loyal to the core to Apple, it offers its own 30 Watt USB-C Power Adapter and USB-C to Lightning adapter cable.
If not, there are other fast charging options. If you are purchasing outside of Apple, make sure it’s from a reputable brand to be assured that you are using a legitimate fast charger. With this, you can also scour for more affordable choices.
Plug it into an active computer
If a wall charger is not available, you just might have to do with plugging your phone into an active computer. Make sure the computer is turned on (not in sleep or standby mode) and plugged in and powered up. Remove other USB devices and disabled syncing.
No wireless charging
Wireless charging is heaven-sent. It’s convenient and portable, who doesn’t want that? But it also comes with a price, it slows down your charging process.
If you are in a hurry, skip wireless charging and just plug it into a Lightning cable. Better, use a wall charger.
Turn your phone off
Even though you’re not using your iPhone while it’s charging, it is still powered on and performing hidden tasks. This still slows charging down and the best you can do is to simply turn it off.
Airplane Mode
If turning off your phone is not practical, the next best thing to do is to put your iPhone in Airplane Mode.
In Airplane Mode, Wi-Fi and cellular service are disabled and this saves a good amount of power and lets your phone charge faster.
Don’t use it
We all know we shouldn’t use our phones while charging, but still, we can’t help it. But if you really want to speed up your phone’s charging, don’t use it and leave it be.
It also helps that by not using your phone, you are also giving it the chance to cool down, which also helps speeds up the charging.
Remove your phone case
Still on the topic of allowing your phone to cool down. If you are charging your phone, remove your case. iPhones charge more efficiently when they reach the right temperature and sometimes, a phone case is a reason why a phone heats up.
If you notice your phone heating up with its case on, remove it.
Clean your charging port
If you notice your phone is charging slow despite following the tips mentioned, check your port for any lint or other debris that might have built up inside.
Turn your phone off and using a normal toothpick, gently and carefully probe around the port to remove any material that might be clogging it up.
Cycle the battery
This is not something you can do if you are in a hurry but it does help in the long run.
Cycle your phone’s battery occasionally. Your iPhone will charge more efficiently if you mindfully cycle it. This involves getting your phone to a hundred percent and letting it die to a complete zero. You can do this about once a month.