What's the best way to look after the iPhone's battery?

[Holte139]

Hi everyone, my 5S was dispatched yesterday morning and should be here by the end of the week. So I thought it would be a good time to talk about battery life...

I've read Apple's page of guidelines and advice about what you should do to help maximise the life of the battery, but I've been told that many different things by that many different people that I thought it would be best to ask some questions and try and establish some sort of consensus from the good people of MacRumours.

First, is it really a good idea, when you first get the phone and it's at 80% or so, to run the battery down completely before you charge it up, or is that just a myth? That's always a problem for me because I tend to sync my phone as soon as I get it, which means the phone starts charging automatically as soon as I connect the USB anyway!

Also, is completely draining the battery once a month really all that helpful? The only reason I ask on this one is that with my iPhone 4, I never let the battery run down completely, but I never had any problems. With my iPhone 5, I'd make sure the battery died once a month, yet at times my battery life was very poor, and got worse over the 8 months I had it.

If there is a 'correct' way of doing things, I'd really like to find out if I could so that I don't end up ruining the 5S's battery!

 

[user-name-here]

If there is a 'correct' way of doing things, I'd really like to find out if I could so that I don't end up ruining the 5S's battery!

Here's information on it straight from Apple :
http://www.apple.com/batteries/iphone.html

 

[deraj090]

Lithium ion batteries don't mark themselves (for lack of a better term), so you will be fine to sync up regardless of the life of the battery when it ships to you. You can fully charge, fully drain, partially charge, etc. with no problems.

What fully draining and fully charging your battery does, however, is allow the software within the phone to better represent what the true capacity of the battery is, so you won't run into those scenarios where it says 35%, you take a 2 minute phone call, and all of a sudden you're at 10%.

 

[Jalopybox]

Use it. Stop worrying about it. This is the best way.

 

[ricktat]

From Apple:
Extend Battery Life if Storing Your iPhone

If you will not be using your iPhone for a while, charge the battery up to 50 percent before storing it.


I have watched people charge their batteries 30 times a day and it drives me crazy. You just have to let it go because it really doesnt make a difference anymore.

 

[scaredpoet]

I've read Apple's page of guidelines and advice about what you should do to help maximise the life of the battery, but I've been told that many different things by that many different people that I thought it would be best to ask some questions and try and establish some sort of consensus from the good people of MacRumours.

The worst thing you could do is assume that the company that makes the device doesn't know what they're talking about.

Just follow Apple's advice, and you'll be fine. I've been doing exactly this for every iPhone from the 5s going all the way to the original iPhone, plus two MacBook Pros, and one MacBook Air. And I've never had a problem.

Yes, there are lots of people who claim to have "years of experience" and will tell you their way of caring for a battery is the only right way. Some of it might work about as well as Apple's methods, but require more work and more worry. And some of it is going to be flat-out wrong.

There is a lot of myth and misinformation about battery care. Part of it is because there were older battery technologies that DID require a lot of fuss and hassle, but those technologies aren't in use here. And some of it is just complete junk, and was never correct.

Bottom line: What Apple says you should be doing here, is pretty much what you should be doing. That's it!

 

[Holte139]

Lithium ion batteries don't mark themselves (for lack of a better term), so you will be fine to sync up regardless of the life of the battery when it ships to you. You can fully charge, fully drain, partially charge, etc. with no problems.

What fully draining and fully charging your battery does, however, is allow the software within the phone to better represent what the true capacity of the battery is, so you won't run into those scenarios where it says 35%, you take a 2 minute phone call, and all of a sudden you're at 10%.

The worst thing you could do is assume that the company that makes the device doesn't know what they're talking about.

Just follow Apple's advice, and you'll be fine. I've been doing exactly this for every iPhone from the 5s going all the way to the original iPhone, plus two MacBook Pros, and one MacBook Air. And I've never had a problem.

Yes, there are lots of people who claim to have "years of experience" and will tell you their way of caring for a battery is the only right way. Some of it might work about as well as Apple's methods, but require more work and more worry. And some of it is going to be flat-out wrong.

There is a lot of myth and misinformation about battery care. Part of it is because there were older battery technologies that DID require a lot of fuss and hassle, but those technologies aren't in use here. And some of it is just complete junk, and was never correct.

Bottom line: What Apple says you should be doing here, is pretty much what you should be doing. That's it!

Thank you both. Like you say, I can't believe the amount of 'experts' working in carrier shops and posting on websites that give out such poor advice. It says nothing on Apple's support page about draining the battery before the first charge or draining it once a month so I can only presume it doesn't matter!

 

[Mrbobb]

I can't believe the amount of 'experts' working in carrier shops and posting on websites that give out such poor advice.

Lots of old-wives tales out there, and your well-meaning uncle whose knowledge of battery hasn't been updated.

Modern LION doesn't need special care, don't worry about it.

The only thing I would avoid is to not leave it in a hot car all day, which is bad for everything else, not just the battery.

 

[deraj090]

The only thing I would avoid is to not leave it in a hot car all day, which is bad for everything else, not just the battery.

Yea like your social life. Unless your friends can send you smoke signals.

 

[Kemonsterr]

Use it. Stop worrying about it. This is the best way.

This.