It’s happened to all of us before: your cellphone battery is on the verge of dying and you’re rushing to get to your charger, but just before you get to plug it in, it shuts down. But you were looking right at the battery life indicator, and you had 5% left, how did that happen? It’s an annoying inconvenience, but there are a few different reasons why your phone can die prematurely. Depending on your device, it can be the way that your battery level indicator works, a tech bug or flaw, or just the way your phone works. For details on why you phone may die before you expect it to, keep on reading.
Understanding How a Battery Indicator Measures Battery Life
To understand why your phone tends to die before it reaches 0%, you first must understand how the indicator reads and measures your battery life. Lithium ion batteries, which are what’s used in most smartphones, are pretty temperamental, and it’s actually bad for them to be at 100% or drained to 0%. Therefore, to protect its longevity, it lies about how full the battery actually is—it’ll stop charging before it reaches 100% even if it’s plugged in, and it’ll shut down before it gets to 0%. While this may be a little annoying, it’ll help to avoid damaging your battery, as well as keep you from experiencing the even more infuriating “needs charging” screen when you try to reboot your phone as soon as you plug it in.
Defective Battery Indicator
Sometimes, the problem is as simple as your battery level indicator being defective. If you think this may be the case for your phone, try draining the battery all the way to 0%, and then charging it back to 100%. If this fix works for you, then your indicator is probably working fine, which means you’ll have to keep searching for the real problem.
Technical Bug
While you may think that a faulty battery is the cause of your phone prematurely dying, that usually isn’t the case—more often than not, it’s actually the phone that’s not taking to the battery properly. Your smartphone’s software is in charge of monitoring how much battery life you have left, so if it’s dying before it should be then there’s likely some miscommunication between the battery and the actual phone itself. Just like when apps unexpectedly close, your phone can do the same because of an internal glitch.
Battery Reserves Some Charge
Sometimes, there’s no problem with your phone at all, and shutting down prematurely is just something is does to be safe. Many smartphones come with the technology to shut down before the battery is completely drained, so it can use that extra energy to protect your data in case of a sudden shut down. Therefore, some devices always shut down before reaching 0% to protect the battery, and to make sure there’s enough charge left to complete a safe shutdown. To find out if this is why your phone keeps shutting down prematurely, contact the manufacturer or read the manual that came with your phone—if you can still find it—to learn about its specs.
Batteries Lose Charge Even While Idle
There’s a chance that your phone is completely fine, and it’s just that you don’t realize how fast your battery can be drained. Your phone is constantly using battery power, even when you’re not using it and it’s locked. Background apps virtually never stop running, and your phone doesn’t quit collecting data and using its network. While you may think that you have some extra time to find your way to a charger, these background processes can drain your battery before you know it.
Battery Has Lost Its Capacity Over Time
You’ll notice that your battery life on the first day you got your phone and charged it up will be much more impressive than the length of your battery life 500 charge cycles in. Your phone’s battery will lose its capacity over time, and it’ll start dying faster—this is unavoidable. Pay close attention to how long your battery lasts on a daily basis, because it may just be an issue of your phone’s charge not lasting as long as it used to.
Device Has Been Exposed to Extreme Heat or Cold
As if smartphones aren’t temperamental enough, you might be surprised that your phone is sensitive to temperature—being exposed to exceedingly cold or hot temperatures can harm your phone. When in the cold, your iPhone may die unexpectedly due to the complicated nature of lithium ion batteries. It’s said that the perfect temperatures for smartphones to operate is at between 32 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit, and anything above or below that range can cause significant damage to your battery and even shut your phone down mid-text. To avoid this from happening, get a case for your phone. While it may not completely solve the problem, it’ll insulate it enough in case you absolutely need to use it in unfavorable temperatures. When you’re not using it, keep the phone close to your body, like inside your jacket pocket to keep it warm, and avoid damage at all costs.
How Ohming Technology’s Charge M.E. Can Keep Your Phone Charged
Because of all the aforementioned variables, there’s really no telling how much longer your phone will stay on once your battery reaches the dreaded red zone. To make sure you never run to your charger and get there just after your phone shuts off, invest in a multi-port USB charger to take wherever you go. Ohming Technology’s Charge M.E. is the perfect solution for anyone who wants to make sure their devices are always charged, whether they’re at home or on the go. Shop for one of our USB powered hubs online now, or contact us for more information.
Paul Romanenko
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