Are Battery Cases Bad for Your Phone? Not What You Think!

On the surface, a battery phone case makes total sense. 

But with cell phones being so expensive, it’s essential to do everything you can to ensure they last as long as possible. 

So it begs the question — is constantly having your battery on charge good for the life of your phone?

When it comes to whether battery cases are bad for your cell phone and its battery life, there’s a lot more to consider than you may initially think. Let’s unpack this question and get into it. 

Are Charging Phone Cases Bad for Your Phone?

You might be struggling to figure out how a charging case could possibly be bad for your phone, and that's completely reasonable. They’re intended to be a convenient solution to a problem we all face — a dying cell phone battery.

But, you'd be right and responsible to be curious. The main concern people have when it comes to charging cases is - what will happen to the phone's battery if it’s constantly connected to a charger? Surely that's not good for it?

Thankfully, that's an easy question to answer - in short, nothing bad will happen. While it would be a problem if your phone were constantly in a state of charging, that's not the case (pun intended). 

Modern smartphones monitor charging and stop overloading. That means when the phone reaches 100% battery, it will automatically disconnect from the charger. When it drops to 99%, it will reconnect again, but that means there’s only a small trickle of charging ever happening at any one time.

Can a Battery Case Damage Your Phone?

One notoriously bad variable that has adverse effects on batteries is heat. Not only can overheating a battery cause it to become less efficient, but in some cases, it can cause irreparable damage. 

If that happens to the battery in your phone, that's it — your phone is dead.

Research suggests that if your battery reaches a temperature above 95 degrees Fahrenheit (or below 59 degrees Fahrenheit), can permanently damage the capacity of your battery. 

What does this have to do with your case? Unfortunately, your case may keep the heat produced by the device stuck instead of letting it filter out into the air as it would without it. With constant charging, standard operating heat, and rising temperatures, battery cases may impact the overall battery quality of a phone if it gets too hot. 

Can Phone Cases Affect Battery Life?

You might have heard people say that battery cases are - ironically - draining their phone's battery. If that's true, it's a fair question to ask because the answer is not as simple as you'd think. 

Ultimately, the answer is both yes and no at the same time. 

That's because it's true that battery cases can cause the efficiency of your battery to lessen. However, that would happen no matter which way you charged your phone.

Basically, every single time you charge your phone, the battery's efficiency gets lower. So, yes, battery cases are causing your phone's battery efficiency to worsen, but no worse than charging it via cable or a fast-charging cable. And it's by such a small amount that you're unlikely even to notice.

Final Thoughts

It's true that batteries become less effective when overloaded, but smartphones don't let that happen. And while batteries become less effective when they’re overheated, it’s important to note that many scenarios can overheat a battery, not just a battery case. What’s crucial is that you quickly cool down your phone.

With MagSafe cases and power pods, you may opt for something a bit more modern and easier to manage than a traditional phone case, that is if your phone is compatible. Regardless, keeping your phone charged and protecting your investment is the best way to get the most out of your device.