Apple issues warning for people who leave their iPhone on charge while they sleep

If you’re prone to charging your iPhone while you sleep then you need to know why Apple wants you to cease this bad habit immediately.

As of 2023, around 98 percent of all adults aged 16 to 24 in the UK have a smartphone and about 80 percent of the older generations (citizens aged 65 and above) have one too.

Worldwide, there are approximately 7.2 billion mobiles in circulation and people use them to do everything from navigating grand adventures to building a business.

While screen time differs across age groups, it’s thought that users aged 16 to 64 are glued to their devices for around six hours 35 minutes per day, as per The Independent.

Due to daily usage being so high, it makes sense that some people choose to charge their iPhones while they sleep so they can have full a battery to go again the next day.

However, Apple has issued a warning against iPhone users who do this and have urged people to ‘use their common sense’.

In the ‘Important safety information for iPhone’ memo on the Apple website, the company states that mobile phone users should try and ‘avoid prolonged skin contact with the charging cable and connector when the charging cable is connected to a power source’.

This is because it may cause you physical injury or discomfort while you drift off into dreamland.

Moreover, Apple also advises against sleeping or sitting on the charging cable or connector and that ‘sustained contact with warm surfaces for long periods of time may cause discomfort or injury’.

Apple has warned users not to charge their phone when they sleep. (Ri luck/Getty Images)

“Use common sense to avoid situations where your skin is in contact with a device, its power adapter, or a wireless charger when it’s operating or connected to a power source for long periods of time,” it states in the memo.

"Keep your iPhone, the power adapter, and any wireless charger in a well-ventilated area when in use or charging. Take special care if you have a physical condition that affects your ability to detect heat against the body.”

Despite these warnings being common knowledge, many people still choose to fall asleep with their phones on charge.

However, echoing Apple is a firefighter from Kent Fire Rescue who took to TikTok to say: “We get a lot of questions here at Kent Fire Rescue about why you shouldn't charge phones overnight. So here are the reasons why.

It's advised you charge your device while you are awake. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

“Number one: You can't smell anything when you're asleep, so if it starts to burn, the fire won't wake you up.

"Number two: It only takes three breaths, right, to knock you unconscious.

"Number three: Lots of people have cheap or faulty phone chargers, or even genuine ones have been known start fires.”

In a clip, posted to social media, he advised that it is ‘much safer’ to charge your phone when you’re present and awake.