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i have a VOVOYA charger with light that changes from red to blue when iPhone is charged. At the end of the charging at 98% charging will slow down and blue and red will flash at the same time until 100% is reached. Then blue light is solid and charging stops. So you can leave it plugged forever and your battery will be fine.
 
If your battery is on a charger and at 100% it won't use battery cycles which is what wears it down.

However, batteries like the electrons to move around to stay healthy, so once in a while you'll want to cycle the battery by using it all the way down (but not quite to the point that the phone turns off) and then charging it full again. This isn't hard because it's a phone and we do that all the time.

For laptops, they say cycle it once a month because many people keep their laptops plugged in. For phones this is never an issue.
 
First of all, if you're replacing the battery/phone in two year, it won't matter. Normal charge cycles will cause much more degradation than improper battery care.

Now to the facts

Using your phone while charging won't directly harm the battery since power is drawn through AC. However, charging creates heat. Usage creates additional heat. All that heat increases the battery size as liquid electrodes expand. The battery won't leak or pop, but it will hurt the fluid and the mechanics of the battery. Again, nothing you'll be able to notice.

Keeping your phone plugged in all the time will also cause problems, though not as much as with a laptop. Phones consume power in idle. After a few hours, the phone will drop about a percent in battery. Occasionally, the charger turns back on to charge it to full and then turns off to let the cycle repeat. This causes more wear on the battery which degrades it negligibly.
 
First of all, if you're replacing the battery/phone in two year, it won't matter. Normal charge cycles will cause much more degradation than improper battery care.

Now to the facts

Using your phone while charging won't directly harm the battery since power is drawn through AC. However, charging creates heat. Usage creates additional heat. All that heat increases the battery size as liquid electrodes expand. The battery won't leak or pop, but it will hurt the fluid and the mechanics of the battery. Again, nothing you'll be able to notice.

Keeping your phone plugged in all the time will also cause problems, though not as much as with a laptop. Phones consume power in idle. After a few hours, the phone will drop about a percent in battery. Occasionally, the charger turns back on to charge it to full and then turns off to let the cycle repeat. This causes more wear on the battery which degrades it negligibly.
I can't be bothered with the do's and don'ts of maximizing the effective life of your battery. in the end of the phone lasts for 3 years and 11 months or 4 years is irrelevant.
 
It amazes me how many people think it is healthy for a battery to run low and be fully recharged.

Keep them charged up.
In a general sense it's not likely to have much of a noticeable effect one way or the other (unless you are really going to one absolute extreme or another).
 
I doubt the Thread Starter will see this since he started this thread in January 2015 and hasn't logged in since May.
Make that January of 2014...until a brand new user had to dig it up more than 1.5 years later to make a fairly unnecessary post.
 
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I plug my 5s overnight mostly for last 2 years and my original Apple battery still has 1600mAh capacity. It's still above designed capacity 1550mAh. The only place you can get original battery is Apple Store.
 
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