Should I enable Protect Battery to limit the maximum battery charge to 85% on Galaxy S22, S21, S20, and S10?

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• How can I turn protect battery off? It won't let me.

  • In Settings -- Battery and device care --Battery -- More battery settings -- Protect battery. The screenshots can be found in the post.

• In the past we had to charge to 100% and drain it completely, or at least that's what everybody told you to do. What has changed that now is better not to charge it over 85 and not drain it below 20? Thanks a lot!

  • Actually, this is in tandem with the minor progress in the Li-ion battery technology and the design of the charging circuit (mainly the current regulator). Old batteries are usually recommended to be charged to 100% periodically. The latest design trend in the charging controller prefers charging to about 85% of the capacity.

    Anyway, you need not care too much about it. Do not sacrifice your productivity/experiences. It depends on your usage. You enable the Protect Battery if it is convenient for you (e.g., you do not need to charge it to 100% before you can access the charger again).

• Will we ever get a customisable version? So you could set the limit at a different point?

  • Technically, it is not difficult to implement a customizable limit level (e.g., 90%). The issue is whether or when Samsung will work on it. I guess it will depend on the usage and feedback.

• Every time I turn the toggle off to stop the battery charging at 85%, it turns the battery protection back on automatically. We have heavy loadshedding, I need to be able to charge to 100%, is there perhaps another setting I have to change as well?

  • If you want to charge the battery to 100%, you do not need the Protect Battery. It should not turn on automatically if you turn it off before charging.

• Hello. I leave my phone whole night for charging while I'm sleeping. This feature of reducing battery charge to 85% should help the battery to not to die by charging whole night frequently, am I right?

  • Once the battery level reaches 85%, the charge will stop. So, the battery level in the morning will not be exactly at 85% (should be higher than 83%). The tricking current may help the battery level close to 85%.

• When it reaches 85percent can i leave it plugged in will anything happen if I don't unplug it?

  • Yes, you can leave it plugged and it is safe for the phone and battery. This is one of the major problems that Protect Battery addresses. The charging will stop and will not resume once the battery level reaches 85%. The battery will be kept at around at 85% (may be slightly lower if you plug it overnight).

    When plugged, if battery usage exceeds certain watts, it will get the power from the charger, not the battery. For lower usage, it may draw from the battery. This results in a battery level slightly lower than 85% (but normally it should be above 83%) because charging will not be resumed until you disconnect and reconnect the charger.

• Do you need to let the battery drain before charging it the first time?

  • No, it is NOT necessary, and you should try to avoid it. The situation is quite different from a few years ago. For a modern smartphone battery, it will shut itself off before you can actually drain it completely if you are using the phone.

    Anyway, you should try to avoid such scenarios to minimize the possible damage to some components of the phone.

• What is worse for a battery, overcharging or discharging wear?

  • Modern batteries can prevent overcharging. But when the battery is close to full, charging will be slow due to higher "resistance". This usually translates to more wear. By limiting the maximum battery level (what Protect Battery does), you can skip this high-resistance stage when charging the battery (at the price of a lower effective battery capacity).

    Discharging wear is part of the life of the battery. You cannot avoid it. But you should not drain the battery completely (in fact most batteries will cut off the power output before it is empty. But it usually is only reliable for new batteries).

• How do we force smartphone manufacturers such as Samsung to start installing replaceable batteries inside their phones again?

  • The "trend" is using a non-removable battery. Galaxy S5 is the last Galaxy S phone with a removable battery. Since then Samsung has stopped mocking Apple for the non-removable battery. All "flagship" phones only offer non-removable batteries.

    The real issue is the "availability" of the battery. Like it or not, Apple does a far better job. In most regions, you can still change the battery in the Apple store for your iPhone 6 (which was released 8 years ago) and later phones at about $50-75.

    If you go to a Samsung service centre and ask the staff to replace the battery for your Galaxy S6 (which was released about 6 months later than iPhone 6), what answer will you get? Very likely, "buy a new phone".

    Anyway, I am also not a fan of non-removable batteries and non-sense innovations (the glass back, the curved screen, the under-screen camera or the in-display fingerprint reader). If you cannot stock replacement battery (considering the number of models and variations of Galaxy phones), it is better not to follow Apple's strategy.

• Is it advisable that when the protect battery feature is on, I should plug in my charger the moment the phone reaches 15%?

  • If it is convenient to do so, yes, you can try to charge the battery once it drops to 15%.

    But do NOT overdo it. Take it easy and enjoy the phone first.

• Li-ion batteries are most stable at 50%. That is why when you open your new phone, you will find that the charge is exactly at 50%. Battery wear, expressed in resistance, is proportional to the square of the percentage of overcharge (or discharge) from 50%. That is why, your battery will wear more prematurely if you charge it beyond 80% or if you exhaust it below 20%. It is better to charge it frequently when it is exhausted at 40% and keep it charged until 70%.

  But you do not really need to stress yourself over this because batteries usually lose half of their full capacity after about 4 years, which is the time when your phone is exhibiting performance issues because of obsolete or old hardware.

• Use a Chargie device. It will schedule, stop and delay your charging and can stop at any SoC you want!

• What if I find myself charging phone multiple times throughout day is it than still 2orth having it on

  • Maybe not. If you are a heavy user, you probably need to replace the battery after one or two years, no matter how you take care of the battery.

• I trade in for a new phone every 2 years. I usually don't let my phone go below 30% but always charge to 100. Should I even bother doing this? I haven't had any issues with my last 3 phones.

  • Normally, it is not necessary. For most users, after 2 years, the battery should still be healthy (higher than 80% of initial capacity).

• Using a Chargie device on your phone will definitely prolong its battery lifespan. Chargie limits and delays full charging overnight, and makes the entire charging process much safer, without relying on phone hardware or software.

• When Protect Battery is on and i have 85% of charge reached, Can i play my games or watch my movies without unplug it from charger? Will my phone gradually discharge or will it be powered by the charger in this case without drawing on the battery (a bit like on laptop) ?

  • Yes, it is OK to use the phone without unplugging it. The battery will not be charged once it reaches 85%, unless you reconnect the charger. This is the reason why your battery may be slightly lower than 85% if you leave it on the charger overnight.

    When you use the phone in this case, power will be mainly drawn from the charger. The battery will not be used and not be charged. Technically, power is still through the circuit. But the process is different from discharging and charging. In fact, you may feel it is a bit cooler when you play some heavy games in this case.

• A couple of questions above answer my question, but nonetheless I ask due to a slight change in my observation on using protect battery.

  In above responses it's mentioned that once phone reaches 85%, phone will drain slightly below 85% and primarily the power will be drawn directly from charger. However in my use, there is no dip below 85% at all. Wondering if the phone is actually micro charging cycles are happening from 84-85% ? Appreciate if you respond please. Can't seem to find this answer anywhere else

  • The phone will turn off charging and will NOT charge the battery again until you reconnect the charger. If you are using a USB-C charger, the phone can "talk" with the charger directly to "negotiate" the power output.

    After 85% of the capacity is reached, the phone may draw power directly from the charger. But it is different from charging. This happens when the activity requires substantial processing power or needs to light up the screen. The battery may drop slightly when the background activity is very short. The power needed to keep the CPU idling will also be drawn from the battery. So, you need to wait a long time to see the drop. Once it drops, it will never go up until you reconnect the charger.

• Thanks for the detailed response Simon! Much helpful. A follow on question please, given primarily power is drawn from the charger, it would be okay to keep the phone plugged in through the day even after it's reached 85% and, using the phone in the plugged in the state as well?

  • Yes, it's correct.

• Thanks for the detailed response Simon, very helpful! Just a follow on question please,

  Is it okay to keep the phone plugged in through the day post hitting 85% and use it in such plugged in state? I understand since the power is primarily through the charger it should be okay, but still double checking. Thanks once again

  • Yes, it's safe to do so.

• "85%" who hard-codes such things? It should be a dropdown with choices of 95, 90, 85 at a minimum.

  • For advanced users, yes, giving the option would be better. Most users are already underwhelmed by so many options.