Is It Bad To Use A Phone While Charging? 6 Myths Debunked

It’s no news that charging while using your phone may damage your phone or its battery. These rumors have been circulating for a very long time now with some experts giving insights into the truth about the theory while others try to debunk the rumor, placing people who may find the information useful in a state of utmost confusion because both sides of the story have valuable points supporting them. However, is it really bad to use a phone while charging? 

While there are several reasons for this to be true, it’s not because you can use your phone while charging it. You just need to make sure that you’re using a manufacturer-approved or a legitimate off-brand charger and battery. You also need to make sure that there’s nothing wrong with your wiring. 

There are tons of myths surrounding charging your phone. In this piece, I’ll be looking at 7 myths about charging your phone, if they are true or not. In this article, we’ll also discuss if it’s bad to use your phone while charging it or not and other rumors that may or may not be true.

Is It Bad To Use A Phone While Charging?

No, it’s not bad to use a phone while charging. This myth is one of the most popular ones surrounding charging your phone or any other device. Apart from a phone, sometimes they’d say it’s bad to use any other device while charging it. However, we may say there are reasons why this myth should be true, it just isn’t and there’s a reason for it. 

You can use your phone while charging if you’re using the charger gotten directly from your device manufacturer, in other words, a manufacturer-approved charger. If not, make sure you are using a legitimate off-brand charger that is risk-free. You also need to make sure that there’s nothing wrong with your electrical wiring. 

This is because if you’re using a different kind of charger or one that’s not legitimate, your device is prone to be boosted with way more current that’s approved for its battery. This may lead to your battery swelling, or even your device blowing up. That’s why you need to ensure that you’re using the right charger for your device. 

There are real-life stories of people being electrocuted while using their phones when it’s plugged in and other stories of devices exploding while being used when plugged-in and these stories are what contributed immensely to this myth. 

However, the authorities revealed that the reason why these unfortunate events happen is that the victim either used a third-party charger or a defective one which led to the incident. External factors like electrical surges also contributed to the explosion.

To reiterate, you can use your phone while charging because it is completely safe. However, you need to make sure that you’re not close to a water source, and your charger isn’t defective or a third-party, unverified charger. 

You Shouldn’t Charge Your Phone Overnight

You have nothing to worry about when charging your phone overnight because your phone will not overcharge, and the power will not destroy your battery, damage your charger or start a fire. This is assuming that you’re not using a defective or third-party, unverified charger or that your electrical wiring is stable and not defective because if you are, and your electrical wiring is defective, you may be at the risk of experiencing these events. 

New versions of smartphones have lithium-ion batteries with built-in devices that stop your phone from absorbing power when the battery is fully charged. 

This means that, if your phone is fully charged and it’s still plugged in, it will stop charging and will not absorb any power, hence, you need not worry about it overcharging while plugged in overnight. However, to be on the safer side as you do not know when a power surge may happen, do not leave your phone plugged in every night. 

And lastly, if your smartphone cannot withstand consistent heat exchange, you may overheat your device by plugging it all night and this may cause real damage to your phone. Hence, to be on the safer side, read your device manual and reviews.

You Should Only Charge Your Phone When It’s Completely Dead

This is absolutely not true. You can charge your phone as often as needed. 

According to tech analysts, lithium-ion batteries have limited charging cycles, and for an iPhone, the average charging cycle for the battery is 500 times. A charging cycle is when you charge your device from 0 to 100 percent so if you wait for your device to hit 0 before charging it, you may exhaust the charging cycle quickly. 

However, if you’re charging your phone steadily whenever the percentage drops, you will only be exhausting 1 out of the 500 cycles which makes your battery last longer with respect to its lifecycle. 

The rumors surrounding this myth indicate that your phone battery might be damaged if you charge your phone more frequently than usual, however, this isn’t true as you should charge your phone whenever you need to not when it hits 0. 

This is why experts recommend that you plug in your phone when it drops between 40 and 80 percent so you can charge your phone multiple times in a day. They also say charging multiple times daily doesn’t affect your battery except you’re using a defective power outlet or an unverified third-party charger that may damage your battery.

An Off-brand Charger Will Destroy Your Battery

This myth is also not true because you can use off-brand chargers to charge your smartphone and it won’t damage your battery or your device. 

The only prerequisite to this is that you make sure that the off-brand charger you’re using is from a legitimate retailer, like, Vinsic, Ravpower, Powergen, Anker, Belkin, and so on. These off-brand chargers are inexpensive and also very fine to use when you want to charge your device without the risk of the charger destroying your battery. 

It’s not arguable that off-brand chargers are as good and effective as the manufacturer’s, but they are at the very least safer and better than the cheap brand chargers that may destroy your battery or your device. So, if you want to purchase an off-brand charger for your smartphone, feel free to get one but do not forget to make sure that the charger is from a verified retailer so you’ll be assured that the charger won’t destroy your battery or melt into the power outlet. 

Make sure to be careful of the brand knockoffs as they can be marketed and packaged as the real deal and are very reliable without them being able to effectively get the job done. 

It’s Not Safe To Leave Your Charger Plugged In

There’s really no right or wrong in here as leaving your charger plugged in or not is a personal decision of yours to make. It’s important to point out that safety rules recommend that you unplug your chargers’ right lagger sue to prevent a fire outbreak in case an electric surge happens. 

But if you live in an area where this situation barely occurs, you won’t really have a problem leaving your charger plugged in if you want to. 

However, to help you determine the best course of action when you’re unsure if to unplug your charger or not, unplug your charger if:

• Your charger heats up quickly and/or makes rattling noises while it’s in use. In this case, I highly recommend that you get a new charger as this one is prone to destroying your battery and may also cause your device to blow. 

• You or your neighbors (if you have any) have a water leak.

• Animals move freely in your house. They may chew on your power cable or trip over the charger when it’s connected to a device.

• You have power fluctuations, and surges or you don’t have lightning protection. 

As Long As It Can Charge Your Phone You Can Use It

If you’re using the charger that’s directly made by your phone’s manufacturer, then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t use it. However, if you’re using a charger made by knock-off brands, you shouldn’t use it because you may be at risk of destroying your battery or your phone exploding. 

As discussed earlier, most incidents that happen from charging a device are majorly due to the owner using a defective charger, or an unverified off-brand or knock-off charger, hence, you need to make sure to verify the originality of the charger that you use and make sure it isn’t defective.

Make sure to always use the original device charger for your phone as this will help you charge your device battery healthily and if you’d rather go for a cheaper version or brand, make sure to go for verified off-brand retailers that guarantee that using the brand is risk-free. 

Make sure the off-brand charger is verifiable and that the charger isn’t a knock-off version of the brand’s original charger because these versions promise to do exactly what the original brand’s charger will do but underperforms.