iPhone 15 Pro Can the battery cycle count be trusted?

[foobarbaz]

My iPhone 15 Pro is 10 days old now. The battery cycle count (Settings > General > About > Battery) also says 10. And I can confirm the count showed 1 on day 1.

But how can that be if I only use about half the capacity each day on average?

Apple says partial unloading counts as a partial cycle. I charge at night and on my desk with the new 80% limit set.

 

[JPack]

Were you using the phone while it was being charged?

 

[foobarbaz]

Were you using the phone while it was being charged?

Oh yeah, sure. Obviously the always-on screen was on and StandBy was showing photos on the desk. Overcast was playing podcasts some of the time. And I spent a few hours in the Kindle app, as well.

Avg. Screen Active time was 5.5 hours/day. Avg. Screen Idle was 6.5 hours/day.

 

[JPack]

Oh yeah, sure. Obviously the always-on screen was on and StandBy was showing photos on the desk. Overcast was playing podcasts some of the time. And I spent a few hours in the Kindle app, as well.

Avg. Screen Active time was 5.5 hours/day. Avg. Screen Idle was 6.5 hours/day.

From my understanding, iPhone always draws from battery. So any kind of activity while being plugged in may not register as “battery usage” in graph but energy is actually drawn from the battery.

 

[aaron5566]

I think it’s pretty accurate. I charge my phone to 80% only and normally plug in around 30%.

It has been a month and shows 15 cycles.

 

[sjperformance]

Yes.

 

[Jackbequickly]

Off topic but is there Windows software that will do what coconut does?

 

[MapleBeercules]

My iPhone 15 Pro is 10 days old now. The battery cycle count (Settings > General > About > Battery) also says 10. And I can confirm the count showed 1 on day 1.

But how can that be if I only use about half the capacity each day on average?

Apple says partial unloading counts as a partial cycle. I charge at night and on my desk with the new 80% limit set.

View attachment 2311789

a charge cycle = 0 to 100, even if that's 10% one day and 90% another.. I can count around 6/7 cycles from the graph above. And from what I can tell its extremely reliable as its not the battery tracking the cycles but the software in the phone, this is why if you use a 3rd party battery you wont see this details..

WSJ just did a video on this

Enjoy

 

[foobarbaz]

From my understanding, iPhone always draws from battery. So any kind of activity while being plugged in may not register as “battery usage” in graph but energy is actually drawn from the battery.

I'm a bit skeptical of that theory, because it's definitely not how Mac batteries work (I have ~50 cycles after 2 years) and I don't know if you can charge and discharge a battery at the same time like that.

But if it's true, Stand By sounds like a battery killer.

a charge cycle = 0 to 100, even if that's 10% one day and 90% another.. I can count around 6/7 cycles from the graph above.

Yes, that was my understanding, it just doesn't match the numbers. If I round up generously, I get 6 cycles in the graph, and that's pretty far from 10. And the chart really covers my entire use of the phone since day 1.

So, I did notice something interesting in the overnight charging:

Even though it's connected to power, the battery drops significantly from the 80% charge limit multiple times. That's like 15% of a cycle right there. During the gaps it shows significant "Photos Background Activity" (probably face recognition).

So maybe the charger (Belkin 3-in-1 Magsafe) doesn't provide enough power for that CPU intensive task and the iPhone has to dip into the battery. I think I'll try a cable tonight to check if I see a difference.

 

[Apple_Tiger]

Off topic but is there Windows software that will do what coconut does?

Yes 3utools.

 

[EdMan]

I think it’s pretty accurate. I charge my phone to 80% only and normally plug in around 30%.

It has been a month and shows 15 cycles.

This is me exactly.

 

[Jackbequickly]

Yes 3utools.

After reading about 3utools, it gives me the creeps.

 

[sdante]

After reading about 3utools, it gives me the creeps.

I'm using iMazing in Windows.

 

[Dade Murphy]

Firstly, turn that 80% charging nonsense off.

Secondly, just enjoy your device and stop thinking about the battery. This isn’t Android, hahaha

 

[foobarbaz]

I think I'll try a cable tonight to check if I see a difference.

After two nights of using a cable and not using Stand By to show photos, the cycle count remains at 10, as expected.

I'll try the solutions individually and will report back in a few weeks or so (if anyone's interested which one was my battery killer).

 

[foobarbaz]

LOL, so cycle count stayed at 10 from my post on Monday till Sunday, then Sunday it simply skipped a number to 12.
Today it's already at 13, even though I used less than half a cycle since.

So I'm answering my question with a strong "no". The cycle count cannot be trusted. Maybe it's accurate in the long run, but whatever is displayed in the UI is just pretty imprecise.

 

[MacCheetah3]

LOL, so cycle count stayed at 10 from my post on Monday till Sunday, then Sunday it simply skipped a number to 12.
Today it's already at 13, even though I used less than half a cycle since.

So I'm answering my question with a strong "no". The cycle count cannot be trusted. Maybe it's accurate in the long run, but whatever is displayed in the UI is just pretty imprecise.

I think, your battery level obsession is getting the best of you.

This reminds me of customers angrily saying “That [t] doesn’t look right.” My response is “The cash register is doing the math.” Eventually, after the customer crudely adds rounded prices, they respond with, “I guess so.”

It’s okay to put the tin foil hat aside and just enjoy your iPhone. I saw that with comedic relief.

P.S. Despite having some flawed analytical and conclusion commentary, the following article is an informative read on the topic of accurate battery state reporting.

BU-603: How to Calibrate a “Smart” Battery

BU meta description needed...

batteryuniversity.com