Off-brand charges will damage your battery

Fact: Knockoff chargers could damage your phone’s battery. “Cheaper chargers don’t necessarily have the standards in place to fill your phone constantly with the correct voltage,” says Nichols. “The fluctuation of voltage can damage the charger port, and even damage your battery.” In a pinch, an off-brand cord probably won’t do as much damage as a knockoff of the piece that plugs in to the wall or car might. But your best bet is to stick with manufacturer-certified products, says Nichols.

Don't use your phone while it is charging

Fact: You can feel free to open apps or take calls while your phone is charging. “Although when you are charging your phone, the power is different from the one you normally use (the battery), the results and performance of the circuitry are always the same,” says Flores. One caveat: Open apps use up power while the phone charging, meaning it will take longer to juice up, says Nichols. So if you need a full charge fast, fiddling with your phone will work

Turning of WiFi and Bluetooth will extend your battery

Fact: Searching for Wi-Fi does take energy, but not enough to notice. When your phone is set up to hunt for Wi-Fi, it searches for signals from access points and sends out its own signals to let them know it's there. But that doesn’t mean you need to turn Wi-Fi off every time you leave the house. “You’re talking about very low tasks,” says Nichols. “They’re not taking up much battery at all.”

You should always charge your smartphone before first using it

Fact: Your phone already has some juice, and skipping that first charge won’t affect its life long-term. The only reason some manufacturers suggest charging it first is to make a good first impression. By the time that new phone reaches your hand, testing and manufacturing have already drained up to half the battery. “If you expect an eight-hour battery and it lasted four hours, that’s not the experience the manufacturer wants you to have,” says Nichols. “Most of the time these recommendations are to make users feel like they are getting the quality of the device they were promised.”

You should not charge your phone until it dies

Fact: It’s better to juice up the lithium-ion battery in your phone before it reaches zero. “These kind of batteries tend to ‘forget’ what their full capacity level is, and so when recharged, they do not recharge to the same level as they were at the beginning,” says Flores. Major brands have solved the problem for the most part, but older models might still have that issue, he says.

It’s terrible to let your phone die

Fact: We just told you not to make it a daily habit, but if you want your battery to stretch its legs a bit every now and again, it’s okay to let it run a “full charge cycle,” or to let it die and then charge back up to 100% again. This helps the little computers that control the battery remember where its high and low points are, and will give you a more accurate reading of your charge.
Surfing internet can run down the battery quickly

Task managers can help prolong your battery life

Fact:You have a task manager on your phone to help you manage your apps. It shows you all the apps that are running and the one using the most battery. Despite these, task managers and third party apps don’t affect your battery.

Overcharging your phone will kill the battery

Fact: When your smartphone is 100%, it automatically stops charging. That is why it is called a smartphone. They are smart.

Turning of your phone is totally useless

Fact: Resetting your phone could help conserve battery. Most people don’t fully close apps when they’re done using them, so those apps are still working in the background. Each one might not use a ton of juice, but the more that are running, the shorter your battery life will be. If you’re in the habit of leaving apps up, make a point of turning your phone off at least once a week to close those battery suckers. “Restarting your phone takes two minutes, and you can usually tell the difference,” says Nichols. “If you turn your phone off completely, it’s processing zero tasks as opposed to 20 tasks every ten minutes.” Keeping it off overnight might not be realistic, so try shutting it down before a long meeting or at the movies.

There is no point in hitting 'Eject' before disconnecting phone from computer

Fact: Taking your phone out of your computer without ejecting it could damage your files. “If you were before transferring pictures or data, unplugging it may disrupt that connection too soon,” says Nichols. You could end up with corrupted files or keep your phone from backing up completely, he says. But if your phone is plugged in to the wall, you can pull the plug any time.

Smartphone batteries are made to last forever.

Fact: The lithium-ion batteries found in most smartphones today are expected to maintain at least 80% of their original capacity for around 300 to 500 full charge cycles. That’s a pretty wide range. For me, a heavy user and charger, that means I get about one good year before my battery starts to poop out. For most other people, the average is about two years it shows significant signs of wear and tear.

If your battery’s dying, you have too many apps running

Fact: I love closing all my apps with a simple double tap and finger swipe up. It’s like cleaning house, but only takes a few seconds, and you have this seemingly clean slate to work from. It’s so darn satisfying, and yet so silly to do if you want your battery to stay alive.