Why is my iPhone taking so long to charge?

+25 votes
asked Aug 15, 2018 in Computers & Electronics by ARRGeorgia08 (370 points)
edited Nov 17, 2018 by Morgenstern
It might sound fussy, but I’ve always been wondering why is my iPhone taking so long to charge? I just find it kind of ridiculous that the battery on my iPhone needs 4 hours to be fully charged and yet could only last less than 12 hours. Is there any way to speed it up?

2 Answers

+10 votes
answered Jul 15, 2019 by ReinaCoombs8 (350 points)
edited Jul 31, 2019 by Morgenstern

Yes, of course. I think there are at least 2 things you could do to reduce the time to charge our iPhone.

First, charge it through the charger that comes along with your iPhone rather than via a USB port on a computer. The charger simply provides more amperage than the USB port. Or, if you really have to charge via the USB port, plug your iPhone to a USB 3.0 port: the current limit of a USB 3.0 port is much higher than that of a USB 2.0 port (still no way to beat the iPhone charger though.)

Second, don’t use your iPhone while it is still charging. For one, and this is quite obvious, if you use your iPhone when it is plugged into a charger, then some of the power it receives from the charger must be compensated for running the applications that you are using. For another, it is probably much less known that heat is really a big factor in the charging process. If the battery is in high temperature, then not only will its capacity and life span be compromised, but it will also take longer to be completely charged. This is just one of the inconvenient facts about Li-ion batteries. I recommend you to always plug in your iPhone to a charger before you go to bed, so it wouldn’t be much trouble if you switch it to airplane mode or shut it down completely.

Hope I have answered your question of why is my iPhone taking so long to charge.

commented Sep 19, 2015 by MargueriteSt (310 points)
This is what I want to hear, some technical stuff. Really cool! Thanks a lot!
+7 votes
answered Feb 16, 2019 by Kaitlyn (970 points)
edited Jun 22, 2019
I have been wondering about the same question for quite a while. My personal solution is to charge my iPhone with the iPad power brick, which will shorten the charging time to 2 hours only! However, it might not work with older models like iPhone 4 or 4s. But it definitely works with my iPhone 6. The only drawback is that the battery gets heated up really quickly with the 12w iPad charger…
commented Sep 19, 2015 by AnitaStockma (140 points)
You saved my day! Finally do I know why is my iphone taking so long to charge
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