10 reasons why your Android battery is charging slowly and how to fix them

10 reasons why your
Android battery is charging
slowly and how to fix them.
10 reasons why your battery is charging slowly and how to fix them:
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You can remember a time when it didn’t take all night to charge your phone. Back in those golden days, Android’s battery meter went from a pixel-wide strip of red
to a fat green bar in a quarter of an hour. Nowadays,however, your poor phone takes ages to recharge, and
you’re constantly scrambling from one charge session to
the next. Or maybe your phone has always been a snail-
paced charger, constantly left in the dust by your friends’
devices.
Whatever your experience, it’s time to finally put your
smartphone under a diagnostic microscope and get to the root of its slow-charging issue. Odds are your phone is suffering from one of these ten ailments, and we’re going to
show you how to fix it if possible.

We’re going to tackle these roughly in order of decreasing
likelihood, so let’s start with the most common culprit…
1: You have
a bad cable
If your phone is charging slowly, checking the USB cable
should always be your first step. It’s actually pretty understandable once you consider all the wear and tear your
basic USB cable goes through in the course of everyday use. Many people keep using the same charger setup that
came with their device for years, unaware that USB cables tend to get beat up pretty easily.USB cables are dropped, bent, stepped on, left in cars during
scorching and freezing conditions, and plugged in and out of devices on a daily basis. One thing to keep in mind is that
USB cables are designed to be less robust than your
device’s port. When push comes to shove, you’d rather have
your cable break than your phone’s port because the cable is
much easier (and cheaper) to replace. That’s why
manufacturers deliberately construct USB cables to take the
brunt wear-and-tear.
Ever have one of those
cables that didn’t seem
to “stick” in the phone
anymore? It just
frustratingly falls out for,
like, no reason. Take a
look at the underside of
the USB male
connector. You’ll see
two thin little “teeth”
that keep the USB firmly
plugged into your device. Those are made to bend pretty
easily in the event of any trauma – like your phone getting
yanked quickly off the charger – and once they’re bent,
they’re toast. Also, look inside the front end of the
connector. You’ll find a line of tiny little prongs. Those are
made of relatively soft metal, because if one gets slightly
out of line, you don’t want it damaging your phone’s port.
In short, lots can go wrong with a USB cable and they are
manufactured to be wimps about it. Grab a new USB cable,
and you should be good to go. This and this alone probably
constitutes 90% of slow-charging problems. If you swap
cables and keep experiencing problems, though, then feel
free to move along to…
2: You have
a weak power source
If you’re using your PC to charge your phone, then your
phone is going to charge very slowly. Even with USB 3.0, the
standard energy output is only .9A (.5mA for USB 2.0). And
that’s under ideal circumstances; any damage to your USB
cable or ports can knock that meager flow of energy even
lower. Likewise, if you’re using wireless charging, you’re
going to get a pretty glacial charge as well. No one’s
arguing that wireless charging isn’t cool – it certainly is –
but we’re kind of butting our heads against physics and
safety at this point . Long story short, it’s just plain faster to
plug your phone in.
So yeah, there’s your solution. A lot of device owners use
inefficient methods because they just think “charging is
charging,” but currently the fastest way to get your battery
back to full is to use a dedicated wall charger and physically
plug your device into it. If you’re doing this and you still
have sluggish charging, the problem might lie in your home’s
wiring (if it’s a particularly old building), or it could be that…
3: You have
a bad adapter
Yeah, that little blocky thing that plugs into the wall. Maybe
a power surge left it a little wonky or it got kicked around
during a move. Once again, this device is made to take on
the brunt of any trauma rather than your phone, so they tend
to not be the most stalwart little devices. Grab a new one
and get back to charging full-speed.
4: Your
phone may be
outmoded
It can be a touchy subject, but it might be time to update
your device. Modern devices have processors that support
more rapid charging, and some devices have turbocharging
capabilities. If your phone feels like it’s charging slower
compared to people who have newer devices, this might be
your issue.
However, even if you’ve got a solid device that you know
used to charge faster (not only compared to your peers), the
sad reality is that things fall apart. The center doesn’t hold.
Hardware decays. The falcon cannot hear the falconer, and
phones are not immune to the inexorable pull of entropy
dragging everything to the ultimate heat death of the
universe.
Also, you could have a bad battery.
5: You have
a bad battery
There have been many instances of manufacturers issuing
recalls for whole batches of batteries. Search online to see
if your phone’s model came with a bad battery, and see if
you can acquire a replacement from your provider. Also, like
your phone in general, batteries just get old and bad.
If you happen to own a device such as the LG G4 , Galaxy S5
or Galaxy Note 4 , good news! If your battery has gone bad,
you can purchase a new one from Amazon and pop it into
your phone right away when it’s delivered. If you own a
device with a non-removable battery such as the Galaxy S6 ,
Note 5 , or Moto X Pure Edition , though, you’ll have to send
the device in to the manufacturer to get it replaced.
6: The Enemy is You
Take a look in the mirror, because it’s time for some
introspection. How addicted to Facebook are you? Do you
have a Candy Crush Saga problem? Do you habitually play
with your phone while it’s charging?
A surprising number of smartphone users aren’t aware that
the biggest drain on their phone’s battery is the screen.
Keeping that gorgeous display lit up with high-resolution
Facebook drama will use up battery even as your phone
soaks it up. If you combine this with one of the other
problems above, you might find yourself in a situation where
you are using battery power faster than your phone can take
it in.
If you need your phone to charge quickly, give it a rest while
it’s on the charger.
7:
Background apps are
sapping your battery
Although your screen is the number one battery sucker, you
might have some sneaky apps running in the background
that are constantly draining power, causing your phone to
charge slower. In addition to charging sluggishly, does your
phone also feel like it runs through its battery life faster than
it used to? If so, this may be your issue. Apps in Android
often boot themselves up or run in the background after only
being opened for a moment. Although this used to be a
bigger problem than it currently is–Android is getting better
and better at efficiently managing resources–having a rogue
app or two can give your phone’s performance a nasty hit.
The easiest solution here is to grab a good task manager
and check it frequently to see what’s running when it
shouldn’t be. When you locate a misbehaving app, try
uninstalling it and see if your battery life and charge speed
is improved over the next few days.
8: Your USB
port is obstructed
Your phone spends all day rattling around in your pocket or
purse with all manner of lint, dust, and particles. It’s pretty
common for a USB port to get a little bit of that trash
lodged inside of it. If you plugged in your charger without
noticing, it may have packed the obstruction in even deeper,
which might be preventing your charger from making a good
connection.
Using a bright light and perhaps magnification, look around
inside your phone’s USB port for anything that shouldn’t be
in there. If you see something that obviously doesn’t belong,
grab a thin, pointed object and carefully try to remove it.
Remember playing that board game Operation as a kid?
We’re in that kind of territory here. Be very careful not to
damage any of the port’s components, or you could end up
with a bigger problem than you currently have.
I recommend using a plastic (not wooden) toothpick if you
can find one. Alternatively, giving your port a good scrub
with a dry, brand new toothbrush is a very effective and safe
way to make sure it’s free of any blockage.
9: Your USB
port is damaged
Oh boy. This is what we were hoping it wasn’t. If you’ve
made it this far, and your phone still isn’t charging correctly,
then you may have broken or bent a pin inside your phone’s
USB port. At this point, you should really consider taking
your phone to a professional for repair. If you got insurance
from your cellular provider, then you may be able to get this
issue repaired for cheap or free. Take your phone by a shop
and get a quote on a repair job.
Possibility 10: Your USB
port is corroded
Yes, you might also have some corrosion in there from
sweat or humidity. Corrosion is particularly vicious little
problem, because it creates a film over the connective
hardware that prevents a proper charge, but even worse, if
you don’t get rid of it, it can keep eating away at your
device, causing larger and larger issues.
Once again, you should
really consider
professional help at this
point. Going forward,
you risk voiding your
phone’s warranty and
doing serious damage
to the device. However,
if you decide to take
your phone’s life into
your own hands, and
you are comfortable
and familiar with the process of disassembling and
reassembling mobile devices, then you should know that
many corrosion problems can be dealt with using just white
vinegar and rubbing alcohol.
Disassemble your device to expose the area of corrosion.
The intricacies of this process outstrip the scope of this
article and will vary from device to device, so once again,
unless you’ve done this before and the phrase “disassemble
your device” doesn’t make your stomach jerk viscerally, take
your phone to a professional. For those moving forward,
most corrosion can be removed by using a cotton swab
dabbed in distilled white vinegar. Rub down all the corrosion
you see with a light touch, and be careful not to get vinegar
into the uncorroded areas. I probably don’t have to say this,
but getting vinegar into your phone is bad.
Once you’ve coated the corrosion with vinegar, wait 5-8
minutes, then use the tip of a paper towel to remove the
vinegar. Repeat this process until there is no sign of
corrosion. This accomplished, dab the area with rubbing
alcohol on the tip of a cotton swab and let the device air-dry
for half an hour. Reassemble your phone, and you should be
good to go!
Conclusion
Whew, I think that just about covers it. If you’re getting a
slow charge, I hope you found the solution you needed on
this list. And I hope it didn’t have to come to you sitting
with all your phone’s parts spread around you like a mobile
autopsy.
Did we miss anything? Have you experienced any problems
with crappy charging that don’t appear on this list? Got a
better solution to one of the problems listed above? Let us
know in the comments!