How to charge your phone faster

You’re about to go out the door for the day (or the night) and, oh snap, your phone battery is in the red. If you have just a few minutes, you won’t be able to reach 100%, of course, but you can quickly put in enough juice to get you to the next charging point. Here’s how.

Turn it off

Your phone is full of complex electronics, like memory chips, a CPU and various radios that send and receive signals. All of these consume power and, when your phone is on, they’ll keep consuming it, which means your phone will charge more slowly. Turn your phone off and it’ll charge faster.

Switch to airplane or low-power mode

If you need to keep your phone turned on, you can put it in airplane or low-power mode before you plug it into the charger. It will charge more quickly. Airplane mode will disable all wireless functions, so you won’t be able to make or receive calls, send texts or go online. Your phone will also disconnect from all WiFi connections.

Or you can switch your phone to low-power mode, which will dim your screen and run some of your phone’s regular checks and refreshes—like registering new emails and updating the news—less often. It will also turn off your virtual assistant, wo you won’t be able to prompt your phone with “Hey Google” or “Hey Siri.” If you have a 5G phone, it will switch back to 4G. You can find low-power mode in Settings > Battery.

Plug into a wall outlet

Charging your phone from a wall socket is faster than charging it from a USB port on your computer. Most USB ports charge at fewer amps than plug-in chargers, which means plug-in chargers work faster.

Use an iPad charger for your iPhone

If you have an iPhone and an iPad, you can use your iPad charger to charge your phone more quickly, especially if you have fast-charge compatible cables and devices. An iPad charger is more powerful and, contrary to rumor, it won’t “burn out” your iPhone battery. Your phone will only take the charge it needs. Apple endorses charging your iPhone with an iPad charger, which means you won’t cancel your AppleCare coverage if you do.

Keep your phone cool

Your phone battery will charge faster if it’s not hot, so keep your phone out of the sun when you’re charging it. It’s also a good idea to take your phone out of its case when you’re charging it. In general, you should keep your phone as cool as you can as often as you can, because overheating may permanently damage your battery.

Clean your charging port

Dust and lint love small places like your phone’s charging port—and your phone won’t charge efficiently if the port is dirty.

First, turn off your phone. Next, blow out the port with a hand air blower (which looks kind of like a turkey baster). Avoid canned air, which is bad for people and the planet. Wrap a little cotton around the end of a toothpick and lightly dampen the cotton with a cleaning alcohol like isopropyl alcohol. Rub the cotton back and forth inside the port. Then blow it out again.

When it’s charged up and fully functioning, your phone is a powerful tool. But did you know there’s one phone with a power no other phone has? A CREDO Mobile phone. When you join CREDO Mobile, your phone has the power to change the world.

That’s because CREDO Mobile members generate vital funding for nonprofit groups working hard for progressive causes like equal rights, economic justice and a cooler climate. Since 1985, we’ve donated over $94 million to Amnesty International, Planned Parenthood, Earthjustice, the National LGBTQ Task Force, Social Security Works and dozens of others.

These donations cost our members nothing extra. But they mean everything to the nonprofits we support.

Join us and you’ll get all you want from a phone company: the nation’s top-rated network, competitive plans, great deals on new phones and friendly, responsive customer service.

And you’ll get the good feeling that comes with membership in a phone company that’s working hard for the progressive causes you believe in.

Switching is easy. You can keep your current phone number and bring the phone you have now. We’ll send you a free SIM card. If you’re looking for a new phone, we have a wide range of the latest models. And we offer a variety of affordable plans, including data plans from 1GB to unlimited, all with unlimited talk and text.