Apple's 80% Charging Limit for iPhone: How Much Did It Help After a Year?

[JoSeAnToNiO83]

Hello, well, limiting the load to 80% from the first day is working for me. I have had an iPhone 15pro since launch day and with 290 cycles it is still at 100% of the useful life.

As a note, I always charge wirelessly with an original MagSafe battery which I have connected to a belkin mxit 12w charger

 

[killhippie]

My old iPhone 14 Pro (giving it to my mum) has 97% battery and it was a launch day phone, battery charged between 45-50% up to 100% I intend to do the same with my 16 Pro. I have pretty much always had good battery life charging to 100% on all my phones.

 

[wanha]

The thing missing from this article and the ensuing discussion is that letting your phone run out of battery is also detrimental to it.

In other words, it's not just about limiting the charging of your device but also the discharging.

As the article states, Juli occasionally ran out of battery and that very likely contributed to her low battery health score despite having a limit on the charging.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Get Apple Care and charge it how and when you want. Simple as that.

Whilst paying £179 and excess charges for AppleCare lol.

 

[kirkmc]

The thing missing from this article and the ensuing discussion is that letting your phone run out of battery is also detrimental to it.

In other words, it's not just about limiting the charging of your device but also the discharging.

As the article states, Juli occasionally ran out battery and that very likely contributed to her low battery health score despite having a limit on the charging.

I don't think that letting it occasionally run out of charge completely would have much of an effect. Doing it regularly would, however.

 

[kirkmc]

Whilst paying £179 and excess charges for AppleCare lol.

There's no excess if you have AppleCare+.

 

[fockx]

After 1 year I'm still at 100% maximum capacity with the 80% limit set on all the time. MagSafe charging it most of the time. 146 cycles.

 

[lofin]

iPhone 15 Pro
80% limit since early days (probably deactivated it for a total of 15 days during specific occasions)

97%
243 cycles

If you want to maximize battery life, this definitely helps.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

There's no excess if you have AppleCare+.

There is according to the ad on my iPhone.

 

[Samu25]

Launch day 15 Pro, 94 % after 306 cycles.
I left the 80 % limit on for the first couple months and battery health stayed at 100 % until August, but recently it has been dropping quite fast.
Honestly the setting is not worth it to me. To little battery throughout the day

 

[DamoTheBrave]

149 cycles / 100%.
I also have it on low power mode after it drops below 60% fwiw

 

[asbeve]

My iPhone 15 Pro Max charges to 100 % every day. Max capacity now is 93 %. 195 cycles.

 

[aevan]

iPhone 15 Pro, charged on any random charger right up to 100% whenever and wherever I feel like it:

You should put that on a t-shirt.

91%, 363 cycles.


Does it though? Your battery has a grand total of 3% more estimated health, on fewer cycles than mine.


LOL, what's the end game here with you 80 percenters? Suffer with less battery life now so that... you don't get less battery life later? 🤔

95% on my M1 MBP after 3 years. Better result on my iPhone than any previous ones.

No two batteries are identical - perhaps you got lucky.

Also, I don’t suffer less battery life, I’m just near a charger most of the time and my Mac is plugged in most of the time. When I need more, I charge to 100%

 

[kirkmc]

There is according to the ad on my iPhone.

It say nothing about battery replacement. There's no excess, because the assumption is that the battery has not lasted as long as Apple has claimed. There is excess for damage only.

 

[chfilm]

Get Apple Care and charge it how and when you want. Simple as that.

What’s your strategy? Express swap after 12 months?

 

[z4co]

Based on the responses to this thread so far it looks like limiting to 80% does have a positive impact. I collected 160 responses from iPhone 15 users who mentioned their capacity, cycle count, and if they used the limit or not. It was pretty evenly split, 82-78 for the 80% limit or 100% limit.

 

[neil1980]

Launch day 15 Pro Max… 80% since day one with two days where I changed to 100% as I knew I’d be out and heavily using the phone.

Cycle count is 292 and health is 92%

First time I’ve actually looked at the health and pretty disappointed

 

[absynth]

Isnt it just as bad to completely drain the battery, if not worse?
If you set it to 80% this will happen much more often.
Also: you increase the cycles this way, which also negatively effects the gains.

 

[LakeLucerne]

I keep my iPhone 15 Pro launch day, between 40 and 80% charged and don’t charge it via MagSafe. I plug it in when I have a possibility (car, desk, …).

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

It say nothing about battery replacement. There's no excess, because the assumption is that the battery has not lasted as long as Apple has claimed. There is excess for damage only.

There are accounts of peoples batteries showing low 80's in the first 20 months and not slipping below 80% before the 2 years is up. I don't think Apple allow a battery health percentage to show any less than 80% as they would be liable. Clever really. AppleCare is in itself a very expensive insurance policy and costs more than many peoples car insurance, certainly mine. It is only slightly cheaper than insurance I have on a £400k house and its contents, to which my iPhone is covered for theft, loss and accidental damage up to £20k.

 

[jlwarlow]

I have a new iPhone 16 coming from an 11 so haven't had this option before. I've enabled it but my phone is currently charging to 100%. I read that it'll do this every so often to re-callibrate, hoping it's not a bug!

 

[moldy lunchbox]

i used the 80% charge limit on my 15 Pro Max since new except for 20 to 25 days while away from home. Almost all MagSafe charging - I rarely plugged it in.

97% health after 277 cycles

I didn’t do the 80% charge limit at all on my 15 Pro Max bought on Launch Day, and I still made it out better than this.

iPhone 15 Pro Max.
80% limit since day one.
Heavy user.
Battery Manufactured July 2023
Battery First Use September 2023

Battery Health:
• 98% March 31, 2024 (215 cycles)
• 89% June 21, 2024 (321 cycles)

It dropped to 88% in early July where it has since stayed.

• 88% September 20, 2024 (457 cycles)

The 9% drop in 82 days was simply wild.
iPhone 16 Pro Max, Max Charge 95%
• 100% September 24, 2024 (5 cycles)

See you in a year.

You neutered your battery capacity for a whole year just to trade in that phone anyway for the next iteration, wow!

 

[JippaLippa]

Is 88% Battery Capacity a good value for a 3 year old iPhone?

 

[teh_mungler]

15 Pro Max - 80% limit from day one

Manufacture Date Oct 2023, First Use Nov 2023

Cycle Count 213

Max Capacity 98%

Overall very happy with the 80% limit and the new 85, 90, 95 limit options - when 80% no longer gets me through a day i'll gradually increase it.

 

[Aerisdies]

I obsess with my 15pro battery health because I'm not even close to an Apple store unlike you, guys. (Philippines)

Here, if you want to have your battery replaced (Genuine), you'll admit it to an "authorized" Apple service center.
They will check your phone (initial diag) for a fee (around $35) and will ask your consent to have it WIPED and be delivered to Singapore just to replace the daaamn battery for 15days turn-around time!

So yes, I always keep my phone (got it Feb 2024) from 35% to 80% charge and let it overcharge to 100% whenever the phone wants to calibrate.

Currently on 100% @ 142 cycles.
(randomly pushes it to 100% whenever needed to go out; 1-time zero drained it)