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Apple's 80% Charging Limit for iPhone: How Much Did It Help After a Year?
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Your battery is definitely been decimated by playing games
I (emphasis on ME) would not be charging multiple times a day the vast majority of the time. That's why I'm a good candidate for this.
My iPhone 15 Pro Max was at 90% after one year, 286 cycles. No charge limit, MagSafe charging 95% of the time (just used USB-C when traveling since I usually have my iPP or MBP), indoor temp usually around 68 degrees at night in the summer, and 62 degrees at night in the winter.
Don't see the point in losing 20% all year to gain 4%, but it also depends on how you use your battery. I think it's a lot harder on the battery if you're constantly going below 10% charge each night, especially 5%. But then again you're more likely to do that if you set your charge limit at 80%. So I'd like to see that isolated for in a long-term test.
Personally, for something that I replace each year on the iPhone Upgrade Program, it doesn't make sense to use this setting. Even upgrading bi-yearly I doubt there would be a benefit. Perhaps once you get to three years, depending on use, it might save you some battery but then again you can just bump it up to 100% charge which. gets you 80% charge. So what have you been doing the entire time except having an 80% battery forever? I think Apple mostly added this to keep lawsuits at bay by giving people options.
I'm planning on keeping my 14" M3 Max MBP for 6-7 years, so I've got Apple's battery optimization turned on for that, which basically limits charging based on machine learning and I always make sure to plug it in when I get the alert about 10% left, and more typically it's around 20-25% since the battery lasts so long. I also leave it docked at a lot, but after 11 months I'm at 100% battery and 74 cycles, so I feel like that's pretty good. I imagine I should have at least 80% left in another 5-6 years. Then I can upgrade to one of those thin titanium MBPs with OLED, 5/6G wireless built-in, under display FaceTime/Face ID, 1nm M10 chip, and 24 hour battery life.
Don't see the point in losing 20% all year to gain 4%, but it also depends on how you use your battery. I think it's a lot harder on the battery if you're constantly going below 10% charge each night, especially 5%. But then again you're more likely to do that if you set your charge limit at 80%. So I'd like to see that isolated for in a long-term test.
Personally, for something that I replace each year on the iPhone Upgrade Program, it doesn't make sense to use this setting. Even upgrading bi-yearly I doubt there would be a benefit. Perhaps once you get to three years, depending on use, it might save you some battery but then again you can just bump it up to 100% charge which. gets you 80% charge. So what have you been doing the entire time except having an 80% battery forever? I think Apple mostly added this to keep lawsuits at bay by giving people options.
I'm planning on keeping my 14" M3 Max MBP for 6-7 years, so I've got Apple's battery optimization turned on for that, which basically limits charging based on machine learning and I always make sure to plug it in when I get the alert about 10% left, and more typically it's around 20-25% since the battery lasts so long. I also leave it docked at a lot, but after 11 months I'm at 100% battery and 74 cycles, so I feel like that's pretty good. I imagine I should have at least 80% left in another 5-6 years. Then I can upgrade to one of those thin titanium MBPs with OLED, 5/6G wireless built-in, under display FaceTime/Face ID, 1nm M10 chip, and 24 hour battery life.
I've kept my iPhone 15 on 80% limit and it's still at 100% health after a year. I think whether or not this feature will help or hinder depends on your use case. In my case I work from home and on a normal workday I'd still have about 50% left even starting from 80%. When I am away from home I'm usually driving and plugging in for Carplay. My previous 2 iPhones (an iPhone 12 and an iPhone 13) were each running a battery health in the low 90s after a year of my typical usage, I suspect because they were often sitting over 80% charged most of the time given my lighter usage and tendency to plug in while driving.
On the flip side I could see how with a heavy user you might be degrading the battery faster using 80% limit as it could lead to much more use of your phone at low charge levels and your battery dying completely more often. For those folks I'd say optimized battery charging is the better option.
I'm glad it's an option now as it seems to be working for me.
On the flip side I could see how with a heavy user you might be degrading the battery faster using 80% limit as it could lead to much more use of your phone at low charge levels and your battery dying completely more often. For those folks I'd say optimized battery charging is the better option.
I'm glad it's an option now as it seems to be working for me.
This was EXACTLY the article I needed at EXACTLY the right time!
I just ordered some MagSafe chargers to use on desk stand and bedside for overnight charging so was worried about heat from MagSafe knackering my battery. This article and comments make me feel better about MagSafe.
I also just set my new iPhone 16 pro max to only charge to 80% as I figured it’s a bigger battery anyway, so 80% will probably get me thru the day anyway.
I just ordered some MagSafe chargers to use on desk stand and bedside for overnight charging so was worried about heat from MagSafe knackering my battery. This article and comments make me feel better about MagSafe.
I also just set my new iPhone 16 pro max to only charge to 80% as I figured it’s a bigger battery anyway, so 80% will probably get me thru the day anyway.
Because using this depends on the user. Some people know they need that whole 100% much of the time and so don't use this option. Others know they rarely use more than 50% so they can use the option.
So why does Apple offer other charging levels (85%, 90%. 95%) when all of concern is only about the 80% and 100% levels?
It's not a black and white matter. The benefit is higher at 80% limit but there is still some benefit to higher limits. Choice is good.
Almost exclusively MagSafe charging with 97% and 225 cycles on iPhone 15 Pro Max for past 1 year
I think the real flaw vs ordinary usage was strictly sticking to the 80%. If you know you're going to have a battery heavy day, better to charge it more than let it die. Letting it die is much worse.
Also, now that there's a slider it seems to make more sense to start at 80% limit, then start ramping it up to 100% in increments as time goes on.
The default setting to only charge to 80% until a few hours before one's alarm is also often forgotten about and may be a factor.
That's not what article you linked to says, though. It does say specifically that the old Nicad battery "memory effect" was from an error and was incorrect – but Nicad batteries haven't been used in many years. The article does not say the 80% limit is a coincidence or un-scientific for Lithium Polymer batteries that are currently used in devices, and suggests that it is indeed accurate for them.
But the point is for many people, 80% is more than enough. With an 80% charge my phone rarely gets below 30% on a normal day. If I know it will be a heavy use day, I can disable this feature or I could plugin my phone for a little charge if the usage was unplanned. There is no waste and my battery health is good.
My 15pro’s battery health is 96%
on a 234 cycle count.
Got my iphone 15 pro max at launch, im now with 87% Capacity at 390 cycles. Im always charging over night.
The nice thing about having these battery limit settings is that we don’t need to worry about battery health. I just set it for my devices and then use them as I need. My laptop is most often on a desk so 100% is useless and not good. My phone usage rarely needs more than about 50% of charge in a day. I can always top off later in the day on special days. I don’t worry about it.
November ‘23 15 Pro with 261 cycles. 100% battery capacity.
80% limit switched on from day 1 and I put the phone onto MagSafe chargers in a couple of locations around my house, so it is recharged multiple times in a day.
Modern day rechargeable batteries are under most stress when fully charged and fully depleted, so the guidance of keeping them between 20-80% charged seems a good way to go to prolong life.
80% limit switched on from day 1 and I put the phone onto MagSafe chargers in a couple of locations around my house, so it is recharged multiple times in a day.
Modern day rechargeable batteries are under most stress when fully charged and fully depleted, so the guidance of keeping them between 20-80% charged seems a good way to go to prolong life.
Running down to zero battery is every bit as bad if not worse than charging to 100%.
My M1 MacBook Air, which I bought at a year old, refurbished, was manufactured November 2020, or 1,422 days old. It has 99 cycles as it normally sits plugged in at my desk, but at least once I week I unplug and run off battery. I use AlDente to charge to 80%, never above. After almost 4 years my battery is sitting at 93%. I think it was at 96% when I bought it, so it 3 years have only seen 3% degradation. That's pretty good.
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