Best practice with respect to battery life

[RhinoCan]

I bought a brand new Pixel 7 this week and am deeply impressed by the battery. My old Pixel 3 was getting so bad that a half hour of steady use would cause it to demand a recharge, which was the main reason I upgraded to the Pixel 7. So far, I've only had to recharge the Pixel 7 once since it arrived on Wednesday and it still has about 50% charge after 3 days of frequent use.

I would appreciate some advice on the best approach to recharging the phone. In the old days, rechargeable batteries had issues with "memory": you needed to pretty much drain them completely before recharging to maximize the battery life. I'm pretty sure the Pixels have a different chemistry that means that's not an issue. Can anyone confirm that?

I'm inclined to put it on the charger every night while I sleep so that it is fully charged in the morning. It looks like it is easily going to last the day so that it's quite likely it will still have a significant amount of charge each night when I go to bed. (I do NOT have the "extreme" battery conservation turned on.) Is nightly charging a reasonable practice or should I proceed differently?

 

[B. Diddy]

You are correct -- modern lithium batteries have no memory. You can charge them as high as you want or let them discharge as low as you want, and that won't immediately affect the battery's health. However, the lifespan of lithium batteries can be prolonged by avoiding regularly discharging to zero. Experts generally agree that keeping a lithium battery between 40% and 80% is ideal, but this is not very feasible in real world usage. The benefit of keeping a battery in this range is only noticeable if you plan to keep the device for longer than, say 4-5 years, so for most people, this won't matter very much.

I never worry about charging up to 100%, but I tend to recharge when the battery gets to 30-40%.

Battery University is a great resource if you want to learn more: https://batteryuniversity.com/article/bu-808-how-to-prolong-lithium-based-batteries

 

[RhinoCan]

Thank you!

 

[Jx J]

Battery university is a great resource.

I've had LiIon batteries swell up after being constantly being charged to 100%. Including:
1 Samsung phone (easily swapable battery)
2 LG G7 phone
3 Dell laptop at work.

So I figured it's time for countermeasures !

My newish Samsung tablet has a menu option to limit the max charge to 85% to prolong battery life. I like that feature, but unfortunately google do not provide it on the Pixel.

However, at home I have my regular charger connected via a countdown timer plug. I know 15 minutes is approximately 5% on the regular wireless charger, so it's very easy to set my pixel to stop charging at just over 80%.
I aim to avoid going below 50% at home.

 

[mustang7757]

I've always charged between 5 to 100 over the years and haven't had much issues with battery, if your going over 3 years keeping the device most likely 30 to 80 would help but if you go more than 3 years expect battery replacement some time afterwards and gaming a lot takes a toll on battery life so avoid it .

 

[Jx J]

Well, here we are in 2025 and one of the recent Pixel updates finally allows me to do what I always wanted and limit charging to 80% in settings.

 

[mustang7757]

Well, here we are in 2025 and one of the recent Pixel updates finally allows me to do what I always wanted and limit charging to 80% in settings.

Lol
I would like the pixels to add 90/95 cutoff like Samsung and iPhones

 

[Jx J]

I would like the pixels to add 90/95 cutoff like Samsung and iPhones

My Samsung tablet originally had the option of an 85% limit, but this was changed to 80% in one update.

An adjustable limit would be preferable, but to be honest, 80% works for me. After charging to 80%, they rarely drop to 40%, which suggests 80% max charge is enough for my use profile.

Of all the updates on my Pixel, this is the one that I appreciate.

 

[mustang7757]

My Samsung tablet originally had the option of an 85% limit, but this was changed to 80% in one update.

An adjustable limit would be preferable, but to be honest, 80% works for me. After charging to 80%, they rarely drop to 40%, which suggests 80% max charge is enough for my use profile.

Of all the updates on my Pixel, this is the one that I appreciate.

The way I use my device I couldn't be between those charging habits

 

[spARTacus]

...I would like the pixels to add 90/95 cutoff like Samsung and iPhones...

Where's the setting on Samsung phones for 90/95 cut-off? I can arrange for my Samsung to do that, but only via creative use of a routine.

 

[mustang7757]

Where's the setting on Samsung phones for 90/95 cut-off? I can arrange for my Samsung to do that, but only via creative use of a routine.

Android 15 one UI 7, my s25u
If you are on 6.1 it's not there

 

[mustang7757]

Device Care

 

[spARTacus]

That looks cool. I'm still 6.1 and 14.

 

[spARTacus]

What happens after it stops at 95, if it is left on the charger for several more hours (overnight, for example)?

 

[mustang7757]

That looks cool. I'm still 6.1 and 14.

Yeah and my iPhone 16 pro max has the same , I like it

 

[Jx J]

What happens after it stops at 95, if it is left on the charger for several more hours (overnight, for example)?

Well, my Samsung tab with the 80% limit charges to 80% and then stops charging.
It seems to drop to 79%, then charge back to 80%.

That's exactly how I'd write the software, if given the task.

The only time I've seen it go beyond 80% is during a software upgrade.

I've not yet noticed if the Pixel is the same.

 

[spARTacus]

The basic setting seems to say it will charge to a target of 100, then have to drop to 95 before it would try to do a top up for kinda trying to maintain the target. In an optimum arrangement, I think it would be nice if both target and drop threshold were customizable by the user. For me, I'm basically using a target of 90, and then a drop threshold of 80 (to prevent any attempted top ups).

 

[Jx J]

Chargeing to a pre-defined percentage and staying at that if plugged in is fine by me. I prefer to know it's going to be at 80%, rather than some significantly lower figure.

In an ideal world, I'd have a temporary override to allow one off charging to a higher level for the rare occasions when I might need it. But that's a low priority.