You definitely don’t let your phone hit zero before charging

Today’s smartphones are capable of going from zero to 100% in as quick as ~20 minutes, with even many mid-range phones capable of fully charging in an hour.

However, we wondered how many people let their phones hit zero in the first place before grabbing the charger. That was the topic of a featured poll earlier this week, and here’s what you told us.

Do you let your phone hit zero before charging it?

Results

We posted the poll on Tuesday, August 30, and over 3,200 people cast their votes to date. The winner by a landslide was the “no” camp, as almost 80% of respondents said they simply didn’t wait for their phone to hit zero before plugging in.

Reader comments supporting this stance note that letting the phone hit zero is bad for battery health. So we can see why many people would avoid this practice in the first place and simply plug in below a certain threshold (e.g. 10% or 20%).

Meanwhile, 15.48% of polled readers say they sometimes let the phones hit zero before reaching for the charger. A couple of readers noted that it was occasionally unavoidable that their phones would die. Finally, only 4.86% of respondents said they actually let their phones die before charging them.

Comments

• Luke Court: I try not to but sometimes it’s unavoidable, letting it drain to 0 or fully charge to 100 can reduce endurance so I always attempt to avoid it.
• Kira: It’s plain inconvenient to wait for your phone to hit zero,as you may need it at exactly that point,plus completely draining your battery is not good for its health over the long term(the same applies to completely charging it). Personally,I charge my phone when battery drops to around 20%,and then allow it to charge to 90%. The same thing I do with my Nokia tablet,and my Asus laptop,which thankfully has a feature to stop charging when the battery hits 80%. Completely draining or fully charging your battery is usually not recommended by many OEMs, and many studies back this up too.
• Jordi Mas: Sometimes at home I’m playing Brawl Stars until battery hits 0 so it’s a natural limitation to control myself xDD
• roaduardo: I’m home most of the time so my phone and watch never get anywhere close to zero. Wireless charging pads make this easy for me.
• edwardius: I never do, my wife lets her phone die all the time. I’ve had an S10 for 3 years and have only drained it completely a couple of times
• thesecondsight: I have a Moto G Power 2020 with a 5000mAh battery. I never allow my battery to drain below 30%. Though I recharge to 100% every 2-3 days, battery life remains stellar.
• mattcoz: Sometimes, sure, but not on purpose.
• Chris53: Draining a battery to 0 is bad for the battery, I try to never let it to drop to 0 if possible.
• Hasib: I’ve never let my battery drop generally below 25%. I’m trying to keep my phone for 5 years before upgrading.