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How to train your iPhone battery PROPERLY

CSpackler

CSpackler

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 22, 2010
236
33
On a plane
I see a lot of threads about poor battery life.

While it's true that lithium ion batteries don't need traditional training, they do lose sync with their internal meter which tells it how much charge to accept, how much is remaining, etc. This happens as you use your phone normally and should be repeated about once a month to keep your battery in tip-top shape.

To fully realize the potential of your battery, do this:

1. Use phone until it turns off.
2. Plug into wall charger.
3. Phone will power on after a few minutes.
4. Turn it back OFF.
5. Wait three hours to ensure the last of the trickle charge gets in there.
6. Power your phone back on. If the meter does not read 100%, power back down and continue charging.

That's it! Powering while off prevents parasitic load, which is basically the device and the battery vying for power. This can confuse the battery's internal "meter" so to speak.

Also, this is not meant to be a magic bullet for battery life. if you use your phone a lot, get lots of notifications, or are in a poor signal area, your battery will drain faster. Hopefully you can eek out a few extra minutes by using this method :cool:

Please post your findings if this helps!
 
D

DaGrandMastah

macrumors 6502a
Mar 19, 2011
674
23
CSpackler said:
I see a lot of threads about poor battery life.

While it's true that lithium ion batteries don't need traditional training, they do lose sync with their internal meter which tells it how much charge to accept, how much is remaining, etc. This happens as you use your phone normally and should be repeated about once a month to keep your battery in tip-top shape.

To fully realize the potential of your battery, do this:

1. Use phone until it turns off.
2. Plug into wall charger.
3. Phone will power on after a few minutes.
4. Turn it back OFF.
5. Wait three hours to ensure the last of the trickle charge gets in there.
6. Power your phone back on. If the meter does not read 100%, power back down and continue charging.

That's it! Powering while off prevents parasitic load, which is basically the device and the battery vying for power. This can confuse the battery's internal "meter" so to speak.

Also, this is not meant to be a magic bullet for battery life. if you use your phone a lot, get lots of notifications, or are in a poor signal area, your battery will drain faster. Hopefully you can eek out a few extra minutes by using this method :cool:

Please post your findings if this helps!
Click to expand...


Great post. I was hoping someone would put something up like this about battery life. This should be stickied.
 
justperry

justperry

macrumors G5
Aug 10, 2007
12,558
9,750
I'm a rolling stone.
CSpackler said:
I see a lot of threads about poor battery life.

While it's true that lithium ion batteries don't need traditional training, they do lose sync with their internal meter which tells it how much charge to accept, how much is remaining, etc. This happens as you use your phone normally and should be repeated about once a month to keep your battery in tip-top shape.

To fully realize the potential of your battery, do this:

1. Use phone until it turns off.
2. Plug into wall charger.
3. Phone will power on after a few minutes.
4. Turn it back OFF.
5. Wait three hours to ensure the last of the trickle charge gets in there.
6. Power your phone back on. If the meter does not read 100%, power back down and continue charging.

That's it! Powering while off prevents parasitic load, which is basically the device and the battery vying for power. This can confuse the battery's internal "meter" so to speak.

Also, this is not meant to be a magic bullet for battery life. if you use your phone a lot, get lots of notifications, or are in a poor signal area, your battery will drain faster. Hopefully you can eek out a few extra minutes by using this method :cool:

Please post your findings if this helps!
Click to expand...

A Lithium Ion cells is full when it reaches a certain threshold, usually 4.2 Volts, full is full.
Same for when it's empty, you can not over discharge a Lithium, it will break the battery.
Usually just run it until it switches off by itself and recharge, no need for your process.
 
Adutrumque

Adutrumque

macrumors 65816
Mar 8, 2012
1,438
2
Sweden
I got this tip when asking for tips regarding charging the phone for the first time. Iam getting pretty good battery time. Posted 1 pic in the merged thread.
 
divisionbuyzero

divisionbuyzero

macrumors member
Sep 16, 2012
75
2
justperry is correct -- no need to do all those steps just make sure you run your phone down completely (until it shuts off) and charge up past 100% once a month. Bottom line, don't be one of those people who throw it on a charger every time it reaches 50%. Giving the internal meter full cycles is ideal.
 
Last edited:
jlake02

jlake02

macrumors 68020
Nov 2, 2008
2,259
1
L.A.
I'm a big believer in the suggestions the OP made. They have worked for me in the past.

The thing that people need to realize is that with each new iPhone and iOS the phone is doing more and more. Twitter, Facebook, location services, push email, LTE, etc, etc. These things take a toll on battery life no matter what tricks are used.

Personally I wish Apple would have left the phone thickness the same as the 4S and put a better battery in. Regardless what power saving techniques they are using, a ~1440 mAH battery is NOT sufficient for today's tech and lifestyles. I really hope they find a way to get closer to 2,000 mAH for the 5S.
 
quagmire

quagmire

macrumors 604
Apr 19, 2004
6,910
2,338
divisionbuyzero said:
justperry is correct -- no need to do all those steps just make sure you run your phone down completely (until it shuts off) and charge up past 100%. Bottom line, don't be one of those people who throw it on a charger every time it reaches 50%. Giving the internal meter full cycles is ideal.
Click to expand...

Full 100% down to 0% cycles kills a batteries longevity. It's a good idea to occasionally fully drain it, but not to do it every time.

It's why electric vehicles like the Chevy Volt don't use 100% of their batteries capacity. For the Chevy Volt, it only drains down to 25-30% charge and it only charges to 80% full. It helps to ensure the battery will last for a long time.
 
M

metsjetsfan

macrumors 65816
Feb 2, 2011
1,387
238
The parasitic load thing is on battery university which is a well regarded site but not sure why apple didn't but it on their page or at least program ios6 to not turn on.

my guess is in the end cspackler is right it will add just very small margins to your batt life maybe 1-3% at most. And like others said maybe not necessary.
 
Rocko1

Rocko1

macrumors 68020
Nov 3, 2011
2,070
4
CSpackler said:
I see a lot of threads about poor battery life.

While it's true that lithium ion batteries don't need traditional training, they do lose sync with their internal meter which tells it how much charge to accept, how much is remaining, etc. This happens as you use your phone normally and should be repeated about once a month to keep your battery in tip-top shape.

To fully realize the potential of your battery, do this:

1. Use phone until it turns off.
2. Plug into wall charger.
3. Phone will power on after a few minutes.
4. Turn it back OFF.
5. Wait three hours to ensure the last of the trickle charge gets in there.
6. Power your phone back on. If the meter does not read 100%, power back down and continue charging.

That's it! Powering while off prevents parasitic load, which is basically the device and the battery vying for power. This can confuse the battery's internal "meter" so to speak.

Also, this is not meant to be a magic bullet for battery life. if you use your phone a lot, get lots of notifications, or are in a poor signal area, your battery will drain faster. Hopefully you can eek out a few extra minutes by using this method :cool:

Please post your findings if this helps!
Click to expand...
Similar to a mechanical device that wears out faster with heavy use, so also does the depth of discharge (DoD) determine the cycle count. The shorter the discharge (low DoD), the longer the battery will last. If at all possible, avoid full discharges and charge the battery more often between uses. Partial discharge on Li-ion is fine; there is no memory and the battery does not need periodic full discharge cycles to prolong life, other than to calibrate the fuel gauge on a smart battery once in a while.
 
K

KoukiFC3S

macrumors 6502a
Jul 4, 2010
536
1
These are all the battery tips you need to know:

-Charge as often as possible up to 90%
-Don't leave it plugged in at 100%
-Discharge from 100% to 0% once a month
 
chambone

chambone

macrumors 6502a
Dec 24, 2011
969
25
Netherlands
divisionbuyzero said:
justperry is correct -- no need to do all those steps just make sure you run your phone down completely (until it shuts off) and charge up past 100%. Bottom line, don't be one of those people who throw it on a charger every time it reaches 50%. Giving the internal meter full cycles is ideal.
Click to expand...

That's bad advice. It's actually the other way around. Throwing it on the charger at 40 and taking it off at 90% will keep the battery's capacity up for a very long time. Fully cycling it each time will kill a li-ion battery within a year.
 
Rocko1

Rocko1

macrumors 68020
Nov 3, 2011
2,070
4
chambone said:
That's bad advice. It's actually the other way around. Throwing it on the charger at 40 and taking it off at 90% will keep the battery's capacity up for a very long time. Fully cycling it each time will kill a li-ion battery within a year.
Click to expand...

True. Low DoD, (smaller charges) will lengthen the life of the battery, not high DoD(deep charges).
 
Z

Zac7

macrumors 6502a
Jan 9, 2011
712
14
quagmire said:
Full 100% down to 0% cycles kills a batteries longevity. It's a good idea to occasionally fully drain it, but not to do it every time.

It's why electric vehicles like the Chevy Volt don't use 100% of their batteries capacity. For the Chevy Volt, it only drains down to 25-30% charge and it only charges to 80% full. It helps to ensure the battery will last for a long time.
Click to expand...

That's 100% correct.
 
H

HowardSmith

macrumors 6502a
Sep 13, 2012
863
0
There is nothing you can do to greatly increase the battery life on your iPhone. I just remove it from the box and use it the first day. Before I go to bed, I put it on the charger.

Repeat daily until iPhone 6 arrives! Too many people OCD about their battery!
 
divisionbuyzero

divisionbuyzero

macrumors member
Sep 16, 2012
75
2
quagmire said:
Full 100% down to 0% cycles kills a batteries longevity. It's a good idea to occasionally fully drain it, but not to do it every time.
Click to expand...

I was sure I included "once a month" in my post, odd. Either way, what I said was correct I just forgot to include the "once a month" part. Your phone will never actually reach 0% (apple shuts it down with a huge safety margin since depleting a battery to true 0% is bad), but doing a full cycle from shutdown to 100%+ once a month is correct usage.

chambone said:
That's bad advice. It's actually the other way around. Throwing it on the charger at 40 and taking it off at 90% will keep the battery's capacity up for a very long time. Fully cycling it each time will kill a li-ion battery within a year.
Click to expand...

See the above.
 
H

hoppyjr

macrumors newbie
Sep 21, 2012
8
0
Lots of mis-information and self styled electronics experts out there....

FACT: Lithium Ion (Li-Ion) and Lithium Polymer (Li-Po) batteries do NOT suffer from the memory effect, nor do they require periodic "conditioning" (discharge/charge) as the old Nickel Cadmium (NiCad) or Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMh) did. I believe no manufacturers have used the old tech batteries for years. The iPhone uses the lithium based batteries, so plug in and charge! The lithium based batteries actually perform best and last longer when "topped off" as opposed to discharged and recharged. Also, the phone has circuitry to prevent overcharging, so don't worry about unplugging when fully charged.

If you don't believe, stop reading forum posts and do the research for yourself - you'll see I'm correct.
 
G

Gjwilly

macrumors 68040
May 1, 2011
3,216
701
SF Bay Area
Two different issues going on here.
Preserving the life of the battery and correctly caibrating the battery gauge to the battery's capacity.
For the latter, you do want to run the battery all the way down occasionally.
 
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