Travel

Be Sure You Are Fast Charging Your Stuff

Brian Stucki

Brian Stucki

— 2 min read

If you have upgraded your iPhone or Apple Watch over the years, you’ve probably just removed the new device, put away the box, and used all of your existing cables and chargers. If you have done that, you may be missing out on fast charging. 

What’s so good about fast charging?

If you have the right chargers and cables, you can charge your iPhone “up to 50 percent battery in around 30 minutes.” 

For an Apple Watch, it’s even better. It “can go from 0 percent to 80 percent in about 45 minutes.” This is especially helpful if you wear your Apple Watch to track your sleep patterns. After a long day, a quick charge before bed while you shower can give you enough power to last the night. 

What does fast charging require?

iPhone:

  • iPhone 8 or later. This is any phone purchased after 2017. You can identify your iPhone model here.
  • Apple USB-C to Lightning cable. This probably came with your phone, or you can buy one here.
  • An Apple power adapter with >18W or a third party charger that supports fast charging. You can check your current charger right on the charger itself. (See the example above. The white on grey text can be hard to read so get a good light or a good child to help you out.) If you need a fast charger, I like this one. It’s the same one that I recommend for the travel charger packs. 

Apple Watch:

  • Series 7, 8 or Ultra can handle fast charging
  • Fast Charger to USB-C Cable. One of these probably came with your new Watch so be sure to replace the old cable in whatever stand you’ve been using. You can tell it’s the new one because it has USB-C connection and aluminum (instead of white plastic) on the circle charger end of the cable. (see above for example) If you need one, buy it here.
  • An Apple power adapter with >18W or a third party charger that supports fast charging. You can purchase the one above. If you charge both of your devices on your night stand, you can also buy just one charger that can fast charge both devices at the same time. I like this one.

Conclusion

If you take the time to check these things, you’ll appreciate the fast charging when needed. The good news is that you probably have some of these things already but just never swapped out the setup that you’ve been using. These also make for great Christmas gifts to help someone else enjoy fast charging. 

And that concludes my PSA for the day…