Discussing batteries on another forum made me look at my battery health. I was surprised to see my 13 mini, which is only one year and 4 months old to have a score of less than 90%. Any way to know if this is normal? If not, is there any good way to increase its life (slow down its degradation)? I’ve been using the Optimize function to charge my battery. I put it on a charger every night. I know it doesn’t charge it to 100% until just before my normal wake up time. There’s no built in option to only charge it to 80%. Maybe I should stop charging it every night. Most days I bet I could get two full days from a charge. Or, maybe I should just charge it to 80% manually, which would be a pain.
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iPhone 13 mini iPhone 13 mini battery at 89%
- Thread starter ger19
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As has been said a bunch, Apple thinks 20% loss within 2 years is within spec. You're 11% in 16 months. Perfectly normal and within spec, especially for the mini.
The internet is full of battery hacks but at the end of the day, the software can manage the battery better than you can. Just use your phone and charge your phone, knowing that batteries degrade. If it gets under 80% in two years, Apple will replace it. If not, you can pay a nominal fee.
The internet is full of battery hacks but at the end of the day, the software can manage the battery better than you can. Just use your phone and charge your phone, knowing that batteries degrade. If it gets under 80% in two years, Apple will replace it. If not, you can pay a nominal fee.
Mine is (just checked) at 90% so just a tad above yours…
Still, after 18 months I think that's reasonable.
Well within Apple's spec.
Unfortunately our Minis are getting on a bit.
Still, if it drops to being unusable I will get the battery replaced.
Edit:
I never charge it wirelessly, and I am very careful when it is wired up in the car. I blame those two things for wrecking my previous phones' batteries.
Anecdotally of course! 🙂
Just had the battery replaced after 27 months with 82%.
Used a 10 W charger most of the time during the night
Used a 10 W charger most of the time during the night
I’d never heard this before. I thought it was only warranted for 1 year. Is two years if you have Apple Care?
Apple will replace a battery at 80% but the customer will be charged for the replacement unless they have AppleCare+ coverage. No AppleCare, customer is paying for a replacement.
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Looked up cost for a new battery. $89 From Apple. I have an Apple Store near me, so not too bad.
Mine dropped to 85% after a year using optimized charging and a 5w wired charger overnight. So much for all the conventional wisdom about maximizing battery life.
Sounds about right, if I remember correctly my 11 Pro Max was at around 88% 1.5years into ownership. Sometimes they sit on a certain percentage for a very long time.
My 13 mini is 19 months and its battery health is 97 percent. I charge it to 80 percent in the evening.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/battery-replace.2381787/post-31990449 [Feb 24, 2023]
Look at the numbers above and you will know why the battery health show up 100% for a long time then suddenly decrease after some time... Yes, the thread is about iPhone 13 mini, however, I'm just sharing relevant information since battery health is the topic...
Yep, indeed. But it can also sit at other % for a long time, my 11 Pro Max sat at 88% for many months.
As long as your battery still gets you through a day, I would not be too concerned about that health number.
I'm one of these guys who wants his battery life to stay at 100%.
I've got my 13pro max in October, 2021.
Things I do:
- turn off the phone every single night
- charge my phone at my work laptop or in the car (it's like 5w of power?)
- charge to 80-90% (it was at 100% battery charge for like 10 times since 2021)
- never use wireless charging
I had 100% battery life for like 12 months straight.
Today, I got only 91% left. I remember when I checked the battery life and it was like 94%. Last time I checked it was at 100%.
So I think my effort was nothing. I don't think a typical use would've dropped my battery life to significantly less battery life.
I'm kinda like a nerd to this battery life thing. It hurts me to see my phone at 100%, because I think it kills the battery. Same with my electric scooter.
But I can't say, that it was worth it.
Happy to discuss.
I've got my 13pro max in October, 2021.
Things I do:
- turn off the phone every single night
- charge my phone at my work laptop or in the car (it's like 5w of power?)
- charge to 80-90% (it was at 100% battery charge for like 10 times since 2021)
- never use wireless charging
I had 100% battery life for like 12 months straight.
Today, I got only 91% left. I remember when I checked the battery life and it was like 94%. Last time I checked it was at 100%.
So I think my effort was nothing. I don't think a typical use would've dropped my battery life to significantly less battery life.
I'm kinda like a nerd to this battery life thing. It hurts me to see my phone at 100%, because I think it kills the battery. Same with my electric scooter.
But I can't say, that it was worth it.
Happy to discuss.
You're lucky (or not) to have even gotten optimized charging to work. Did for me the first 4 months and then became a historical event afterwards.
swingerofbirch
macrumors 68040
Mine's at 83%.
I got chocolate in the lightning port and have had to use wireless charging which made the battery take a hit even faster.
Gets super hot and can't charge to 100% in one go. It keeps saying iPhone has to return to normal temperature before charging can resume.
I got the 13 mini the summer before last. I guess around 18 months?
I got chocolate in the lightning port and have had to use wireless charging which made the battery take a hit even faster.
Gets super hot and can't charge to 100% in one go. It keeps saying iPhone has to return to normal temperature before charging can resume.
I got the 13 mini the summer before last. I guess around 18 months?
Of course. The battery is a tribological part.
It wears out after a certain time.
What did you expect? An immortal battery?
FWIW, my 12 mini went from a 100% to 84% within about six months, but then stayed at that mark for another two years of active use. I charged it overnight every single night with Apple’s original 5W charger with optimised charging enabled. You can get a better idea of how well your battery is doing by checking it with CoconutBattery, a small Mac app.
My 13 mini did the same thing as many others, dropping fairly quickly to about 88% then holding there for a long time. I should boot it back up and check again to see if it's still there, wouldn't surprise me to find that it's still in the same range. It's over 2 years old now as I purchased it shortly after it launched.
Not all batteries are created equally (manufacturing)... but Id say your battery looks to be doing pretty well for its age and within "expectations".
Of course the degradation will depend on so many factors...
There's the way you use the iPhone... heavy battery draining apps? Screen brightness? Phone signal? Using cellular or WifI?
Where you use it... such as in extreme cold or heat, is it left in a hot car often?
The way you charge it? wireless or wired, do you do small frequent charges or one long one overnight... do you use optimised charging?
etc etc
It's complex and a mixture of cycling, charge/discharge characteristics, environmental conditions and the inevitable passage of time (basically the battery degrades whether you use it or not).
But of course Apple know about all this.. and their onboard electronics and software/firmware do a lot of things behind the scenes to get the best compromise of longevity to function while you use it. So at the end of the day, just use it for what it is made to do... and don't worry about the health indicator unless you notice its not performing well, or you're near the end of Apple Care and get that battery replacement. In the worst case you can buy a battery replacement service from Apple and it is fantastic value and will likely add years more to the devices life. So I wouldn't worry about it.
Of course the degradation will depend on so many factors...
There's the way you use the iPhone... heavy battery draining apps? Screen brightness? Phone signal? Using cellular or WifI?
Where you use it... such as in extreme cold or heat, is it left in a hot car often?
The way you charge it? wireless or wired, do you do small frequent charges or one long one overnight... do you use optimised charging?
etc etc
It's complex and a mixture of cycling, charge/discharge characteristics, environmental conditions and the inevitable passage of time (basically the battery degrades whether you use it or not).
But of course Apple know about all this.. and their onboard electronics and software/firmware do a lot of things behind the scenes to get the best compromise of longevity to function while you use it. So at the end of the day, just use it for what it is made to do... and don't worry about the health indicator unless you notice its not performing well, or you're near the end of Apple Care and get that battery replacement. In the worst case you can buy a battery replacement service from Apple and it is fantastic value and will likely add years more to the devices life. So I wouldn't worry about it.
The problem with allowing it to get too low is that the percentage reported doesnt just mean you have whatever % left of the original capacity etc its a rough guide to overall deterioration based on what total charge the battery can take.
You might find that by the time battery health is really falling, that the iPhone warns you with a message stating that the battery no longer supports optimal performance. Such as the battery cutting out unexpectedly during high processor usage, screen brightness etc.
I think the 80 % thing is just an industry standard thing... a useful cut off point... many companies use it... like they say battery can last 500 charge discharge cycles before hitting 80 % battery health etc etc
Sometimes the battery health stabilises at a certain value and goes many many cycles before dropping further. As I said in previous post, not all batteries are made equally.
Id say in terms of safety and useful function... if it's dropping to 70 % and keeps going I'd just get it replaced. It's a phone and its better to know its working well than keep pushing it, and have it fail on you in an emergency.