What can be so annoying charging a smartphone that takes forever to charge complete or put preffered percentage. This article covers all that you have been looking for, why is my phone taking so long to charge.
It can be a lot annoying, plugging your phone into the wall socket for it to charge, coming to check the percentage after one and half hour and for you to see 25%.
Oh my goodness, I know your reaction cause I’ve been in your situation back then when smartphone wasn’t that popular.
Or maybe I should say back then when samsung smartphones do have poor battery life.
Before going into the question on why is my phone taking so long to charge, you should know that there are lots of issues that can make your phone to have slow charging.
So let’s move onto the problems which can make your phone to charge at snail speed.
Why is my phone taking so long to charge and their fixes
Your phone is taking so long to charge due to various factors which includes poor or damaged battery and the charger or USB cable is no longer functioning properly or probably damaged as well.
Like I said, there are many factors that causes a feature or a smartphone to charge at a very slow annoying speed, they are as follows.
- Slow charging caused by faulty hardware
- Slow Charging caused by usage and other than faulty hardware
Slow charging caused by faulty hardware
This category comprises of the adapter, USB cable, charging port and the phone battery itself. These are the major causes of slow charging in a phone or the answer to why is my phone taking so long to charge.
1. Poor or damaged adapter
One major causes of slow charging in a phone is the adapter. Old and worn out adapter or probably a damaged one will definitely charge at a slow speed or even extreme slow speed.
I can remember when my phone adapter partially burned, even though it was charging, the speed was a lot annoying and same time frustrating.
Looking for why is my phone taking so long to charge, you have to look into your phone adapter.
HOW TO FIX IT
Right now we have USB cable along with the adapter, what you have to do to confirm that the problem is from the adapter is to plug your phone into another compatible adapter.
Check if it is charging, and also the charging speed.
If the speed is lot okay or as it use to be, then be rest assured that the problem is from your phone adapter.
The only solution or fix to this is to get a new adapter or maybe give it to an repair to see what actually caused the problem, and if there will be a possible fix for it.
Why is my phone taking so long to charge?
This should be the first thing to look out.
2. Poor or damaged USB cable
Slow charging can also be caused by a poor or damaged USB cable, and this is very common in smartphones.
Mostly, wear and tear do occur on USB cables on the long run and this with time can causes slow charging in a smartphone.
I’ve seen number of phone users using a tape to tape their USB cable, I can tell you that continuous usage will cause slow charging on the long run. Not only that, twisting of USB cable can cause a damage to it.
Why is my phone taking so long to charge?
Kindly check the USB cable.
HOW TO FIX IT
Before concluding that the slow charging is caused by the USB cable using in charging your phone, you need to check and confirm that this is where the problem is coming from.
This isn’t a difficult task to do.
All you need to do is to get your friends or family USB cable, make sure it is compatible with your phone and insert it into your adapter.
Plug it into your phone and wait for fifteen minutes.
Check the percentage and confirm if it’s charging faster or just like it used to, or probably slow charging.
If it charges faster or normal, then be rest assured that the problem of slow charging on your phone is from the USB cable you’re using to charge your phone.
The only solution to this issue of why is my phone taking so long to charge caused by a faulty USB cable is to simply buy a new USB cable.
3. Faulty USB charging port
Another major causes of slow charging on a feature phone or smartphone is the USB charging port.
When it gets faulty or damaged, your phone won’t charge and if it does, you’ll experience an extreme slow charging while charging your phone.
Back then during the days of the Nokia Symbian and Belle phone, I had this faulty USB charging port which I didn’t know. Charging of phone was close to none as it couldn’t charge one bar in more than fifty six minutes.
Why is my phone taking so long to charge?
Check and examine your phone USB charging port.
HOW TO FIX IT
In this case of faulty or damaged USB charging port, it may quite difficult to detect especially if you’re a novice.
Sometimes, to ascertain that the problem of slow charging is caused by the USB charging port is in the case that both your adapter and the USB cable are all working having tested it on another phone.
The problem is not from the battery itself, then it will likely be from the USB charging port.
You simply have to send your phone to a repairer to look into, and in turn change the USB charging port if that’s what causing the problem.
Why is my phone taking so long to charge?
Your phone charging port may be causing the problem as well.
4. The battery itself
Having checked the adapter, the USB cable and the USB charging port and the problem isn’t from any of these, then the problem might be from the battery itself.
If the phone is way too old, there’s a possibility that the battery is worn out and needs to be changed.
Worn out or faulty battery is another reason to this question on why is my phone taking so long to charge. To be on the safer side and to confirm that the problem is from the battery, you need to take your phone to a phone repair.
HOW TO FIX IT
In this case, the only option is to give it to a phone repair nearby to look into it and ascertain if the battery is actually causing the slow charging on your device.
If the problem is from the battery, then you don’t have any option than to change it or maybe get a new phone especially if the phone is way too old and worn out.
While asking why is my phone taking so long to charge, you should first look into these problems as they are the major causes of slow charging in a phone.
Slow Charging caused by usage
The second causes of slow charging in feature phone or smartphone is the usage. The usage can be in form of low voltage, using the wrong USB cable or adapter, using your phone while it is charging, beta software update, etc.
1. Low power voltage
Why is my phone taking so long to charge?
Kindly check if you have a low voltage in your house as it can make a phone to take ages to charge complete.
Low voltage can come in many ways, in charging a smartphone using a wall extension cord which has other devices or gadgets plugged into it. This is why it is recommended to always plug your phone directly into the wall socket.
Low power voltage may be caused by the electricity supply in your environment or area. In this case, you may have to use a power stabilizer to increase the power voltage in your house.
This case is usually very rare to see unless your area do have a poor power supply or probably a poor power voltage.
HOW TO FIX IT
Don’t use a wall extension cord to charge your phone, be it a feature phone or a smartphone. It makes it to charge at a slow speed compared to when you plugged your phone directly into the wall socket without using an extension.
Even if you want to use a wall extension cord, make sure it is not carrying too much load like having many gadgets plugged into it.
Why is my phone taking so long to charge, put this into consideration.
2. Using the wrong USB cable or adapter
For smartphone users, it is recommended to use a compatible USB cable and adapter, more especially the USB cable.
We always make this mistake and being so nonchalant when it comes to using the proper or correct USB cable and the adapter.
As long as it charges our phone, we’re good to go.
We don’t care if it is compatible or not, and on the long run it might damage the battery of the phone or probably causes slow charging.
HOW TO FIX IT
Every smartphone has its USB cable and adapter specs, if your original USB cable and adapter has damaged, please kindly buy a compatible one. Don’t just go to the market and buy any USB cable or adapter you see in the market.
It can cause damages to your device especially continuous using the USB cable and adapter to charge your phone. If your phone is huawei mate 30 pro, get a compatible mate 30 pro adapter and USB cable.
This is another reason and solution to why is my phone taking so long to charge. Let’s move onto the next and which is installing a beta software update.
3. Beta software update
Do you know that software update can make your phone to charge at snail speed?
That is true and especially if it is the unofficial version or I will say a beta version of the software update.
It happened to me when I couldn’t wait for the official Android 10 and Samsung One UI 2.0.
I installed the beta version of the software and boom, my phone became very slow. If I say slow, I mean slow in everything including the charging.
Lot’s of android users have experienced this even when the official version is launched, and honestly it can so annoying. Installed a software update and your phone charges very slow.
HOW TO FIX IT
In this case, if you installed a beta version of the software update, I will advise you to downgrade in order to have this problem solved. If you can’t downgrade, then you have to wait for the official release of the software update.
However, in the case that you installed an official software update through OTA and find out that your phone is charging at slow speed, you can as well downgrade and wait for another software update that will rectify the battery issue.
I’ve seen this happen a lot and get rectified by immediate release of another software update. So you have to downgrade or wait for another release which will rectify the battery issue.
Why is my phone taking so long to charge, kindly check if you did a software update and downgrade or wait for another release.
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4. You’re the problem
Are you surprised about this, you’re the reason why your phone is charging at slow speed, okay let me explain.
1. USING YOUR PHONE WHILE IT IS CHARGING
This is so wrong, how do you expect your phone to charge faster while you’re using it and same charging it.
We do this a lot and doesn’t seem to see any fault doing such thing, but I tell you that it is all wrong. Playing games while charging your phone, using the internet like streaming online, browsing, downloading, or watching movies while charging our phone.
How do you expect it to charge faster?
The truth is it won’t at all and continuous doing of such thing might damage your phone battery. Yes, it has happened to me but that was during the days of Nokia Symbian and Belle.
Please allow your phone to charge complete, unplug and finally use it for your internet or gaming. Nothing heats up the phone more than playing online game, and it is absolutely wrong to do so while charging your phone.
Why is my phone taking so long to charge?
Avoid charging your phone and same time using it to play games, stream online, watch videos, etc.
2. USING A COMPUTER TO CHARGE YOUR PHONE
Having said that using a wall extension cord to charge phone makes it to charge at slow speed, do you think that charging your phone using a computer will be a lot different, that is no.
In fact, using the computer to charge your phone is completely way off cause it do charge at a very slow speed compared to when you’re using the extension cord.
Why is my phone taking so long to charge?
Avoid using the computer to charge your phone, always plug it directly into the wall socket.
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How to make your phone charger faster
As these are the major reasons why your phone is charging at slow speed, the question is how to make it charge faster.
1. Turn if off while charging
The fastest way to charge your is by turning your phone off while charging it. This helps it to charge at a maximum speed compared to when the phone is turned on whilst on charging mode.
2. Turn of airplane mode
If you don’t want to turn off your phone, then I recommend putting it on airplane mode. This prevent any action from occurring on your device while it is charging.
3. Restrict apps from running in the background
Putting your phone on airplane mode will prevent calls or messages, internet access from occurring but some will still be running in the background.
There are apps that can help you to stop apps from running in the background like the greenify app which block auto start apps and apps from running in the background.
This also helps your phone to charge at it’s normal speed.
4. Get faster adapter and USB cable
All USB cable and adapter are not the same, some charges at a high speed rate while others charges at a normal speed.
If your USB cable and adapter are slow in charging, simply change it and get a faster one. They are so many in the market and you can get one through any of the online stores like Amazon, eBay, aliexpress, etc.
5. Charging directly from the wall socket
As I have said this before, charging your phone through the wall socket makes it to charge at a very good speed compared to using the computer or the extension cord.
If your phone battery is down, use the direct wall socket instead of the computer or the extension cord to charge your phone.
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All these are the reasons and solution to why is my phone taking so long to charge, and I hope that it helps you in solving your phone charging problem.