Privacy

Drawbacks of Charging a Smartphone Using USB-C

Although USB chargers are much smarter now than they used to be, they often aren’t smart enough to stop charging your phone when your battery has reached 100%. This can lead to overcharging your device, which can damage your phone battery and shorten its lifespan. Whenever you charge your phone, use Total Charge to monitor your phone’s charging process and prevent overcharging:

Total Charge will notify you when it’s time to disconnect your phone, in order to protect and preserve your battery life. You can also see your phone battery’s status, and which stage it is in. This will give you a better idea of your phone’s charging process, which will help to extend your battery’s life further.

USB Chargers Can Overheat

One drawback of charging a smartphone through a USB-C connection is that USB chargers can get very hot. This is especially true if you’re using an old or poor quality, cheap charger. Charging your phone then becomes a stressful process for both the charger and the phone, which can cause the phone to overheat, thus damaging your phone’s battery. It could even render your device unusable.

Not All USB Chargers Work the Same

The idea behind USB-C was to develop a charger that could charge all devices, from PCs to Androids, tablets, and even Apple products. Unfortunately, not all USB-C chargers do this well — many cannot charge other devices at all. However, universal charging has improved a lot over the years. That means that, if you’re stuck with a dead device while in class or at work, you can likely borrow someone else’s charger and it’ll work.

Still, even if you order a charger off of Amazon from a reputable source, it may not work as well as it claims. There’s also the possibility that the charger that comes with your new phone or laptop may not be a safe charger to use. In both instances, the charger could be incorrectly assembled, making it unsafe to use. Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to tell if you’ve got a faulty charger or not.

USB Ports Can be Easily Infected With Malware

It’s possible that a USB cable could become infected at some point in the manufacturing process or if neglected when out in public. This becomes more complicated because USB chargers are necessary to then charge the device. Malware such as BadUSB can infect a device through a USB port without showing signs of a malware infection.

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The dfndr blog is an informative channel that presents exclusive content on security and privacy in the mobile and business world, with tips to keep users protected. Populated by a select group of expert reporters, the channel has a partnership with dfndr lab's security team. Together they bring you, first-notice news about attacks, scams, internet vulnerabilities, malware and everything affecting cybersecurity.