Tech

How to charge your iPhone as fast as possible, no matter what charger you have

You've got about 30 minutes until you're out of the door and you realize that your iPhone's battery is almost dead! What's the best way to get as much charge into the battery as possible?

Written by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Senior Contributing Editor March 17, 2019 at 4:45 a.m. PT

The other day a reader sent me a question. And it was an interesting one:

"I've got about 30 minutes until I leave the office on a business trip and my iPhone is almost dead. If you were in that position, what would you do to get the most charge into the battery in that time?"

I'm not sure if they were asking out of curiosity, or whether they were actually in that predicament. I assumed the latter and so typed out a speedy reply. And since I thought that others might find the answer useful, I've edited it a bit and posted it below.

Must read: 10 Apple products you shouldn't buy (March 2019 edition)

The fastest way to charge up your iPhone depends on what accessories you have available to you.

How to get the best possible life -- and safety -- from your battery

How to get the most from your rechargeable batteries

The fastest way to charge up a new iPhone (iPhone 8, 8 Plus, X, XS, and XR) is to make use of the fast charge feature. However, to do this you will need a USB-C Power Delivery charger and a USB-C-to-Lightning cable. This setup will take your iPhone from flat to 50 percent charge in 30 minutes.
Don't have the tools to do a fast charge? Do you have an iPad charger, or another high-power USB charger? If so, use this, because this is faster than the stock charger. A 12W iPad charger can take an iPhone from flat to 100 percent some 33 percent faster than the stock 5W charger.
Only have a stock charger? Well, you have to use what you have. A good tip to speed up charging (which works no matter what method you're using but is especially useful when all you have is the stock charger) is to put the iPhone in Airplane Mode and to stop using it while it's charging (the radios and display take a lot of power).
The slowest charging method is using wireless charging, so if that's all you've got, well, sorry! You'll get a slightly faster charge by switching the iPhone into Airplane Mode, not using it, and also taking it out of any case it might be in.
Another way is to charge it up when on the move using a power bank! They've got me out of a jam plenty of times.

Good luck!