Getting a little extra juice in your phone before you leave your house in the morning can make the difference between a device still holding power at the end of the day or not. But there are several factors that affect the charging rate, and you may not be aware of them all.

However, follow the tips here, and you can be sure that your phone is always charging as quickly as possible.

Use a wired power source

For starters, if you’re going to charge your phone very quickly plug it directly into a power source instead of putting it on a wireless charger. Wireless charging offers a lot of convenience, and is slowly getting faster and faster as far as charging rates go, but wired charging is still far ahead.

Take the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, for example: you get a maximum charging rate of 45W with a wired connection, and 15W with a wireless connection on Q2. This means that the handset will take three times longer to charge its battery via wireless charging. The figures for other handsets are similar.

Wireless charging: Easy but not fast.
Credit: Google

Not only is wireless charging slower, it’s also generally less efficient, with most of the power being delivered to the phone being wasted as heat (the way electricity is converted into a magnetic field and back again). With a cable and plug, charging is faster, and it’s also healthier for your battery.

Wired is the way to go if at all possible, and what you plug your phone into also makes a difference. Wall sockets are great for charging prices, while anything else isn’t – options like laptop USB ports, USB hubs, and sockets you might find for other gadgets like monitors won’t supply as much power.

Use the correct cable and charger

Many phones these days don’t come with a charger and cable in the box, but if you check the specs, they will come with fast charging quality and maximum charging rates. You then need to find a charger that matches that charging rate, with a cable that won’t short anything.

If you see iPhone chargers manufactured by Apple And on sale from its store, there are 20W, 35W, and 60W options – and the latter is going to juice up your handset at the fastest speed. You should also look for mention of USB Power Delivery (PD), although it’s included in every charger you’ll find at this stage.

Not all charging blocks are created equal.
Credit: Apple

We’ve written in depth about USB-C cables and charging blocks before, and this one will once again list charging rates with them (or at least they should). You need to make sure that each link in the chain is delivering power at the maximum rate your phone can handle if you want to fully recharge as quickly as possible.

You can use cables and chargers lying around for laptops, tablets, and other gadgets with your phone—the handset will have built-in safety features to prevent it from drawing too much power—but for best results you’ll usually want to stick with what comes in the box or Officially approved option.

Do not use your phone while charging

There are other tricks you can do if you want to maximize the charging speed. Think about the amount of power your smartphone consumes while it’s actually being charged: If you’re constantly scrolling through social media feeds, watching videos, and playing games, you’re using up precious battery life while you’re recharging.

If you can, put your phone down and leave it alone while charging—you always want to turn off the display to help things along a bit more. For even better results, put your phone in airplane or low-power mode, or turn it off completely while charging (those notifications can wait).

Airplane mode can help speed up charging as well.
Credit: Lifehacker

Check your phone’s temperature

Due to battery chemistry and safety measures built into modern handsets, charging speeds slow down if your phone gets too hot or too cold. Place your phone on a sunny windowsill or away from a freezing bathroom while charging to maximize charging speed.

It’s a good idea to remove any case around your phone while you charge it, to reduce the chance of the battery overheating, and to make sure it’s dust and lint-free—even a slightly imperfect connection can affect charging speed.

Monitor charging speed

However, you’re charging your phone, both Android and iOS let you keep track of how fast the battery is charging. If you’ve got a Pixel or Galaxy phone, keep an eye on the charging message at the bottom of the lock screen: it tells you how quickly your phone is charging, and when you’ll reach full charge.

For most Android devices, you can find more information by opening Battery page in Settings, though the details you get here will vary between devices: you should see if fast charging is enabled, and maybe how long a full recharge takes, but you won’t usually get an actual wattage reading.

Charging notification on Pixel.
Credit: Lifehacker

With iPhones, you can Battery In the settings to get information about how the battery recharge is going. While there isn’t complete information, you can get an idea of ​​how long a charge will take, and you’ll see a “slow charger” message if your iPhone can support a higher charging rate than what the connected charger offers.

There are many Android apps that measure the charging rate. Ampere One of the best: It’s free, with additional features (like widgets and notifications) available for a fee. Note that you need to multiply the current X the voltage then divide by 1,000 to get the wattage. Unfortunately there’s really no comparison in iOS, what with some apps that seem out of date and/or unreliable.