9 Tips for How To Make Your Phone Charge Faster

No one likes to see their mobile phone's battery icon go from green or white to red. It's a sign that you must plug your phone in so the battery can recharge and accumulate electrical power.

Unfortunately, some of the most popular smartphones take quite a while to charge; in the worst cases, your mobile device might take many hours to charge to 100%.

What if you could accelerate that? It turns out you can. Read on for eight tips on how to make your phone charge faster in no time.

1. Plug It Into the Wall (or Power Bank)

The first and easiest way to make your iPhone or Android phone charge faster is to simply plug it into the wall or a power bank instead of another device, like a laptop.

USB ports usually output between 1 and 2.1 A of electricity. Because of this, the USB port amperage is lower than the amperage the charging cable receives if you plug it into a wall socket. Any laptop or device doesn’t provide your phone as much electricity as a bare wall outlet.

So if you want your phone to charge as fast as possible, plug it into a phone charger connected to a power outlet instead of another phone, a laptop, or even a desktop computer. There’s one exception to the above rule, however: power banks.

Power banks produce much more electricity through a wired connection because their only purpose is to store and transfer electricity between devices. Since power banks don’t have to run any processes like a laptop or desktop, they’re a power source that produces much more wattage to juice your phone.

Furthermore, wireless charging gives your phone the fewest amps while diminishing battery life. A wall charger — even a portable charger — is far better than Bluetooth or Wi-Fi charging with a wireless charger, especially if you have a power adapter handy.

Bottom line: plug your phone into a device or outlet meant exclusively for charging, not anything else, for the fastest charge time.

2. Turn Your Phone Off While Charging

Of course, you can also accelerate your phone’s charging speed if you turn the device off while charging. This is a no-brainer. If your phone is online, it’s using a minuscule amount of power to keep processes running, to remain connected to your Wi-Fi network, and for other things.

It’s not a ton of power, but it still takes some of the electricity out of the battery while new electricity flows in.

This is a bad thing for two reasons:

• It slows down your phone as it recharges
• It ruins your battery’s capacity more quickly

All cell phone batteries eventually degrade and lose capacity. But you can slow down the process if you turn your phone off while charging. That way, the battery simply receives new electricity instead of constantly expending electricity at the same time.

3. Don’t Use Your Phone During Charging

Similarly, you should not use your phone while charging if you’re looking for faster charging speeds. This exacerbates the battery capacity degradation issue mentioned above. For example, if you make a phone call to your friend while it is plugged in and charging, you’ll ruin your battery more quickly and slow down the recharging speed.

For the best results, you’ll want to turn your phone off and not use it during the charging process. Charge up your phone to between 80% and 100% to maintain its battery capacity as long as possible.

If you have to use your phone while charging, try to keep the usage brief. Don't chat unnecessarily on the phone, don't surf the web or stream a TV series, and try to use a Wi-Fi network instead of cellular data or hotspot.

4. Get a New Charging Cable

Sometimes, phone charge times can be limited because of the quality of their cables. Heavy-duty, fast-charging cables are excellent if you want to accelerate charge times.

The majority of phone devices come with standard, 28 gauge cables. These can carry approximately 0.5 A of power. In contrast, larger 24 gauge premium cables can carry up to 2 A of power instead. Therefore, those cables are simply better for bringing as much electricity to your phone’s battery as possible at a given moment.

You can usually find new, fast-charging cables at retailers like Target, Walmart, Amazon, and even phone manufacturers like Apple and Samsung.

When you purchase a new phone, look at the cable it comes; if the cable isn't explicitly designated as "fast-charging," it's probably not a heavy-duty cable and should be replaced if you want to maximize charging speed.

5. Put Your Phone in Airplane Mode

There are two big drains on your phone’s battery: the screen and wireless connectivity settings. Simply put, your phone uses most of its electricity to produce a bright light display and connect to Wi-Fi or other networks.

When you turn your phone on airplane mode, you stop your phone from connecting to any wireless network. That prevents any background downloads, searches for new networks, and similar activities, making it an easy hack for charging phones faster.

Therefore, if you want to make your phone charge faster but don’t want to turn off the Wi-Fi connectivity manually, simply turn on airplane mode.

This will prevent you from downloading files, receiving messages, or even receiving phone calls. But it can help you charge up your phone to full much more quickly.

Plus, as soon as your phone is recharged, you can turn airplane mode off. Your phone will then reconnect to the last network it was connected to, enabling you to quickly download any messages, emails, and other information you received in the interim.

6. (Android Only) Enable Charge Mode

If you have an Android device, you have a different way to accelerate your phone’s charge speed. That’s because Android devices let you determine what kind of connection the phone makes whenever you plug it into a USB cable, including a charging cable.

You can turn on the charging feature if you plan to charge your phone using a laptop or some other device. This prioritizes recharging your Android phone’s battery over other processes, like transferring data between both devices.

To use Charge Mode on an Android device:

• Go to Settings
• Then tap Connected devices and USB preferences
• When you see the list of options, make sure that the Charge connected device toggle is enabled

If that's done, your Android phone automatically prioritizes charging whatever you plug into a USB cable.

Using this method, you might find that your Android device charges 20% to 30% faster than average. It's not a significant difference, but it could shave 15 minutes to a half-hour off your charging time if you are lucky.

7. Take Off Your Phone’s Case

Did you know that your phone recharges more quickly when it's not overheating? Excessive heat makes smartphones work less efficiently in general.

If you leave your phone in the sun or keep it in its case while it charges, you might damage the internal components by accident, including the battery.

To that end, taking off your phone’s case is a good idea when you want it to charge more quickly. Everything will run a little more efficiently when your phone case doesn’t keep the heat emitted by the internal components packed into the space between the case and the phone service.

8. Charge Your Phone in a Cool Area

Try to charge your cell phone in a cool area. The best places to charge your cell phone are in the shade, on a kitchen table or countertop, or on the air conditioner.

Do not put your cell phone in the sun or by any other heating elements; not only can that delay how quickly your cell phone recharges, but it may also cause damage that you can’t fix.

9. Get a New Phone

If none of these tips have done the trick, you might want to consider getting a new phone that offers faster charging. With new phones coming out all the time, upgrading can be the safest way to guarantee your charging capabilities receive a boost.

If you’re looking to find the best phone for your needs, Navi may be able to help. Our comprehensive Phone Navigator service scans through dozens of phone deals to help you find the right new phone for you. Check it out today!

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I make my phone charge quicker?

To make your phone charge quicker, use the original charger and cable that came with it, as these are optimized for your device. Additionally, turning on Airplane Mode or switching off the phone while charging can speed up the process by reducing background activity. Avoid using your phone while it’s charging, as this can slow down the charging speed.

How do I put my phone on fast charge?

To enable fast charging on your phone, ensure you're using a compatible fast charger and cable. Many smartphones automatically switch to fast charging when connected to the appropriate charger. If your phone has a specific fast charging setting, check your device's battery settings to make sure it's enabled. Reducing background activity, like closing apps or enabling Airplane Mode, can also help speed up charging.

Does airplane mode charge faster?

Yes, putting your phone in Airplane Mode can help it charge faster. When Airplane Mode is enabled, the phone disables all wireless communications, such as cellular data, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, reducing battery consumption during charging. This allows more energy to be directed towards charging rather than maintaining network connections.