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Force Apple Watch to charge only to 80%

Shasterball

Shasterball

Suspended
Original poster
Oct 19, 2007
1,177
751
This may sound silly, but I’ve never been able to get my Apple Watches to charge to ONLY 80%. My series 7 always charged to 100%, no matter where I was, and even though I had optimized charging on. My UW2 is the same way. With my UW2, the battery is so big that, for most days, an 80% charge is way more than I need.

So my question is - is there any way to force it to charge only to 80%? Is there something I can do to nudge the software? When I look online, I see people asking for the opposite (they want to force a 100% charge).

Thanks!
 
Just check you have Optimised Charging set.
Click Crown > Settings > Battery > Battery Health > Optimised Charge Limit (on).

You can tap the battery widget when on charge to change it full charge for one instance.
 
Pug72 said:
Just check you have Optimised Charging set.
Click Crown > Settings > Battery > Battery Health > Optimised Charge Limit (on).

You can tap the battery widget when on charge to change it full charge for one instance.
Click to expand...
Agree. The weird thing is that I have had optimized charging on for years, but it’s always charged to 100%. I can’t figure out the issue.
 
Do you charge it on a regular cycle? I found when I'm at home and charge it each night before bed the 80% works well. But when I'm traveling and I charge it less predictably, then it goes back to 100% and keeps at it for a while even when I return to normal.

But to answer your question, to my knowledge there is no way to force limit it.
 
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I have the same issue than the one described.
My Watch Ultra 1 offered me this “option” perhaps 5 times since I have it (Oct 2022).
Usually, and even if “Optimized battery” is on, it charges my Watch Ultra up to 100%.
Weird…
 

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poorcody said:
Do you charge it on a regular cycle? I found when I'm at home and charge it each night before bed the 80% works well. But when I'm traveling and I charge it less predictably, then it goes back to 100% and keeps at it for a while even when I return to normal.

But to answer your question, to my knowledge there is no way to force limit it.
Click to expand...
What I thought too… Until yesterday night… Same bedroom as usual…
 

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It takes multiple days of putting it on the charger and removing from the charger at consistent times before it kicks in. Even when it does it will occasionally still charge to 100% to keep the battery calibrated.

There are “some” who never see it work but most do if the charge at the same time everyday.
 
Interestingly since 10.5 my watch has been charging to 80% each night. It’s set to optimized charging. At night instead of holding at 80% it seems to charge to 80% then stop and then Wait till it hits 70% before charging back to 80%.
 
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minimo3 said:
Interestingly since 10.5 my watch has been charging to 80% each night. It’s set to optimized charging. At night instead of holding at 80% it seems to charge to 80% then stop and then Wait till it hits 70% before charging back to 80%.
Click to expand...
I charge my Watch Ultra every evening at the same time. I’ve seen this feature 5 times I think since I got it (Oct 2022). The last occurrence was 2 days ago. Now, no more. Perhaps a feature which appears from time to time to calibrate the watch?
 
Fun fact. Since my first message, my Watch Ultra is charging only at 80%, as it was supposed to do...
I’m happy with this as I charge it every evening before sleeping...
Jackbequickly said:
It matters as it is required to get the 80% feature to work . . . . .
Click to expand...
Didn’t know this fact. It looks to be working since it is toggled now. Thanks for the tip!
 
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I am having the same issue since 10.5 on a Watch 9. I have tried the various suggestions with varying success. The tapping on the charge icon seems to have worked this morning but it is a pain. Have not had this issue before the update to 10.5.
 
denver67 said:
I am having the same issue since 10.5 on a Watch 9. I have tried the various suggestions with varying success. The tapping on the charge icon seems to have worked this morning but it is a pain. Have not had this issue before the update to 10.5.
Click to expand...

Bruno de Malaisie said:
Fun fact. Since my first message, my Watch Ultra is charging only at 80%, as it was supposed to do...
I’m happy with this as I charge it every evening before sleeping...

Didn’t know this fact. It looks to be working since it is toggled now. Thanks for the tip!
Click to expand...
 
Bruno de Malaisie said:
I charge my Watch Ultra every evening at the same time. I’ve seen this feature 5 times I think since I got it (Oct 2022). The last occurrence was 2 days ago. Now, no more. Perhaps a feature which appears from time to time to calibrate the watch?
Click to expand...
Yes, I read that with optimized charging it will occasionally charge to 100% to calibrate the battery and assess the battery capacity.
 
If you toggle “Significant locations” in settings, it’ll charge your Watch at 80%. I didn’t know this trick. Happy to learn about it. Happy to share it with you!
 
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“Significant Locations” is a MUST if you want the 80% charge limit to work. That and patience.
 
The 80% limit is not a feature that is currently available on any Apple Watch and is a feature available exclusively to the iPhone 15 series as well as the new iPad Air and Pro:

www.macrumors.com

New iPad Air and iPad Pro Feature Battery Health Menu Including Cycle Count and 80% Charging Limit Option

Apple's latest iPad Air and iPad Pro models feature a new Battery Health menu in the Settings app that is not available on older iPads, and which...
www.macrumors.com www.macrumors.com

Here is an Apple support document regarding optimized charging on the Apple Watch:

About Optimized Battery Charging on your Apple Watch - Apple Support

With Optimized Battery Charging, your Apple Watch learns from your daily charging habits to improve the lifespan of your battery. And supported Apple Watch models offer additional battery charge optimizations with Optimized Charge Limit.
support.apple.com support.apple.com

Hopefully Apple includes the 80% charge limit in the Series 10 when they announce it in September
 
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