Do Not Overcharge Your iPhone, EVER!

A story on how overcharging almost broke my whole phone.


Note: I am aware that the iPhone’s lithium battery can not be overcharged and the way it works help avoid these problems. But keeping your iPhone plugged in all the time and using it while plugged in is what caused these issues for me.

Last week I had two very huge problems with my iPhone. My screen was popping out of the device and my battery life lasted a percent per minute. I considered getting it replaced for the iPhone 6 when the time comes, but the problem turned out to simply be overcharging and the solution wasn’t as expensive and drastic as I had originally thought.

This blog post will show you pictures of my iPhone 5 as it was on the verge of death as well as tell you how overcharging was damaging my screen. To avoid all this you shouldn’t overcharge your phone.

Issue #1 — Messed Up Screen

I had bought my iPhone 5 less than two years ago in December 2012. During that time my phone experienced very bad falls from large distances. Somehow it survived all this. But a couple of weeks ago while using my phone I noticed some light escaping from the side.

I started panicking

I removed the case from my phone and I noticed my screen was being pushed out of the device. And just like what anyone else would do, I took pictures and tweeted it.

So that was the first problem with my iPhone: it’s screen was being pushed away from the device. Weird since I hadn’t dropped it recently. The repair price I predicted would be high to fix the screen.

Issue #2 — Battery Life

My second problem was my battery life. AND NO.. this isn’t the usual battery life problems were people complain that they need to charge twice a day. This was serious. My battery lasted 1 perent a minute when using it, and there was one occasion where I lost 10% in the same minute.

https://twitter.com/Marawan_1997/status/469470519998177281

I restored my phone several times a day for a few consecutive days. I restored with and without my backup and continued experimenting. Nothing worked, some major issue was happening here. I assumed it’s a bug in iOS 7.1.1 since I had updated recently and so kept my hopes up for iOS 8 to fix the bug. I have a developer account so it was only a couple of weeks till I can get my hands on the upgrade and hopefully get my battery fixed.

Turns out, it wasn’t even a software issue.

What the heck was the actual problem then?

I took my iPhone to an official Apple Service Center and asked the person there to see what was up with my phone. I showed him the screen and let him handle it from there.

He comes back a few minutes later telling me what the problem was. It turns out my battery was so overcharged so often to the point that it started expanding. And as the battery expanded it eventually started pushing up against the screen and that’s why my screen appeared to be damaged.

I had my battery replaced for what’s equivalent to roughly $55. And the screen was just simply put back in it’s place without needing to buy a new one. Great!


Moral of the story: do not overcharge your phone, and use it as little as possible while it’s plugged into the charger. I had to learn the lesson the hard way, and I don’t want the same to happen to you.

I have read online in forums that a lithium iPhone 5 battery can not be overhcharged, but I choose to believe the employee in the certified service center who fixed my phone for me.

Also read: 5 Reasons why you should read from an iPad/Kindle rather than a physical book