11 Tips to Charge Your iPhone and Android Device Faster

Smartphone manufacturers have started to include charging speeds as a USP for many new devices. With fast charging up to 100 watts in a few cases, charging your phone for a full day’s power takes only a few minutes. However, if you use an older device that doesn’t support fast charging – you are in the right place. We’ll show you a few useful ways to charge your phone faster.

Further, if your device supports fast charging and you cannot utilize it, this article will help resolve the issue.

We used a few of these methods on an older Android device and noticed an increase in the charging speeds, especially the first fifty percent. Therefore, we wanted to share these methods with our readers too. But first, let us understand more about the problem and why our phone is charging slowly in the first place.

Why Is My Phone Charging Slow

Here are a few reasons why your device may be charging slowly:

• You are not using a compatible fast-charging adapter.
• You are using wireless charging to charge your phone.
• You are using your laptop to charge your phone.
• Your charging accessories are old and damaged.
• You need to use the right cable to charge your phone.
• You are constantly using your phone while it is being charged.
• Your device is heating up during the process.

These are a few reasons why your phone might be charging slowly. However, we’ll elaborate on the above reasons in the next section and show you how to charge your phone faster.

How to Make Your Phone Charge Faster

Here are eleven tried and tested methods to improve the charging speeds on your smartphone. These apply to both iPhone and Android devices. Let’s begin.

1. Use Fast Charging Adapter and Compatible Accessories

If your device supports fast charging, always make sure to use a fast-charging adapter. However, if you aren’t sure about it, you can simply use the official charging brick that comes inside your box. If your device does not come with a charging brick, you can visit the manufacturer’s website and find the suggested adapter.

For example, the iPhone supports 20W fast charging, but it doesn’t support fast charging through every fast charging adapter. You need to use a power adapter that is MFi-certified and supports Power Delivery (PD) charging. Therefore, purchasing the official recommended charger for your device is better.

2. Ensure Charging Cable Supports Fast Charging

While using the right adapter is important, using the right charging cable is also crucial to fast charging your device. All devices come with a charging cable inside the box – so make sure to use the same. Further, make sure to always purchase a new charging cable from the official stores of the manufacturer.

If you plan to purchase a third-party cable, ensure it is compatible with your device for fast charging. You can check if the line supports PD, supports enough charging wattage, and your device is present in the list of compatible devices.

3. Avoid Wireless Charging

While wireless charging is quite convenient, it is certainly not the best for charging speeds. Wireless chargers do not support fast charging – at least not as much as a fast charging wall adapter. Further, wireless charging consumes ~47% more power in comparison to wired charging. This excess energy is dissipated as heat energy, thus, increasing your device temperature, which may affect the charging speeds.

Wireless charging uses 30-50% more energy than a regular wired charger.

— World of Engineering (@engineers_feed) May 19, 2023

Therefore, wired charging is your best bet if you want the best charging speeds on your Android or iPhone. However, as MKBHD said, “It’s the future, man!” So, sooner or later, we may have to switch.

Wireless charging cons: Slower charging, picky chargers, compatibility.

Wireless charging pros: It's the future, man!

— Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) December 27, 2013

4. Check if Charging Accessories Are Damaged

Make sure that there isn’t any visible damage to the power adapter or the charging cable. Not only does a damaged accessory affect the charging speeds, but it also harms the overall battery health. Therefore, replace the damaged accessory with a new, official, certified one at the earliest.

5. Do Not Use Your Phone While Charging

This is one of the best ways to improve the charging speeds on your device. Refrain from using your phone while it is being charged. Using your phone will also discharge power at the same time and can reduce the rate at which it is being charged. Hence, use your phone only if it is absolutely necessary.

6. Enable Airplane Mode

Enabling airplane mode essentially shuts down network connectivity on your smartphone. Staying connected to Wi-Fi, cellular networks, or Bluetooth will consume power. When you turn them off, you are reducing power consumption, thus increasing the rate at which it is being charged.

Further, if you are in a region with low connectivity, your device can consume high power while constantly searching for the network signal. In such cases, enabling airplane mode certainly helps you charge your phone faster.

7. Check Your Device Temperature

If your smartphone heats up while charging, it may reduce the speed or even pause charging to protect the battery and hardware from being continuously exposed to high temperatures. Therefore, make sure that your device isn’t getting hot while you are charging it.

However, in such cases, the charging will be put on hold automatically – but only if it crosses a certain temperature limit. Hence, do not wait for the warning, and if you notice an increase in temperature, unplug your device, let it cool down, and then plug it in.

8. Remove the Phone Case

Removing the case can also help reduce the temperature of your device while it is being charged. If your phone case has a poor heat dissipation design, the trapped heat can increase your phone’s temperature and, thus, impact the charging speeds.

Therefore, try charging your phone without a case to see if it helps, or better, purchase a new case from a reliable manufacturer.

9. Close Background Apps

If there is an app that is consuming a lot of power in the background while your phone is charging, it can certainly affect the charging speeds. Therefore, if you notice a reduction in charging speeds, try clearing all the background apps and you will see an improvement.

10. Turn off the Phone While Charging

However, if you closed all your background apps and still notice no improvement, consider turning off your device while charging. There might be a background service or an operation you cannot control, which may affecting the charging speeds.

Therefore, turning off your phone and charging it can help. However, not all devices support charging while your device is turned off, and they may automatically turn on.

11. Always Use a Wall Socket

Lastly, we’d recommend using a wall socket and a power adapter to charge your device at all times. The USB port on your laptop or computer might not support charging optimally. USB ports on non-wall sockets can provide a measly power output of just 0.5A, whereas a wall socket usually provides an output of 1A.

That is everything you need to know to charge your phone faster. If you have further questions, look at the FAQ section below.

FAQs on Fast Charging

Charge your Android or iPhone Quickly

We hope this article helps you charge your iPhone or Android at optimally. While the smartphone industry is using fast charging with almost all new devices, we are seeking more clarity regarding the impact of fast charging on long-term battery health. In the meantime, you may look at our iPhone battery guide to charge the device the right way.