Is it bad to charge your phone overnight?

The old fear of overcharging is obsolete. Modern phones have charging circuitry that stops drawing power once the battery hits 100 percent, so the phone is not force-feeding electricity into a full battery all night; it tops off and idles. Leaving it plugged in overnight will not overload or damage it in the way people imagine, and this myth has lingered well past the technology that once made it partly true.

The subtler truth is that batteries do prefer not to sit at 100 percent, and they hate heat, both of which mild overnight charging can nudge. That is exactly why Apple and Android now include optimized or adaptive charging, which learns your schedule, charges to about 80 percent, then finishes to full just before your alarm, minimizing the time spent at a stressful full charge. Leave that feature on and overnight charging is genuinely fine. The habits that actually extend battery lifespan are avoiding heat (do not charge under a pillow or in a hot room), and, if you want to be careful, keeping the battery roughly between 20 and 80 percent for daily use rather than constantly draining to zero or holding at 100. For most people, plug in at night, enable optimized charging, and stop worrying.