I'll explain everything below, but first I want to give credit where it's due. A former Samsung technician shared the proper battery calibration steps on Reddit — steps Samsung has used internally to help resolve battery issues. So even though there are plenty of anecdotal user-made instructions claiming to accomplish this same task, these battery calibration steps are about as official as it gets.

After Apple's recent fiasco , it's now common knowledge that smartphone batteries degrade over time. But aside from causing terrible battery life, a degraded battery can also trick your phone's software into thinking the device has more juice left than it actually does.

Why You Would Need to Calibrate Your Battery

As your battery ages, it can no longer hold as much charge as it did when you first took your phone out of the box. However, your phone's software (and that little battery indicator at the top of your screen) doesn't necessarily account for this. When there's a discrepancy between your phone's software-based battery meter and your battery's actual charge level, it can have some confusing results.

Take the Nexus 6P battery issue from a year ago as an example. When the phone's battery began to degrade, users started noticing that their devices would shut down with as much as 30% battery remaining on their software battery meter. Ultimately, this is because the software "thought" the battery had a higher capacity than it actually did — the capacity it had when the phone was new.

So if your phone's getting up there in terms of age, there's a good chance that the battery life being reported by the Android OS doesn't match the actual charge level in your battery. If you've noticed that your battery drops from 100% way too quickly, or if your phone dies with more than 5% battery life remaining according to the indicator, it might be time to recalibrate your battery.

If your phone is not experiencing such issues, battery calibration is not recommended. This isn't a fix to improve battery life, it's just a method to get help your phone's software battery meter align with your battery's actual charge.