10 Reasons Why Your Android Battery Is Charging Slowly And How To Fix Them

You can remember a time when it didn't take all
night to charge your phone. Back in those golden
days of yore, your 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…


Possibility 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.
Most of the time, it's the USB cable's fault
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…

Possibility 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.
Wireless-chargers-testingRelated: Best wireless
chargers – how they work and perform10
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…

Possibility 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.

Possibility 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.

Possibility 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.
samsung galaxy s6 edge unboxing aa (19 of
20)See also: 5 tips to improve the Galaxy S6
Edge's battery life23.

Possibility 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.

Possibility 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.

Possibility 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.

Possibility 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.

Taking your phone's life into your own hands is
risky business
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.