iOS 14.5 Will Recalibrate iPhone 11 Batteries to Fix Battery Health Bug

[MacRumors]

Apple's iOS 14.5 beta that's currently in testing introduces a new process for recalibrating the battery health reporting on the iPhone 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max.

As outlined in a support document, Apple says that the update will recalibrate the maximum battery capacity and peak performance capacity on the iPhone 11 models to address inaccurate estimates of battery health reporting that some users have encountered.

Symptoms of this bug include unexpected battery drain behavior or in some cases, reduced peak performance capability. Apple says that the inaccurate battery health reporting does not reflect an issue with actual battery health.

Once the update is installed, iPhone 11 users will see a message in Settings > Battery > Battery Health about the recalibration process, which Apple says might take a few weeks.

Recalibration of maximum capacity and peak performance capability happens during regular charge cycles, and this process might take a few weeks. The displayed maximum capacity percentage will not change during recalibration. Peak performance capability might be updated, but this might not be noticeable by most users. If a previous degraded battery message was displayed, this message will be removed after updating to iOS 14.5.

When the recalibration is complete, the maximum capacity percentage and peak performance capability information will be updated. If the recalibration indicates that battery health has indeed significantly declined, users will see a battery service message.

In some cases, recalibration may not be successful and a battery service message will pop up. Apple says that it will replace these affected batteries free of charge to restore full performance and capacity.

Article Link: iOS 14.5 Will Recalibrate iPhone 11 Batteries to Fix Battery Health Bug

 

[now i see it]

So that's why there's 10,000 "my battery health just dropped 5% in a day" threads in the iPhone forum

 

[subi257]

I am hoping this will be a good thing....can't make it worse...can it?

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

I hope this is a good thing. Apple really needs to invest it’s time on batteries.

 

[jaisonline]

So this is only for iPhone 11 and not 11 Pro models?

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Is there a way to force this process to happen for non-iPhone 11 devices? At around 50% battery, my SE can drop 5% a minute, and then hang out at 13%-26% for hours.

But it still has 86% overall health.

 

[munpip214]

I thought I had a bad battery with my XS as it was down to 84% capacity after 2.5 years, but then I checked cycle count and it was 850. Batteries are rated to 80% after 500 cycles so it is doing well. I wish Apple would just show cycle count in the settings instead of having to find some debug tool on the computer. Apparently, though, iPhone 11 batteries should be better than that being a year newer. iPhone 12 is not supported with this, it seems, but they shouldn't have battery issues yet.

edit: 500 not 1000 cycles.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

So this is only for iPhone 11 and not 11 Pro models?

Skip the headline and read the first sentence of the article.

 

[tranceking26]

Interesting... maybe it explains why my 11 went from 100% to 97% in a fairly short period of time.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Is there a way to force this process to happen for non-iPhone 11 devices? At around 50% battery, my SE can drop 5% a minute, and then hang out at 13%-26% for hours.

But it still has 86% overall health.

This is product-specific, likely to address a specific flaw in the iPhone 11/11 Pro/11 Pro Max hardware/firmware. Presumably, that flaw does not exist in other models, so the fix cannot be applied to them.

 

[seinman]

Interesting... maybe it explains why my 11 went from 100% to 97% in a fairly short period of time.

My 11 Pro is down to 88% after a year and a half, which is shocking to me because I've never gotten below 95% on any previous phone after two years. I haven't changed my use or charging habits at all. Maybe this explains it.

 

[Glideslope]

I am hoping this will be a good thing....can't make it worse...can it?

Never say never. It’s Apple. I’d like to know why it’s 11 specific?

 

[PilotWoo]

Mine is losing 1% health every two weeks

 

[JosephAW]

Been at 98% forever and it’s a year old. Wondering if it will drop after the update.

 

[Homme]

Interesting that SE second Gen have this despite them all being new phones at that time with A13

 

[Drogba11]

I hope this is a good thing. Apple really needs to invest it’s time on batteries.

What does this even mean? ?

 

[JPack]

I thought I had a bad battery with my XS as it was down to 84% capacity after 2.5 years, but then I checked cycle count and it was 850. Batteries are rated to 80% after 1000 cycles so it seems fairly close. I wish Apple would just show cycle count in the settings instead of having to find some debug tool on the computer. Apparently, though, iPhone 11 batteries should be better than that being a year newer. iPhone 12 is not supported with this, it seems, but they shouldn't have battery issues yet.

It's 500 cycles, not 1,000.

 

[djc6]

Interesting - my 11 Pro since iOS 14 goes through the battery quickly - then will run on 1% forever, hours.

 

[Allthings-I]

Mines at 84% after just 1 year and my average screen time is only 5 hours per day....I am in disbelief because my old XR I had for 2.5 years was still at 88%....called Apple and they said it was “normal”. I have about 350 cycles on battery.

 

[JPack]

Interesting that SE second Gen have this despite them all being new phones at that time with A13

The actual battery pack is from iPhone 8. That's where the battery gauge chip is located.

 

[Corsig]

My battery has been draining like crazy fast the last month or so. I used to get through the work day at 60% left now I'll bet at 40% before I even know it

 

[bsbeamer]

I thought this was tied to a contact tracing bug/glitch after an update, but good to see it should hopefully be addressed. Was having to charge mid-day every day for the past several weeks to make it through the day. Never was an issue before that.

 

[Caliblood]

Only the 11 series? My 6S would last all day on iOS 12. As soon as I uograded to 14.1, I now have to charge AT LEAST twice a day. I would have believed it was the battery aging but it’s only 2 years old from Apple. And the problem happened immediatly after upgrading to iOS 14.

i already shut off all GPS related things such as the Covid tracing.

 

[IG88]

It's 500 cycles, not 1,000.

What is your source for that?

Edit: Nevermind, the source is Apple.

Batteries - Service and Recycling

Learn about battery service and recycling for Apple devices. All rechargeable batteries need to be serviced eventually.

www.apple.com

iPhone Owners
Your battery is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity at 500 complete charge cycles.

 

[Cosmosent]

I think this is an important issue worth monitoring moving forward.