Turn Off Your Phone
One simple trick that you may have never thought about is to simply turn off your phone 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 phone and it won’t have to overcome as much to charge quickly.
In other words: When you turn off your phone 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.
Plug into a Wall Outlet
To ensure that you have the most current possible running through your charging cable, you should use a wall outlet. Using the USB port on a laptop or desktop computer can charge your phone, but it often does so much slower.
In fact, if you use the USB port on a computer, you may even see a notification that says “Device is Charging Slowly.” If you want to maximize the power output potential of the charging cable, a wall outlet is always going to be the faster option.
Don’t Use Wireless Charging
Wireless chargers are very convenient, and they’re great for overnight charging, but they don’t offer the fastest speeds. This is because they’re much less efficient than chargers that are charged with a cable.
What makes wireless charging slower is the energy that’s lost to heat. This is exacerbated when the coils in your phone aren’t perfectly aligned with the coils in the wireless charger. Not only is this method slower, but it also uses more electricity, too.
That might not matter to you when your phone is sitting on the nightstand for eight hours, but it’s not great for a quick mid-day juice up. Opt for the cable instead. There are faster wireless chargers out there, but finding one that supports your device is another story.
Use a Supported Fast-Charging Cable
Qualcomm Quick Charge
Qualcomm Quick Charge is a proprietary charging standard found in many Android smartphones. There have been several versions of Quick Charge over the years, including the Quick Charge 5, which was announced in July of 2020.
Each version of Quick Charge has different requirements and charging capabilities. Many phones come with cables and adapters that maximize the potential of their Quick Charge ability. However, if they don’t, you’ll want to make sure that you get cables for the version your device supports.
Samsung Adaptive Fast Charging
Adaptive Fast Charging is Samsung’s fast-charging standard based on Qualcomm Quick Charge. That means that a Quick Charge cable will work with a device that supports Adaptive Fast Charging and vice versa.
Like with Quick Charge, there are multiple iterations of Adaptive Fast Charging. Samsung typically includes cables that support Fast Charging in the box with phones, but you’ll need to buy them separately for some of the newer, faster speeds.
OnePlus Dash Charge
Dash Charge is another proprietary standard also known as Oppo VOOC or Dart Charge. The important thing to know about these standards is that they’re not interoperable with Qualcomm Quick Charge.
As with the other standards, there are several versions of Dash Charge. To get the most out of your device’s charging capability, you’ll want to use the included cable or look up which version you have.
USB Power Delivery
USB Power Delivery (USB-PD) is a fast-charging standard that can be found on both smartphones and laptops. It’s not as popular as Qualcomm Quick Charge, but there are some advantages to it.
First, USB-PD only works with USB Type-C cables. That means that it’s possible to get a cable that can fast charge both your laptop and Android smartphone. Google Pixel smartphones use the USB-PD standard, and Samsung Galaxy devices support it as well.
How to Check Which Fast-Charging Standard to Use
OK, so that was a lot of talk about fast-charging standards, and there are actually quite a few other details. But what does all of this mean to you? How can you find the standard that your device supports and the charging cables that you should use?
Here’s the good news: You don’t really have to worry about choosing the wrong standard, at least in terms of damaging your phone. Plugging in a cable with an incompatible standard isn’t going to blow up your phone. These devices have precautions in place to ensure that they charge safely.
That being said, you do need the correct cable if you want to charge your Android device as fast as possible. A good rule of thumb is to simply use the cable that came with your device. If you see a message on the lock screen or a notification that says “Fast Charging,” you’re all set.
Some newer Android devices, including some from Samsung, aren’t being shipped with fast chargers in the box. In these situations, you’ll want to go straight to the source to find the compatible cables and chargers.
For example, if you have a Samsung phone, you can go to the company’s online store and select your device from the menu. Then, you can easily find the exact Adaptive Fast Charger to use for your particular phone.
The same thing applies to any Android device. Go to the manufacturer’s website and find the accessories specifically listed as compatible with your phone.
The moral of the story here is to do some simple research before going out and buying a charger. You may already have what you need, and if you don’t, be sure to reference the manufacturer’s website before making a purchase.
