How to Stop Charging at 80% on Android to Protect Battery Health

Phones that can cap charging

Samsung's Protect battery stops at 80 or 85 percent, recent Pixels offer an 80 percent limit in Battery settings, and OnePlus, Asus and a few others have similar options. If your phone has one, turn it on; it is the cleanest solution.

Many phones, including most budget and mid-range models, have no cap at all. There, the charger keeps going to 100 percent every time, and the only way to stop it is to unplug at the right moment.

Get told the moment you hit 80 percent

Battery Call lets you set an upper limit and a lower limit. When the battery reaches the upper limit while charging, the phone rings with a full-screen call so you unplug in time; when it drops to the lower limit, it calls you to plug in. It cannot physically cut the charger, but a call you cannot miss is the next best thing on phones without a built-in cap.

1. Open Battery Call and set the upper limit to 80 percent and the lower limit to 20 percent.
2. Choose a ringtone you will recognise as "unplug me".
3. Allow the app to ring over other apps and exclude it from battery optimisation.
4. Charge as usual. Unplug when it calls.

Does 80 percent really matter?

Battery makers and Apple and Samsung's own settings agree on the basic idea: less time at full charge means slower capacity loss. You will not notice the difference in a month, but after two years a phone kept within the band typically has noticeably more capacity left than one charged to 100 percent every night. Fast charging and heat matter too, so avoid charging under a pillow or in a hot car.

A practical routine

• Charge in the morning or evening while you are nearby, not overnight.
• Let the 80 percent call tell you when to unplug.
• Before a long day out, charge to 100 percent; one full charge now and then is fine.
• Use the app's live dashboard to watch charging wattage and health as you go.