Here's the Fastest Way to Fully Charge Your iPhone

You'd never dream of leaving your home without a fully charged phone. But what if you only have a few minutes to plug in your iPhone? When you need your battery on 100% in a pinch, there are a few ways to boost your battery ASAP. You just have to know what to do. 

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There are a few ways to charge your device quickly, even if your phone's battery is holding on for dear life at 1%. And while you could take a portable power bank, heading out with a full battery is always preferable. 

Charging efficiency isn't just about the way you charge your phone -- wired or wirelessly -- you want to keep an eye on multiple things that could be affecting how fast or slow your iPhone is getting powered up.

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In the guide below, we'll let you in on some do's and don'ts for charging your iPhone to make sure you're getting the most power and it's being delivered in the fastest manner. Looking for more charging power? Check out the best power banks for the iPhone in 2024, and if you're still rocking an iPhone with a Lighting port, here are some of the cheapest fast chargers you can find. 

Manufacturers like to boast how bright their phone screens can get, allowing you to see your display clearly even in direct sunlight. Pushing the intensity of those pixels to 1,000 or 2,000 nits of peak brightness is great for reading what's on the screen, but sustaining that level uses more power and generates more heat than when you're inside or in the shade.Plus, direct sunlight delivers radiant heat to items like metal and glass, increasing the temperature of your device. If you need to use your phone for an extended period of time during sunny, hot days, find some shade to protect both it and you.© Provided by CNET

Heat doesn't just come from the outside environment.Your phone's processor has to work a lot harder when you do something like play graphics-intensive games, which can generate more heat than usual from within your device.And playing these games can also drain your battery quickly, so it's natural to want to plug into power.However, this combination of high processing and charging increases the heat generation even more, leading to overheating.© Provided by CNET

It's normal for a phone to heat up while it's charging -- the phone's surface dissipates that heat away from the inside by design. But if you're using a bulky case, the heat could get trapped. If the phone seems to be heating up too much, remove the case before charging.© Provided by CNET

Video recording is resource-intensive, capturing and storing multiple megabytes of data per second and usually processing that footage at the same time. Even expensive mirrorless cameras capable of shooting high-quality video hit thermal ceilings (or have add-on fans to dissipate the heat). If you're recording lengthy clips, you may need to pause for a few minutes between them to allow the phone to cool down.© Provided by CNET

It's just a power charger, so why not get the cheapest one? Be wary of amazingly low prices, because they're often attached to knock-off products that don't include safety electronics for regulating power throughput and preventing overheating. Better to pay slightly more and get a recommended USB-C charger or power bank you know you'll be able to trust.© Provided by CNET

It sounds like the worst sort of overly general advice: Make sure your device's software is up to date. And yet it's usually good advice, especially in this case. For example, a bug in iOS 17, plus a problem with apps including Instagram and Uber, caused many iPhone 15 Pro phones to overheat. Apple soon released iOS 17.0.3 to fix the problem. (The current version is iOS 17.6.1, which adds new features as well as bug and security fixes.)Note that it's normal for a phone to warm up during and after a system update as the software optimizes data in the background. However, this is a temporary temperature elevation.© Provided by CNET

If you don't want to expose the phone to the sun, what about keeping it in a car while you're frolicking on the beach? Setting aside the risk of having it nabbed in a break-in, cars turn into hotboxes on sunny days, which can easily push past the recommended operating temperatures. It's better to take the phone with you.© Provided by CNET

1. Upgrade your old charger

The quickest way to charge your iPhone is with a fast charger: at least a 20-watt power adapter with a USB-C to Lightning or USB-C to USB-C cable for iPhone 15 models. As long as you own an iPhone 8 or later, you can fast-charge your phone from dead back up to around 50% battery in about 30 minutes. If you have an hour to spare, you can fully charge it. Even just 10 minutes of fast charging can boost your battery by double digits, so if you're short on time, always go for the fast charger option

Related video: Apple unveils iPhone 16, new features to Airpods and Apple Watch (The Economic Times)

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Apple no longer provides power adapters when you buy a new phone, only the cable, but you can purchase Apple's 20-watt power adapter from Apple and Amazon. According to Apple, you can also use other compatible fast-charging power bricks, but you'll need at least a 20-watt brick to fast-charge an iPhone 12 and later.

Mkeke makes a 20-watt charger for under $11 . Mkeke© Provided by CNET

2. Wirelessly charge the fastest way with this

The second-fastest way to charge your iPhone is with Apple's MagSafe charger and a 20-watt power adapter, but for this to work you must own either an iPhone 12 or later to get the faster 15-watt wireless charging. If your iPhone is dead, you should get to around 30% battery in about 30 minutes of wireless charging.

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This doesn't mean you can use any Qi wireless charger (the industry standard) for fast charging. While the MagSafe charger supports 15 watts, a Qi charger only gives you up to 7.5 watts, which is much slower than a MagSafe and only slightly faster than the traditional 5-watt wall charger. Be aware that magnetic wireless chargers that aren't MagSafe-certified will also charge at the slower 7.5-watt speed.

The MagSafe charger can be fast, but only in certain scenarios. Patrick Holland/CNET© Provided by CNET

3. Stop using your computer to charge your iPhone

Your laptop might seem like a convenient way to charge your iPhone, especially if you spend most of your day in front of a computer and want to keep a close eye on any incoming text messages and notifications. Unfortunately, your computer will always charge your phone slower than any wall charger or wireless charger.

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Your computer's USB port, whether it's a bigger and older USB-A or the newer, smaller USB-C, cannot deliver the same amount of power as any wall outlet can, even a 5-watt power adapter. That's especially true if you have an older computer with a faulty USB port or an incompatible charging cable, both of which can slow down the charging process further. 

Using a MacBook might seem like an easy way to charge your iPhone, but it's slower than any wall charger. Dan Ackerman/CNET© Provided by CNET

4. Also, keep your hands off your iPhone when it's charging

If you want your iPhone to charge as quickly as possible, try to stay off of it as much as possible. If you're streaming videos or playing mobile games while charging your iPhone, the battery will charge much slower, so just leave it untouched if you can

5. One easy way to speed up your battery charge

Even if your screen is sleeping, your phone is still working in the background. If you want your iPhone to charge quickly, the best thing to do is to turn it off.

Note that plugging in an iPhone that's turned off will sometimes power it back on, so plug it in or place it on a wireless charger first, then power it down.

6. If you don't want to turn off your iPhone, switch to airplane mode

If you don't want to turn off your iPhone but still want to help it charge faster, you can turn on airplane mode, which disables all wireless transmission functions like cellular, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, all of which consume power. If they're off, your iPhone can charge quicker. This way, you can also quickly turn airplane mode off to quickly check on any text messages or phone calls you might be waiting on.

Airplane mode will stop notifications from coming in but will preserve battery while you're charging your iPhone. Jason Cipriani/CNET© Provided by CNET

7.Tweak these iPhone settings to charge your battery faster

Do you know all of those tips that help you preserve your battery in the first place? You can use those same features and settings to help your iPhone charge faster if you don't plan on turning it off.

Apple's low power mode helps conserve iPhone battery life. Sarah Tew/CNET© Provided by CNET

8. Optimized Battery Charging may be slowing down the charge rate

Apple has a built-in tool that helps prevent your iPhone battery from degrading as fast, but this same feature also makes your device charge slower. While the feature typically only slows down your iPhone during long periods of charging, and usually overnight, it still might be worth disabling when you're charging your phone. Go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health and toggle off Optimized Battery Charging to disable this feature.

9. You might just need a new iPhone battery

In the same settings page where you can disable optimized battery charging, you can also check out your battery's health. If you see a message, like "Your battery's health is significantly degraded," you should look into making an appointment with Apple to replace your battery. A degraded battery doesn't hold charge as well, so it'll drain more quickly. A new battery will improve your overall battery life.