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Some Android phones have removable batteries, and others are non-removable. It is the battery capacity that makes the device alive for hours. Also, the device can be used while charging.

For an Android device with removable battery, is it possible to use only in charging mode (wall charging with the device's charger/USB charging) after removing its battery?

(For example, a laptop can be run by direct plugging, without battery)

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    I would say that this depends on the phone. Many phones have rather small and simple charging circuits that don't support bypassing the battery when it is full. Sometimes this logic is even offloaded to the battery (Lithium-Ion batteries often have their own charging controllers). Keep in mind that a charger might not provide enough or enough stable power like a battery would, so that could cause your idea to fail, as well.
    – GiantTree
    Commented May 15, 2017 at 7:06
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    In my usage history of 80+ smart devices (granted, some not Android, many not with removable batteries), I have yet to see one single device that's capable of doing this by default...
    – Andy Yan
    Commented May 15, 2017 at 8:06
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    Yes, some phones do work without a battery. I have an old LG that i just connect to a USB cable and it works just fine.
    – Douglas Hosea
    Commented May 15, 2017 at 9:52
  • I could swear that my old Galaxy S II did allow this....
    – Liam W
    Commented May 30, 2017 at 16:36
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    My Redmi Note 4 also works fine directly connected to charger without any battery, now it's lightweight af. For sake of portability I just connect it to a 10000mah power bank and it lasts around 2 days with heavy usage.
    – frakod
    Commented Dec 9, 2021 at 12:37

3 Answers 3

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AFAIK, no.

The fundamental reason is usage and the design that evolved based on it- mobile phone, as the name suggests, is meant to be used whenever and wherever, with periodic charging, unlike laptops, which are designed to work with/without being plugged into power.

It seems technically possible to work without a battery if you build an electric circuit that simulates a battery in all respects (including the battery health pin which is usually the third pin on battery) as you can see here. Whether such a circuit will work across OS versions and devices is not certain.

Android considers battery to be an integral part of the system rather than an accessory and OS evolves in safety, the longevity of the battery, user-friendly features, that support this - witness Battery Saver, automatic shutdown at low battery percentage as examples. If the electronics (SMBus) detects that it is not an actual battery source, this circuit may fail

Views expressed in comments are valid pointers, in addition to mine

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    instructables.com/How-to-use-phone-without-battery they feed a Samsung through battery pins from an external source and just shortcut the 3rd pin with a 82kΩ resistor.
    – Daniel Perez
    Commented Jun 22, 2022 at 22:14
  • I specifically recall an Instructable that involved stripping two additional wires that you can wrap around two of the battery contact terminals that would bypass the no-battery issue? This was a while back though.
    – Arctiic
    Commented May 15, 2023 at 3:08
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My Infinix Hot 4 battery exploded and was left without one at home. I did this by drawing a circuit with a pencil on the motherboard from the GND pin to -ve pin. This tricked the phone that it has a battery on and it boots normally without one.

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Yes, if you can solder.

This method worked for my old Moto G with a 2A USB power supply. The only drawback is that the phone will no longer boot automatically after a power outage.

  • remove the battery
  • solder an USB cable directly to the battery ports
  • use a power supply with at least 2A

There are detailed instructions in this makeuseof.com article.

Before you do this you may want to test if your phone works without a battery (but most do not finish the boot process the article claims).

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