We all know that the battery life of the iPhone is not the strong point of the devices of the American firm. Also, like phones from other manufacturers, it’s a component that degrades over time, meaning you’ll need to plug your smartphone into its power adapter more and more often.
For this reason, just as important as preserving the health of this piece, is knowing how to fully exploit the charging capabilities of the iPhone . Not all Cupertino models are compatible with the brand’s fast charging system, but at least the smartphones launched in the last 5 years can recharge their cell faster than normal.
We are talking about a charging speed, not very excessive, that pales with the systems that we find in Android, which already allow us to work at 150W and fully charge the devices in just a few minutes. However, there are some tricks that we can do to improve the speed of the iPhone to receive power . Whatever it is.
How fast does each iPhone charge?
On paper, fast charging is supported on Apple phones from the iPhone 8 onwards. What happens is that, it is no longer that the brand does not put the smartphone charger in the box, it is that it never clarifies the capacity that the phones have.
Apple limits itself to saying that its phones can recharge 50% of the battery in 30 minutes , but it will always depend on the charger we use. In general, we are going to achieve this with the 20W chargers that the brand sells. By comparison, tests show this is an hour less charge than with the 5W adapter that comes with most models.
Tests have been carried out on iPhones to see that, with 30W chargers, some models can reach 27W speed . However, to clarify this chaos a bit, we clarify the speeds at which each Cupertino model should fill the battery.
- iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus: Up to 20W
- iPhone X: Up to 20W
- iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max: Up to 20W
- iPhone 11: Up to 20W
- iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max: Up to 20W
- iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini: Up to 27W
- iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max: Up to 27W
- iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini: Up to 27W
- iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max: Up to 27W
- iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus: Up to 27W
- iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max: Up to 27W
- iPhone SE: Up to 18W
- iPhone SE 2: Up to 27W
Since Apple only ever included a power adapter that supports fast charging with the iPhone 11, if you have any other models, you’ll need to purchase a connector that supports the technology separately. Its price is 25 euros and you can find it in the Apple store.
How iPhone fast charging works
To charge your phone faster , you must first understand how the technology of the brand works. It charges the iPhone at maximum speed for the first 30 minutes, which makes the smartphone reach 50% battery.
From now on, that is, until 100% is reached, a slower charge is made so as not to damage the cell and not compromise its useful life. This means that the phone is not fully charged in 60 minutes, as the math would dictate, but in just under two hours.
The objective of this system is to preserve the useful life of the iPhone battery , one of its most delicate components, as well as criticized, and not to sacrifice performance or cell health.
Tricks to make your Apple phone charge faster
Who else and who less has gone through the same. You have to charge your iPhone in the middle of the day and you don’t have enough time to fully charge it. It is normal to fill the smartphone with energy at night, when there is plenty of time to leave the smartphone connected to the power, but there are many situations in which this would not be possible.
Fast charging makes this less of a problem, but as we said before, when your iPhone is already a decent amount, above 50%, you will find that it progresses considerably slower than desired. And it doesn’t matter if you connect the fastest fast charger you have at your fingertips.
However, there are ways to get your iPhone up to 100% faster , though we’re never going to do any magic. We are only going to get a few extra minutes of speed so that, instead of completely filling the phone in less than two hours, we will do it in around 95 minutes.
Disable optimized charging
The iOS configuration gives us the best trick to charge the mobile 100% faster, and it does so through one of its most controversial functions since its appearance in iOS 13.
- Open the Settings app
- Scroll down to the drum section
- Then turn off the switch for optimized battery charging
Although it may seem counterproductive, the reality is that by unchecking this option the iPhone will charge faster . The tool uses the artificial intelligence of the device to learn how we use the phone and fully charge the battery at the time you normally remove it from the charger. This is why sometimes you can remove the phone from the charger and find that it is not fully 100%. That is why you should, from time to time, disable this function.
Use a more powerful charger
As we have said, most of the chargers that come (or, rather, came) with our iPhones are 5W , with the exception of the iPhone 11, but that does not mean that your phone can only enjoy this speed. If you have another high-power charger at home that you can connect the iPhone’s lightning cable to, give it a try.
For example, a 12W power adapter already means that the Apple phone can be charged around 35% faster than with the adapter that comes standard with the phone.
Don’t use a laptop as a power source
Being in a hurry and unable to locate an adapter, you can resort to connecting your iPhone device to your laptop’s USB port to charge it, or use another smartphone with reverse charging function.
This is a recommended option to maintain the energy of a device, but never to charge it. In fact, if we recharge it in this way, we are going to charge the device much slower than normal. According to different studies, the speed will drop by around 65% compared to a normal connection to an electrical outlet.
Normally, the USB port of a computer can deliver up to 500 mAh, half that of any wall outlet that can offer up to 1000 mAh of power and, therefore, charge our Apple phone in much less time.
Switch off the mobile phone
When the iPhone is turned off, it will not consume power at any time, which will help the smartphone to accumulate more charge in less time, compared to a device that is being used. Keep in mind that if it is turned on, the smartphone may spend electricity searching for networks, signal coverage or receiving notifications that turn on the screen.
Therefore, the best thing you can do is to press and hold the power button on the iPhone until the slider appears to turn off the device. If you can leave your iPhone in this state for as long as possible while charging, you will save time and fully charge your phone faster .
Use Airplane Mode
We are aware that, on many occasions, completely turning off the phone is not the best option of all possible. When you can’t turn off your smartphone, you can always use an alternative like Airplane Mode to neutralize all your connections.
Keep in mind that the iPhone’s connectivity options are one of the biggest culprits for mobile power drain. If there is no Wi-Fi network nearby and the smartphone keeps this option enabled, in the background the iPhone will constantly search for the nearest cell tower, and this consumes battery power . The same goes for Bluetooth and GPS. Using Airplane Mode, we are going to disable these options at once, although, if you prefer, you can turn them off individually from the phone’s own settings.
The most advisable thing is to deactivate all the wireless options of your device, since the tests to which we have subjected the different iPhone models that have passed through our hands is that this function can reduce the full charge times in a few minutes. As we have said before, we are not talking about gaining a few hours, but about 10 or 15 minutes.
To activate this option, simply open Control Center by swiping down from the top right corner of iPhones and tap the airplane icon to enable or disable this mode before connecting iPhone to power.