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iPhone 16 Pro Max 80% Charge Limit: One Year Later, Was It Worth It?
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And even then I would figure that $79 for a new battery once in a while would prove far more worthy to me than constantly staring at a low battery.
If you are always going to limit it to 80%, what is the point of caring if its total capacity degrades. If it is at 90% health, your 80% is 72% of the original strength. If you never need more than 80%, charging to 100% until battery health is 80% will always give you more battery life...years I suspect. Why bother limit what you have for years only to trade it away at some point or just buy a $79 battery replacement...such a useless practice in my opinion.
With the iPhone 15 series, I did an experiment and kept my iPhone's Charge Limit set at 80 percent for an entire year. It provided an interesting look at the impact of charge limits on battery longevity, so I decided to repeat it for the iPhone 16 line.
Since September 2024, my iPhone 16 Pro Max has been limited to an 80 percent charge, with no cheating. As of today, my battery's maximum capacity is at 94 percent with 299 charge cycles.
With last year's test, I spent a lot of time with my battery below 20 percent. I saw some comments suggesting that draining it so low could also affect battery capacity over time, so this year, I tried hard to keep my battery between 20 and 80 percent. I wasn't always successful, but my iPhone 16 Pro Max was in that middle charge area most of the time.
You can compare your own battery health with mine, but my guess is that my 94 percent battery capacity is about average, regardless of whether charging limits are on or off. In fact, my iPhone 15 Pro Max was also at 94 percent capacity at the 12 month mark when I did this same test last year.
I did a mix of charging via MagSafe and charging with USB-C, and my iPhone 16 Pro Max can get hot when charging over MagSafe, especially with MagSafe battery packs. Since I was trying to keep above a 20 percent charge, I did more wireless charging when I was out. I can't help but wonder if heat was an issue this year.
It continued to be inconvenient limiting my iPhone battery to an 80 percent charge. It was fine when home, but if I was out and wanted to use the camera or needed GPS, it often wasn't enough battery. When you set an 80 percent charge limit, the iPhone will charge to full every so often to calibrate, and I appreciated surprise days with 20 percent extra battery.
If I had to guess, I probably had a 50/50 split between MagSafe charging and fast charging with USB-C. Most charging was indoors at around 72 degrees, but there were times when I was outdoors with a battery pack in warmer conditions.
I use my older iPhones for software tests, so my iPhone 15 Pro Max is still around. At the two year mark, its capacity is 88 percent, down from 94 percent in September 2024. It has 352 cycles, and I've kept it at the 80 percent limit.
During this year's testing, my iPhone 16 Pro Max battery was still at around 98 percent just a couple of months ago, so I thought the limit was having more of an impact, but I saw a decent drop as we got closer to September. It was even at 95 percent about a week ago, but now I'm down to 94 percent.
I now have two years of data with my iPhone limited to an 80 percent charge, and I don't think it's been worth it. My coworker who also has a 16 Pro Max did not have an 80 percent charge limit set, and his battery capacity is 96 percent with 308 charge cycles.
Maybe setting an 80 percent limit improves battery health over a longer period of time, but over a one-year period, the results have been disappointing. Setting charging to a 90 or 95 percent might make more sense.
I have upgraded to the iPhone 17 Pro Max and did already limit it to an 80 percent charge for another 12-month test. I'm interested to see how the larger battery changes things, and whether the switch to aluminum will make a difference.
What's your iPhone battery capacity and cycle count? Let me know in the comments below, and weigh in on whether you think the 80 percent charge limit is a good idea.
Article Link: iPhone 16 Pro Max 80% Charge Limit: One Year Later, Was It Worth It?
how is wireless charging "the most damaging charging method"? I use it overnight, every night, for one year and my battery health is at 100%.
I've kept my 16 PM at an 80% charge limit and usually don't charge overnight, but it sits on my MagSafe charger on my desk all day, and I'm still at 100% capacity with 223 cycles.
Why is it hilarious that people are reporting their battery stats? If you read the article the last sentence asks us to do so.
I limit to 80% charging since I got the 16 PM in May. I'm only at 92 charge cycles, and 100% BH.
I only charge to 80% because it meets my needs. If I know I'm going to be out or traveling, I switch to 100% charging. I'm not worried about degradation - batteries do wear out, so have to be practical/realistic.
I only charge to 80% because it meets my needs. If I know I'm going to be out or traveling, I switch to 100% charging. I'm not worried about degradation - batteries do wear out, so have to be practical/realistic.
I set mine to 80% and I have 92% capacity with 392 cycles. Unsure if this is worth the loss of 20% for still losing total capacity. Switch 2 also has a capability to lower the charging to 90%. So somewhere along the way more recently it was decided that devices should not be always fully charged. Maybe for game console that sits on a charging dock this makes more sense.
For anyone thinking it's worth it. Tell me what's better...
80% capacity day 1.
94% capacity 2 years in.
80% capacity day 1.
94% capacity 2 years in.
I always find it completely silly to babysit your battery so that it ages slower in the long run… what is the point really? The plan is so stupid and contradictory at best.
You are effectively babysitting your battery knowingly when it is new and at full capacity, instead of letting it age as usual and having to do it anyway naturally.
With this plan you are doing nothing but making sure that you will never enjoy the full capabilities of your battery.
Its just stupid. And on top of that it doesnt make much difference anyway apparently.
You are effectively babysitting your battery knowingly when it is new and at full capacity, instead of letting it age as usual and having to do it anyway naturally.
With this plan you are doing nothing but making sure that you will never enjoy the full capabilities of your battery.
Its just stupid. And on top of that it doesnt make much difference anyway apparently.
100%. I can't be bothered to check my battery health on the regular, or even think about it.
Just use your phone... I appreciate that someone went through the work to document and detail this, but all the posts people make about battery life on here and in the regular forums look like neuroticism or boredom in search of an outlet.
Charge your phone as you see fit, use it, recharge. Replace the battery or phone when necessary. Simple.
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Agreed. What a stupid thing to do.
Optimized Battery Charging, where it charges to 80% over night and then waits to finish it before you wake up, that is more than enough to care for the battery, and doesn't interfere with the user at all. The charge limit idea is insane. I would never purposely make my daily usage worse because of some imagined benefit years down the line. I don't even keep my phones long enough to benefit from it.
I turned in my 16 Pro Max with 297 cycles and 97% battery capacity.
16 PM. 409 cycles. Maximum capacity 93%. No idea whether it is worth it. lol
Waiting for the 17 PM since I didn't get in until 8:05am lol (2TB seems to be the slow down).
Waiting for the 17 PM since I didn't get in until 8:05am lol (2TB seems to be the slow down).
Definitely not worth it. I’ve got a 13PM that is still at 87% while my 15PM is also similar. Usage and charging for both have been similar and almost exclusively wireless charging. The 13 is my backup device so I did enable optimized charging but even that I’m not sure makes any difference. It t makes people feel better that they’re doing something but the OS is perfectly capable of managing it on its own.
I’ve been using my iPhone 16 Pro since launch. No charge limit and usually charge with MagSafe during night. I’m at 230 cycles and 98% capacity.
Reading through some of these posts makes me realize I should just change my iPhone 16 Pro Max to 100%. Been keeping it at 80%. Or I can at least keep it at 90% going forward.
I switched all of the charging limits off after the first time I woke up to an 80% charged phone and Airpods because I needed to leave earlier than the alarm was set to. Of course that was the day when I really needed all of the battery capacity. Not worth it, I'd rather replace the battery when it goes bad.
My 15 PM is at 322 cycles and 89% health, not great, not terrible.
My 15 PM is at 322 cycles and 89% health, not great, not terrible.
I pretty much always had my phone near 100% and traded it in with 100% capacity still. Got it launch day last year too. So it was heavily used.
I have my 15PM set to 95% and I have 680 cycles and it's at 86% so it doesn't seem you're seeing any benefit. the battery life sucks for a long time now on mine.