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Is your phone battery going down when you put it on charge? You must be wondering what you can really do about it and why the problem is occurring in the first place. In this article, we shall discuss why a phone’s battery is drained even when it is charging and give you some tips on preserving your phone’s battery life as well.

Why is your battery percentage going down while charging?

Below we have enlisted four top reasons why your phone battery is going down while charging with solutions to fixing the problem based on the reason behind the issue.

1.  Your Smartphone has WiFi/Mobile data “Enabled.”

If your phone is connected to the internet with either mobile data or WiFi enabled, it may be consuming battery in a large amount since you will continue to get notifications from multiple apps, which in turn can drain the battery.

Normally, this should not be a problem if your phone is new or not older than three years. However, for a device that is not in a very pristine condition and keeps facing battery issues, the charging is hindered when there is a large amount of battery being drained while the phone is being charged.

Solution: Thus, if your phone has been through some tough times and has battery issues, it is best to turn off mobile data or WiFi while charging it so that the battery consumption is reduced greatly and the phone can be charged without any impediments. You can turn off the mobile data by toggling the panel and tapping on the icon that represents Mobile Data. The WiFi connectivity can be turned off from the panel too.

2.  Too Many Active Background Apps

Of course, we all use multiple apps at the same time for myriad purposes, from gaming to entertainment to financial transactions. The thing is, if you have a number of (and by that, we mean a lot) apps running in the background, they will all consume some data – either in small amounts or in large amounts.

Solution:

It is always advisable to clear your ‘recent Applications’ from the device before putting the device on charge. This will remove the apps that you most recently used from the background and therefore stop them from consuming battery.

If you need to keep some apps running in the background for specific purposes, it is highly recommended that you check which apps are consuming the most amount of battery in the background. If you do not require those apps running in the background, clear them from Recent Applications while keeping the important apps running.

All of your recent apps are consuming your battery, and you won’t know it because they are running in the background.

Click on the Overview button if you want to clear your recent apps.

You can find the Overview button on the left side of the Home button, but on some phones, you have to use gestures for navigation by swiping up from Home.

3.  Defective or a non-powerful charger or a charging cable

Your phone battery could be going down while on charge owing to a non-powerful charger which does not provide enough for the device to be charged effectively. If the battery rating on your device is higher than the rating on your charger, it is not potent enough to charge the phone; thus, the battery will be charged very slowly or not at all. Thus, the battery health will keep going down, as it usually will while the phone is not charging.

Another common culprit behind the issue of your phone battery dropping while being charged is a faulty charging cable or even a non-powerful charger. If the cable is defective, the process is reversed, and the battery is drained instead of being refilled.

Solution:

Try replacing the charging cable with another one and check to see if the problem persists. Look for external signs of damage on the wire that may be causing the issue; if it can be fixed, try fixing the cable and charging your phone with it again.

However, if the issue isn’t resolved yet, it could be an internal problem in the cable, in which case, it is better to swap it with a new one who will save you the hassle of getting it repaired (which is not so feasible).

If the problem lies in the charger, check the charger’s rating. If the rating of the battery is not compatible with the rating of the charger, i.e., if the battery rating is higher than the rating on the charger, get a more powerful charger that matches the battery rating of your phone.

4.  Old or Damaged Phone Battery

Let’s face it: One of the most obvious reasons why your phone battery is going down while charging is because of either of the two reasons: your phone battery is damaged, or your phone battery has worn out over time.

While sudden damage to the battery can be caused by a number of things, gradual damage is done by certain factors such as overheating of the phone, intense gaming, etc. Damage to the battery makes it less capable of fast charging, and if the battery consumption is higher than the battery’s capacity to charge (while being charged), the battery will ultimately keep draining while charging.

On the other hand, the general wearing out of the battery is a more conventional reason as to why your phone battery is going down while charging. Most android phones use Li-ion batteries; these batteries have a certain lifespan post which their health starts degrading.

If your phone’s battery is old, or if your phone is old, in general, then it is highly likely that after a certain point (of being charged slowly), your phone battery will start going down while charging.

Solution:

If your phone’s battery is defective or not functioning properly, you need to go to an authorized service centre to get them replaced or repaired. This is technically the last resort you have in hand. Earlier. The phones used to come with removable batteries if we talk about the devices manufactured before the year 2014-15. Thus, it was easy to check the battery’s health by removing the back cover of your phone.

However, now, if you need to be sure if your battery is damaged or worn out, you will need to take help from a professional. That is because almost every phone now will have a non-removable battery, saving space and making the device thinner.

Thus, if none of the methods worked out for you, it is advised to visit the authorized repair centre or service centre for your device and get a check on your battery’s health status. If it is damaged or worn out, you can either get a replacement or repair it based on whatever works out best. If your phone is still under warranty, it is likely that you will either get a free battery replacement or get your phone replaced completely.

Other reasons why your phone battery is going down while charging

There could be a few other reasons why your phone battery is going down while charging, which include:

• Charging your phone via your PC or laptop. Ideally, your PC or laptop should charge your phone; however, if you are using it while it is on a charge, or if the battery consumption is high while charging, the battery will keep draining instead of being refilled. This is because PCs or laptops are not very effective at charging a phone, and the whole refilling is usually very slow.
• Foreign particles or dirt in the charging cable leads to a loose connection between the cable and the charger.
• Not using certified or authorized charging cable as well as a charger for your phone.

 

6 Tips to help preserve your phone’s battery life

Yes, a phone’s battery has a certain lifespan, but most of the time, the battery starts losing its full functionality way before its lifespan expires. Here are a few ways you can preserve battery life and make it last longer than usual.

Turn on Power Saving mode.

Do you believe you’re going to be stuck in a situation where your phone battery doesn’t last as long as it normally does? When you switch your phone into power saver mode, you can cut back on functions that may eat up battery life.

A lot of phones offer more than one option, but a lot of phones with the same operating system may have different options for Power Saving. A balance is maintained between performance and battery life by turning up screen brightness and resolution when you use ‘optimized’ Power Saving. It is possible to extend battery life through medium power saving by limiting data usage and turning down brightness and resolution. The essential services and apps will be stripped from your device when you switch to maximum power saving.

Adaptive power saving mode can be activated, which sits on top of your other power settings and helps to manage battery usage based on when you use the device and when it’s in your pocket.

The Power Saving Mode can be turned on from the phone’s pulldown shade, and you can change a few options to save battery. There are power-saving options available in the device care section of your phone under Settings as well. Specific apps can be turned off completely when not in use.

Watch your network data.

You need to use the internet whenever possible since network data is very tiring on the battery. It is advisable to keep your home or public place’s WiFi on and connected to a network whenever possible.

If you want to stop using cellular data on your phone, you can turn off mobile data services from the quick settings panel. Airplane Mode can be used to turn off data network features and switch to a WiFi network, though this will disrupt incoming calls and text messages.

Manage apps on your phone

Many apps will continue to run in the background even when you aren’t using them, even though developers put a lot of work into making sure their apps run as efficiently as possible. Over time, this will eat up data and battery life. The App Power Management option on the device care section of your phone can be used to put unused apps to sleep.

If you want to prevent certain apps from using up too much power when not in use, you might want to set specific apps to sleep. You may need to update manually if you haven’t used the sleeping and deep sleeping apps in a while since they won’t receive any notifications unless in use.

You can enable background activity or adjust battery usage in the apps section in the Settings.

You should keep an eye out for ads-supported apps that are hogging batteries. In-app ads can be used to run videos in the background and eat battery over time. These videos will register as plays to the advertisers, meaning you’re tricked into paying for them, even though they are not really playing actively on the screen.

If you periodically check the apps that are draining your battery the fastest, you can see if there are any outliers that you can remove. Under battery usage, you can see which apps should be turned off when not in use and which should be allowed to run in the background.

Rethink Wallpaper and Widgets

It takes energy for a display to be animated, so stay away from moving wallpapers. Since the display will eat up more energy if it needs to render a lot of different colours, it’s a good idea to limit yourself to a background with fewer colours. Black is the better option if you have an OLED screen.

The phone uses a lot of energy to keep the feature running, and it’s tempting to use the Widgets, but they are actually an active program that can be used right from your home screen. If the battery life is not good, say no to these (widgets).

Avoid extreme temperatures

Extreme temperatures are not good for batteries in phones.

You should try to keep your phone at optimal temperatures at all times. However, we understand it is not feasible as a number of places have temperatures that are beyond the recommended operating range. Thus, try a few workarounds when you can not control the temperature. For example, if you don’t want your phone exposed to sunlight on a hot day, you can use a thick case.

If you leave your phone in a car where there’s less airflow, it will cause a rise in the device’s temperature. Many people leave their phones in their cars or the glove compartment to raise the phone’s temperature.

The battery capacity is permanently damaged by heat as it is a battery killer. On the other hand, the battery health is temporarily damaged by extremely cold temperatures.

If you want to charge your phone in a comfortable temperature zone, make sure you do it in high ambient temperatures.

Review your app updates

It is recommended that you check app reviews before you update your phone.

The apps are one of the reasons for the drain on the battery, constantly running in the background, refreshing and consuming data, sending out notifications. You can suspend the ones that you don’t need to manage in the settings.

However, new features are constantly added to these apps. Before updating your apps, it is advisable to read the reviews of the newly added features to make sure they don’t bring with them a lot of bugs that affect your device’s performance and battery health. A recently updated app can cause overheating or battery drain.

The ones who check for app updates every once in a while and those who update their apps daily are the ones who need to keep this tip in mind.