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dvdchance

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 21, 2012
238
8
Just wondering if their is any consensus as to how best to condition the battery of a new phone?

Let it run totally down and then give a full charge? Keep it always at or near full?

Any thoughts?

Thanks for reading.
 
Plug it in until it reads 100%.

Use the phone normally. Recharge it when you go to sleep or when it gets down to 3%. Recharge it back to 100% if possible, but not necessary.

Rinse and repeat.
 
it doesn't really matter. some say to let it run down and charge it 100%. but in reality, it won't make any noticeable difference. just charge it however you like it.
 
You've opened up yet another huge debate on this. :)

Really, all you need to know about caring for your phone's battery is here:

https://www.apple.com/batteries/maximizing-performance

In short, use your phone as you normally would. Fully charging and discharing isn't necessary. Though, keeping your phone plugged in 24/7 isn't good. The other major thing to avoid is getting your phone too hot. Excess heat will reduce battery life.

What I do is plug my phone in at night, and then unplug when I wake up in the morning and use it during the day. Been doing that since the original iphone and never had battery issues.
 
Lithium battery life is prolonged when kept charged between 50-100%. Conditioning is irrelevant since lithium has no memory. The only things to stay away from is frequent discharging to 0% or overheating the battery by heavy usage while plugged in charging. Batteries will inevitably degrade over time and since it isn't really user replaceable that's the main reason I got Applecare+.
 
As edlex said, you do not want to regularly let a lithium battery discharge too much too often if you want it to have a long life.

Ni-Cad batteries needed conditioning, but what you did to lengthen their life will shorten it for Lithium.

I charge my battery at 40% whenever possible. If you are going to store your device for any length of time, have more than 40% charge, but not 100%. I cannot remember the exact reason, but it was something about electron mobility.
 
Don't worry about it. I just replaced a three-year-old iPhone 4S with the iPhone 6. The battery on the 4S was still performing like it was new. (It probably lost a little capacity, but I didn't notice it.)
 
It really won't make a difference. There are technically right and wrong things to do to a battery but in the end the difference is minor enough where the hassle it causes isn't with it.
 
Thanks for all the quick replies.

The reason I asked is the iPhone 4 that I just replaced had gotten very bad on its battery, requiring me to charge it at least once midday to make it thru.

I was just looking for some best practices that I could follow for my new phone.
 
Thanks for all the quick replies.

The reason I asked is the iPhone 4 that I just replaced had gotten very bad on its battery, requiring me to charge it at least once midday to make it thru.

I was just looking for some best practices that I could follow for my new phone.

How old was your 4? Because after a couple of years batteries will degrade. I mean, they are not going to keep the same performance indefinitely.
 
Just wondering if their is any consensus as to how best to condition the battery of a new phone?

Let it run totally down and then give a full charge? Keep it always at or near full?

Any thoughts?

Thanks for reading.

No, it's not necessary to let it run down. It already comes conditioned out of the box. Just use it normally and enjoy.
 
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