Need to charge your iPhone 12 faster in a pinch? Here are ways to get more battery charge in less time.
Sometimes you need a quick charge for your iPhone 12. Maybe your iPhone is almost dead, you’re leaving the house, and have mere minutes to recharge.
At times, this could be inconsequential—a car charger or outlet could be just a short walk away later. Yet, there are also times when a fast charge is critical, when you’ll be out for most of the day in places where charging isn’t practical or even possible.
Whatever the circumstance, here are tips for charging your iPhone 12 as fast as possible.
How to Make Your iPhone 12 Charge Faster
Use these 8 tips to charge your iPhone 12 faster:
1. Upgrade Your iPhone’s Charger
Apple no longer includes the standard USB charging brick with the iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro or iPhone 12 mini. There is only one cable included in the box — a USB-C to Lightning cable.
Consider purchasing Apple’s 20W USB-C charger. Using a USB-C cable and USB-C charger will allow the iPhone 12 to charge at faster speeds. Using USB-C, you can charge the iPhone 12 to 50% in about 30 minutes. The highest wattage the iPhone 12 will use is around 22 watts, so a 20 watt or 30 watt charger will result in the about same charging speed. But basically any USB-C charger will be significantly faster than the old USB-A chargers.
2. Shut Down Your iPhone
One simple trick that you may have never thought about is to simply turn off your iPhone while it’s charging. By reducing the number of tasks that your phone is doing at the same time, you’ll allow the charging to go faster.
Pulling a wagon full of bricks up a hill would slow you down a lot. The more bricks you take out, the faster you can move. The same logic applies here. Take some of the workload off your iPhone and it won’t have to overcome as much to charge quickly.
In other words: When you turn off your iPhone while it’s charging, all the power can go straight to charging rather than being used to power the phone and charge at the same time.
This option may not be ideal, since it means you won’t be able to use your iPhone at all while you’re charging it—no texts, alerts, calls, listening to music, playing games, etc. However, if you need as much juice as you can get in as little time as possible, it may be worth the hour or so to get your phone back up and running.
See also: How to Calibrate iPhone 12 Battery
3. Put Your iPhone in Airplane Mode
If a complete shutdown isn’t an option, the next option is to put your iPhone in Airplane Mode.
The iPhone’s cellular connectivity is one of the biggest battery drainer. When not using Wi-Fi, our mobile phones are constantly in search of the nearest cell tower. Your device emits radio waves to locate them and is continuously analyzing signal strength to gauge a tower’s proximity for the best connection. It’s a heavy task and the energy requirements only increase when towers are sparse and your iPhone must reach out by emitting stronger signals.
Airplane Mode offers a temporary reprieve from these actions, since it disables all wireless radios of your device. Tests have shown this feature can cut full charge times by a few minutes. While not huge, every little bit helps.
If you’re new to iOS or unfamiliar with Airplane Mode, simply open Control Center by swiping down from the top-right corner of the screen. Once it’s open, tap the airplane icon to enable or disable the mode.
See also: iPhone 12 Battery Draining Fast? Fix
4. Turn on Low Power Mode
Like Airplane Mode, your iPhone 12 Low Power Mode can accelerate charging by reducing the phone’s workload. When Low Power Mode is on, most non-essential background tasks are temporarily reduced or paused.
Some functions affected include automatic email fetching, automatic downloads, certain visual effects, iCloud, auto-lock, and 5G usage. It also halts background app refresh, a feature that lets apps not currently in use to keep checking for new content and updates.
To toggle Low Power Mode, open Settings, choose Battery, and tap on the Low Power Mode switch at the top of the screen.
5. Keep Your iPhone Cool
Basically, you want to keep your iPhone out of excessive heat. iPhones tend to work better and more efficiently when cool; conversely, overheating can damage its internals, including the battery.
Keep your iPhone away from sunlight or anything else that might be warming it while charging. You might also want to let it breathe by taking off your phone case (if you use one). In addition, , you should stop using apps that may create temperature spikes. Resource-heavy mobile games are notorious for heating up your iPhone, so you should avoid them while your phone is charging.
See also: How To Fix iPhone 12 Overheating Issues
6. Plug into a Wall Outlet
To ensure that you have the most current possible running through your charging cable, try using a wall outlet. Using the USB port on a laptop or desktop computer can charge your iPhone, but it often does so much slower.
In fact, if you use the USB port on a computer, you may even see a popup indicating that “Device is Charging Slowly.” If you want to maximize the power output potential of the charging cable, a wall outlet is your best bet.
7. Avoid using Wireless Chargers
What wireless chargers gain in convenience, they lose in efficiency. When you need a quick charge, it’s best to avoid this option. Even though wireless charging is handy, it’s not as fast as traditional wired charging.
If in doubt, look at the power figures of Apple’s own MagSafe Charger. The product page notes that it provides up to 15W charge, compared to the 30W or even 60W chargers that use traditional cables.
In tests, Consumer Reports found a notable time difference as well. Apple’s MagSafe wireless charger took two hours and 36 minutes to charge an iPhone 12 Pro. In contrast, Apple’s stock Lightning cable for the phone needed only one hour and 45 minutes to accomplish the same task.
So use wireless if you must, but avoid it when getting as much battery power as possible in a short time is your goal.
See also: How to Spot Fake MagSafe Charger for iPhone 12
8. Have a Backup Plan
What’s better than an ultra-fast charge? Not needing one in the first place. Fast charging helps in a pinch, and is a great luxury to have. However, it’s more beneficial to have a charging backup plan for those times when you’re rushed and can’t plug your device in.
This planning involves increasing your charging options. Consider buying extra chargers for your vehicles, office, backpack, or gym locker. You can even turn your car’s power socket into a “wall outlet” by purchasing a power inverter for faster charging on the go. While this isn’t necessary in most cases, it can help if you spend a lot of time in your car and traditional charging isn’t doing enough.
Don’t forget about power banks: mobile batteries that can recharge your iPhone anywhere. Packing these as fail-safes is a smart move. There are also solar-powered battery packs that are incredibly useful when camping, hiking, biking, and doing other outdoor activities.
See also: How to Extend iPhone 12 Battery Life
how to charge iPhone 12 faster: now you know
These tips should help your iPhone 12 charge faster so you can avoid emergency power situations in most cases. You can experiment with what combination of methods works best for you.