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

[msackey]

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

It may end up cheaper NOT buying AppleCare, depending on how rough one is with the phone. AppleCare will not replace the battery until it's below 80% battery health. Given that it could be more than 2 or 3 years before your battery goes below 80% health, you may not recoup some of the cost for having AppleCare.

The cost of replacing a battery through Apple, without AppleCare is just $99 and you can certainly ask them to replace it before it's below 80% battery health.

Over a year ago I went on an international trip. My battery health was around I think 83% but I wanted a totally new battery because I know I will be running down that battery everyday when I travel. Got it changed for a little over $99 when including taxes. If I tried to do that through AppleCare, they wouldn't allow it.

 

[SMELTN]

This is my iPhone 15 Pro Max. 99% of the time I have used magsafe charging both at home in the car and at work. I hardly EVER plug it into a charging cable.

 

[Ethosik]

Never used it. Always keep my phone plugged in via MagSafe when possible. 98% battery health with 70 cycles. Had the 15 pro since launch. Use headphones when I can or keep it plugged in during FaceTime.

 

[msackey]

The idea of charging between 20 and 80% was born because of a coincidence (read more here) and it is not based on anything truly scientific. The best thing a user can do is to let macOS/iOS/iPadOS manage the battery as it wants.
Actually, always keep your device as charged as you need, that is, use it normally. When it falls below 45-50%, charge it up to 100%!

That's what I do. I turn on Optimized Charging and just let the OS manage it. My partner, on the other hand, is very involved in managing the battery life. Although he probably doesn't feel it this way, from my perspective, he looks like he's always fussing around with how much time to charge his iPad, iPhone, and Watch. He manually manages all of them. I couldn't be bothered. About the only time I override what the OS does -- and it's rare -- is if I know it'll be a long day of heavy use and I'll go ahead and instruct OS to fully charge my Watch.

The only thing you should try to avoid—though nothing dramatic is going to happen if you forget this a few times—is to keep it plugged at 100% for too much time.

I wonder if this even matters any more. On macOS, if it's been on 100% for a period of time, it'll stop charging and allow the battery discharge to about 90% or even lower and keep it there.

I have not experienced this with iPadOS or iOS because I never leave those devices charged as they're unplugged almost on a daily basis.

My 2023 MBP has 226 cycles and 98% health (though Coconut Battery says about 95%). I've charged it to 100% always and charged anytime between 10 and 50% when needed. I believe we users have many more important things to worry about than battery health.

That's how I feel. My partner says he doesn't feel frantic go around managing the battery charge of all his devices. I think that's true, for him. To me as an observer, it looks rather frantic and I'd rather not do it.

 

[Ethosik]

The idea of charging between 20 and 80% was born because of a coincidence (read more here) and it is not based on anything truly scientific. The best thing a user can do is to let macOS/iOS/iPadOS manage the battery as it wants.
Actually, always keep your device as charged as you need, that is, use it normally. When it falls below 45-50%, charge it up to 100%! The only thing you should try to avoid—though nothing dramatic is going to happen if you forget this a few times—is to keep it plugged at 100% for too much time.
My 2023 MBP has 226 cycles and 98% health (though Coconut Battery says about 95%). I've charged it to 100% always and charged anytime between 10 and 50% when needed. I believe we users have many more important things to worry about than battery health.

I never seen this as an issue. I always leave my MacBook Pro and iPhones connected to some charger when at all possible. They are all very healthy. My oldest laptop is still as good as the day I bought it.

 

[msackey]

I think it’s a waste of time especially if you have AppleCare+

It can take a LONG time for the battery health to go below 80% (2 or 3 years or more). AppleCare will NOT replace a battery under its warranty if it's not below 80%. So, it could end up that it's a waste of money to get AppleCare. Now, it may not be a waste of money if the user is a rough user as AppleCare can kick in for other damages.

I'm a pretty careful user and in my experience of having owned 4 iPhones, I would not have been able to use any of the benefits from a 3-year AppleCare package. It would be insurance that I wouldn't end up using. It would be cheaper to just pay upfront.

 

[applepotato666]

The quality of the batteries got worse with the 14 series and the battery health I have now is with 3% worse than the iPhone 13 I used for 2 whole years had which I passed down. The 13 lasts a tiny bit longer on a full 100% charge now with a 3 year old battery than my 15 does with a 1 y.o. battery. Both on 18.1.

That’s while I use the 90% limit on the 15 and for the 13 I didn’t care and I don’t think it was an option. So I’m not sure it’s doing anything.

15 at 83% and 370 cycles. 13 at 86%, but it does not tell the cycles - surely they are at least double that.

 

[nylon]

15 Pro here.

 

[Boneslasher]

AppleCare is obviously for more than just getting a battery exchange. I buy it for all my iPhones, and I've never damaged one, though I have had two replaced because of batteries. So I probably lose out in the long run, especially now that AC is so much more expensive, but if I did break my screen or damage my iPhone in another way, I'd kick myself for not having that protection.

I also buy it for all my devices and rarely use it.
For my iPhone 6S, though, I got the device replaced 3 times in 2 years because of the battery and of two issues that didn't make the phone pass their tests after repair. So, in practice, that device cost Apple more than what it cost me, even just in raw material and manpower.
With my iPhone XS, I once stumbled, the iPhone fell on concrete (with little stones on it!) and while falling I stepped on it! The screen, the camera, all gone! 99€ ... new phone!
As the saying goes: insurance is there not to be used, but when you need it!

 

[msackey]

I also buy it for all my devices and rarely use it.
For my iPhone 6S, though, I got the device replaced 3 times in 2 years because of the battery and of two issues that didn't make the phone pass their tests after repair. So, in practice, that device cost Apple more than what it cost me, even just in raw material and manpower.
With my iPhone XS, I once stumbled, the iPhone fell on concrete (with little stones on it!) and while falling I stepped on it! The screen, the camera, all gone! 99€ ... new phone!
As the saying goes: insurance is there not to be used, but when you need it!

I get it. I'd rather put that money (AppleCare cost) towards buying a new phone, because I'm gambling that the times I need AppleCare is going to be much more rare than when I don't need it. And it's not like I'm so financially strapped I couldn't get a replacement on my own, whether battery or phone.

This would be, of course, a bit different than health insurance. A sudden big accident can render you bankrupt without health insurance. That wouldn't be the case, for me, with a phone.

I too used to buy AppleCare+, back in the day when there was no monthly option and when AppleCare+ kicked in for 2 years after the original warranty expired. I bought it practically for every Mac product I owned. Over time I could see that I wasn't using AppleCare+. That's why I've dropped them now.

 

[solsen]

If I charge to 100% every day on my phone or Apple Watch, battery capacity does seem to run below AppleCare's 79% or below free battery replacement threshold, before 2 years is up. However, if you charge to 80% every day, this is almost certain to not happen, saving Apple the cost of replacing your batteries. I'm cynical this is why they added this "feature".

 

[Gfive]

97%
163 cycles
Charge limit always 100% since the 15 pro max came out

 

[surfsofa]

Two year old iPhone 14 Pro here, still at 100% capacity. What am I doing wrong?

 

[ikjadoon]

The idea of charging between 20 and 80% was born because of a coincidence (read more here) and it is not based on anything truly scientific. The best thing a user can do is to let macOS/iOS/iPadOS manage the battery as it wants.
Actually, always keep your device as charged as you need, that is, use it normally. When it falls below 45-50%, charge it up to 100%! The only thing you should try to avoid—though nothing dramatic is going to happen if you forget this a few times—is to keep it plugged at 100% for too much time.
My 2023 MBP has 226 cycles and 98% health (though Coconut Battery says about 95%). I've charged it to 100% always and charged anytime between 10 and 50% when needed. I believe we users have many more important things to worry about than battery health.

No, it was "not born because of a coincidence", mate.

Under-100% charge limits are deeply and completely scientifically justified. Would you believe Apple (and every EV manufacturer, and most Android OEMs) use pseudoscience for battery management?

Compare 85% to 25% (light green) vs 100% to 40% (red). Both consumed 60% of battery; these were charged at a much lower charging rate than iPhones; 1C on an iPhone would be maximum 10W to 15W, not 25W+ as many do.

If that 80% limit is causing you to just charge your iPhone more often, I wouldn't be surprised if that is just as detrimental.

How absurd is it that we are intentionally gimping our battery so that we don't end up with a gimped battery?

Ok, but that just means that you are essentially charging it more which effectively negates the point of limiting the amount of charge you are giving the phone. Why would you not just charge it once to 100% instead of charging it multiple times throughout the day to ensure your phone doesn’t die?

So why does Apple offer other charging levels (85%, 90%. 95%) when all of concern is only about the 80% and 100% levels?

Am I getting this right - people are giving up 20% of charge capacity, to potentially save 4-5% several years down the road when they trade it in for a new model?

What is the point of protecting the battery to save capacity, when you’re limiting to 80% anyway?

(I didn’t read other comments before posting mine. I’m sure others have made the same observation.)

To all of these comments, see the chart above. And:

1. This is primarily for people that don't use 100% every day, but may use 100% some days + these people actively have chargers nearby and / or people that plug in all the time (e.g., wired CarPlay).
2. With a 95% capacity, you are given the option to charge to 95% capacity when needed for years to come. People that hit 85% will never get 95% battery life again.
3. Consider it less like "4% to 5% "several years down the road" and more like 10% more every day when you need it for Year 2 and onward. These are iPhone 15s and some folks are in the 80% to 90% range—it's hardly been one year.
4. Charging from 80% to 20% and then 20% to 40% is better for the battery than 100% to 0%. Both count as exactly 1.0 cycle. 1.0 cycle is using the complete battery capacity.

 

[jntdroid]

My partner & I both got a launch day 15 Pro Max. Both of us use “optimized charging” not the 80% limit. We use only wired chargers, no MagSafe. We live in mostly 70° year round weather, rarely goes over 90 or under 50. I charge overnight, he does not. I play a decent amount of games on my phone, Pokémon go, genshin, Diablo, he pretty much watches YouTube and shops.

I have 288 cycles, 91% battery health.

He has 257 cycles, still 100% battery health.

I have no idea how he still has 100%. Either it’s down to the lottery and his came with a much higher starting capacity than mine, his is having a bug with reporting the actual health, or our habits of overnight charging and hot phone games really make all the difference.

I haven't read through the entirety of this massive thread, but I came here to make this point. Certain activities will wear on your battery more than others, regardless of how fast it's draining. The 80% limit might help add some life on the tail end, but what you're doing to drain your battery likely has even more of an impact than avoiding charging between 80% and 100%

This isn't a perfect analogy, but it's kind of like a car engine... if you're driving it hard all the time, there's no avoiding wear and tear on the engine that might not be there for someone who drives it easier most of the time - even if you put the same mileage on it.

 

[Flight Plan]

I know nobody cares about iphones older than the 15 in this subject, but I'll toss this in here: My iPhone 12 ProMax, bought in early 2021, is down to 80% life, and I hardly notice it because it's always on a charger. Here's why that is:

At home, I have Belkin MagSafe/magnetic chargers in the kitchen, family room, and in my home office. The phone is always plugged into one of these, depending on where I am in the house. It's just a convenient place to put the phone Even when the phone is playing music or a podcast to my Sonos devices via WIFI, it's just easier to know where the phone is if I want to change the channel or change to a different podcast.

In the car, I have Apple Carplay which is USB-only and does not work with magnetic charging. So I just have a simple magnetic holder for the phone and I use a USB to Lightning cable to get the Carplay interface and be able to use Waze, Amazon Prime music or Pandora, or the Apple podcast or music apps. The cable is required for Carplay, and as a side-benefit, it also charges the phone. My car is an Acura, so it has a built-in touch pad below the multifunction display. The car's display is not touch...but the little touch pad actually works quite well and allows me to change apps, answer the phone, respond to Waze prompts, and much more; all without taking my eyes off the road...plus, there's no poking at either the car's or the phone's screens, which I kind of like when I'm driving.

So yeah, my phone is almost always charging all the time. And after 4.5 years, it's only down to 80%. I've occasionally seen a message that it expects "to be fully charged by 8 am tomorrow" and stuff like that. I haven't tried to change any settings. And because it's always on a charger, I don't really notice the battery life going down. It just works, and that works for me.

Tentatively, I plan to get a 16. I probably will just leave the default settings alone. It just doesn't matter all that much to me.

 

[ikjadoon]

Two year old iPhone 14 Pro here, still at 100% capacity. What am I doing wrong?

Not sharing your cycle count? Kidding. But cycles are helpful for seeing how many times it's been charged. I have an iPhone 12 Pro: 500 cycles, 75% battery health.

You can use PowerUtils: https://www.itecheverything.com/powerutil

Add the shortcut and use this guide. Takes 30 seconds.

 

[ELman]

The price for battery replacement has gone from $99 for the iPhone 15 Pro to $119 for the iPhone 16 Pro

 

[Rob9874]

I live in AZ and set my iPhone on my wireless charging spot in my Tesla while driving. During the summer, I often see the message "charging is on hold until the phone temperature reduces". Am I correct in thinking that is doing more harm to my battery than charging over 80%? Should I not use wireless charging in my hot car?

 

[robotphood]

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

Exactly. Or just pay the $99 to replace it every 2-3 years. Inexpensive compared to the price of the device.

 

[robotphood]

The price for battery replacement has gone from $99 for the iPhone 15 Pro to $119 for the iPhone 16 Pro

I wonder if this price holds a 2-3 years from now when most people would actually replace it.

 

[topcat001]

Draining the battery to low levels (say below 30%) has a much worse impact on health than charging to 100%, so I'm not sure this test is valid. This is why I never advise my friends to use charge limiting on a phone because I know it will make it worse. I do use limiting on all my devices (both upper and lower limits) and it has a dramatic impact. For example, I'm still using my AW S5 and it is at 97% battery health.

 

[kp98077]

oh, lets take an already ****** batter and restrict it by another 20%! lol..

 

[Amazing Iceman]

iPhone 15 Pro Max:
Maximum Capacity: 93%
Cycle Count: 242
Started using it in September 2023, charging to 100% most of the time, I did the 80% limit for a short while, but then had to go back to 100%.
Most of my charging at home on MagSafe, and USB-C while on the road.

 

[Timpetus]

15 Pro with 80% on since purchase and first use in late September 2023 has 97% health and 331 cycles. Very pleased with this, but it was not unexpected based on my experience with using AlDente on my MacBooks.