This genius smart plug makes your phone battery last longer, for way less than $10

There's no denying that our smartphones just keep getting smarter, but if there's one pitfall we've all experienced, it's the inevitable battery life decline. The stamina that once impressed you so much soon becomes recurring low battery alerts and inconvenient midday charges. But, while the battery health of any device will undoubtedly worsen over time, there's a key mistake many of us are making that contributes to that: overcharging. 

Leaving your device to charge overnight so you're set with a full battery at the start of the day might make the most sense practically, but it's probably not doing your gadgets any favors. While some modern tech has built-in battery optimizers to preserve your battery health for longer, there is a more trustworthy solution that also helps you save on energy costs, too. The answer? A smart plug. 

Smart plugs are a genius way to automate your home, but we often forget about the more basic functions. You can easily use them to schedule your outlets throughout your home on a timer, and the best smart plugs let you activate them with voice controls, too. If you want to eke out as much battery life as possible from your devices, here's how a smart plug can help. 

(Image credit: Govee)

How many times have you forgotten to remove the charger from your laptop at the end of a working day, or maybe you sleep with your phone on charge on your nightstand? If so (and don't worry, we've all been there) you're partly to blame for your devices' poor battery health.

Before we go into how a smart plug can help remedy the situation, let's talk a bit about batteries. Most of our rechargeable modern tech is powered by lithium ion batteries which have a finite number of charge cycles. While they're a pretty advanced piece of tech, they're technically degrading from the moment they're first used. 

Unsurprisingly, overcharging these batteries by leaving them plugged in longer than needed won't help. In fact, it only speeds up that degenerative process. Fortunately though, most tech giants have cottoned on to our bad charging habits and introduced some built-in features to help. 

For example, since releasing iOS 11.3, Apple iPhones have been installed with Optimized Battery Charging which monitors when you typically charge your phone, bringing the battery up to 80% and only charging that last 20% just before you wake up (or take your phone off charge). If you don't have it turned on, head to your settings if you want to make your iPhone's battery last longer.

If you have an older model phone or you just want to help save electricity and cut down on your energy bill, a smart plug could be your saving grace. While there are a host of genius smart plug uses, one of the simplest is the ability to schedule automatic timers for your outlets to switch off. That means you can easily charge your phone, tablet, laptop (and so on) for the ideal length of time without the risk of overcharging (two to three hours is usually enough to reach at least 80% battery on most handheld devices). 

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While you can do this with old-school plug-in timers too, the benefit of smart plugs is that you can sync up all of your plugs so that they all turn on and off at the same time each day, or you can create customized preset schedules to power different electronic appliances. 

We especially love Govee's smart plugs since they're able to be controlled from an app on your phone. That means there's no need to worry about reaching tucked-away outlets and, better still, if you're out of the house and remember you left your laptop charging, you can even use the app to switch off the plug no matter where you are. They even work with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant within the home too, so you can control your charging devices with a simple voice command. 

A smart plug is by far the easiest and most reliable way to avoid overcharging your devices by automating your home. The best part? Amazon even has a pack of four Govee smart plugs on sale for just $22.94 (you can thank us later)!