Completely understand your point and agree. But also thinking if it’s not on the front page, I never see it. I’m glad I did because I found it and my own usage informative.
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iPhone 16 Pro Max 80% Charge Limit: One Year Later, Was It Worth It?
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iPhone 16 pro, 85% limit, 263 cycles, 99% health. I’ll leave it on.
iPhone 16 Pro
used for 1 year, alwats charged to 100%
Current capacity 96%
Cycles: 214
So, from my experience limiting charge to 80% not worth it.
used for 1 year, alwats charged to 100%
Current capacity 96%
Cycles: 214
So, from my experience limiting charge to 80% not worth it.
I've had my 16 Pro since launch and battery health is still at 100%. I fully charge with no limits every night using MagSafe at 195 cycles.
I will say that even though my battery health is still at 100% my actual battery life is down by about 15% since installing iOS26. I installed it over a week ago so indexing shouldn't be an issue at this point. The suspicious side of me wonders if the battery life was reduced to make it closer to the Air for marketing purposes but probably a coincidence.
I will say that even though my battery health is still at 100% my actual battery life is down by about 15% since installing iOS26. I installed it over a week ago so indexing shouldn't be an issue at this point. The suspicious side of me wonders if the battery life was reduced to make it closer to the Air for marketing purposes but probably a coincidence.
You know you can just change the battery, right? You don't need to change the whole phone.
An iPhone should last 4-6 years, with one or two new batteries. My upgrade path was 5>8>15pro. That's 4 years on the 5, and 6 years on the 8. I only upgraded because the 8 stopped getting software updates, but I still use the phone as an external monitor for my Osmo Pocket.
My 15pro is at 381 charge cycles (all USB), and still at 89% capacity. I have a 20W power plug. I always charge to 100% and never use magsafe.
But I also turn on all the accessibility options to reduce battery drain, like reduce motion, disabling background app refresh, and limiting the screen refresh rate. That way I don't need to charge as much because my battery never drops below 20%.
It extends the life of the battery a little, but even if it doesn't, I can just change the battery because that is the consumable, not the phone.
The real question is: Why don't they allow setting it to 110% or 120%?
With my 16 pro max I set the charging limit to 85% and I constantly found myself in the red. I’m at 93% with 312 cycle count. Was it worth it. No lol I’m cranking this limit to 100 cause I need to charge my phone several times a day.
Silly question that may have been asked and aswered but, doesn't Apple make their chargers responsible for following the batteries charging rules. No human intervention necessary.
2 years on my 15 Pro Max still 100%, 80% charge limit since day one, 145 cycles. I charge nightly with an old iPad 10W charger, and do not use social media.
This is by far the best performing battery I've had ever and this is my 10th iPhone.
This is by far the best performing battery I've had ever and this is my 10th iPhone.
Here to say my 15 pro max is also at 88% with zero regard for charging habits. You can skip this one girls
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?
96% capacity at 291 cycles. I don't limit anything and just charge it whenever I feel like for however long I want. Plus, I have 20% more battery capacity to use than people who limit it to 80%. I never understood this. You're preserving your battery by losing 20% of the capacity. So day 1, it's like your phone is at 80% battery health. Doesn't that completely defeat the purpose? Even after 2 or 3 years, my phones have always been above 80% doing nothing. What is the point?
16PM. I use the Optimized Battery Charging feature, not sure if that helps preserve battery health at all (I would love to know if any of you know), and I’m at 100% capacity after a year of use. Charge nightly via MagSafe, some midday USB-C charging mixing in during the day.
Yeah, you've artificially given yourself a phone with 85% battery health.
My 16 Pro was a day 1 purchase. I’ve always had the 80% limit set except for rare occasions when I disabled it for a day for max capacity.
It normally sits on my desk at work on a MagSafe charger so it spends most of the day at or near 80% battery. It’s in good health but I’m sure annoyed at how fast the battery drops when I take it off the charger. Tempted to upgrade to a 17 Pro even though they’re the ugliest iPhones in years.
It normally sits on my desk at work on a MagSafe charger so it spends most of the day at or near 80% battery. It’s in good health but I’m sure annoyed at how fast the battery drops when I take it off the charger. Tempted to upgrade to a 17 Pro even though they’re the ugliest iPhones in years.
Every year I have a 100% for almost 7 months then it slowly goes to 96 and by September I’m at 92.
No matter what, 80% limit, adaptive charging, no difference.
I am 100% convinced it’s a pure play to get people to upgrade. I personally sell my phone in September every year to get the most money out of it, but many people are asking about the battery health, which I think it a pure bogus metrics.
Planned obsolescence.
No matter what, 80% limit, adaptive charging, no difference.
I am 100% convinced it’s a pure play to get people to upgrade. I personally sell my phone in September every year to get the most money out of it, but many people are asking about the battery health, which I think it a pure bogus metrics.
Planned obsolescence.
16P, with max charge set at 85% - have had it almost exactly 1 year (just shy of). Occasionally bump to 100 when necessary.
But... almost never wireless charge.
I wireless charged my last iPhone, an XS, almost exclusively for the first year (overnight). The battery saw a precipitous drop in capacity over the first 270 days. I decided to only wireless charge this new phone when absolutely necessary. Even the very odd occasion where I put this 16P on a wireless charger, it gets VERY hot.
I haven't checked the battery health until I saw this article today and wondered what it was at.
But... almost never wireless charge.
I wireless charged my last iPhone, an XS, almost exclusively for the first year (overnight). The battery saw a precipitous drop in capacity over the first 270 days. I decided to only wireless charge this new phone when absolutely necessary. Even the very odd occasion where I put this 16P on a wireless charger, it gets VERY hot.
I haven't checked the battery health until I saw this article today and wondered what it was at.
I'm on a 16 Pro, and I limit my charge to 80% with a mix of USB and MagSafe (mostly USB). I use about 50% of the battery during the day, ending around 30% or so. After 10 months, I'm at 100% battery health with 173 cycles.
My revelation from this thread? You all use your phones a lot more than I do. 🤣
My revelation from this thread? You all use your phones a lot more than I do. 🤣
My 13 mini doesn't allow a charge limit so I've been manually trying to keep it between 40% and 80% for years (of course I often go over or under).
Can confirm it hasn't really been worth it for me either, I've seen about the same battery degradation you'd expect from normal charging.
Can confirm it hasn't really been worth it for me either, I've seen about the same battery degradation you'd expect from normal charging.
iPhone 15 Plus
80% max charge since I bought it in January 2024
95% Battery Health
388 Cycle Count
80% max charge since I bought it in January 2024
95% Battery Health
388 Cycle Count
I am pretty happy with my 15 Pro Max. Set to 80% since the day I got it and it spends most of its days plugged in running off of wall power not consuming any battery cycles. Yes, this is a 2 year old phone (launch day 15 Pro Max). Still heavily over-provisioned from the factory just like the day I got it. I try to avoid wireless charging due to the heat.
Such a light user that I'm lucky to use 20% of my battery per day even on heavy days so this works for me. I definitely think 80% helps, but only because of my usage. AKA not worth it for most people.
100% agree. That's how it should be in my opinion.
Ever since the iPhone 14 Pro? or 15 Pro? the phone can run off wall power - not touching the battery and not use any cycles. The old iOS 18 battery meter - I could run for a week without touching any battery usage because I leave it plugged in so much. That explains your low cycles. And I think it just depends on how hot the phone gets - because I use 40-67 w chargers for my phone, but it rarely discharges so it never gets hot.
Such a light user that I'm lucky to use 20% of my battery per day even on heavy days so this works for me. I definitely think 80% helps, but only because of my usage. AKA not worth it for most people.
100% agree. That's how it should be in my opinion.
100% it is luck of the draw. Before the charge limit option, I used my phones the same way - kept them plugged in, mostly at 100% and they still had 100% health after 2 years. A few dropped despite same usage, most stayed at 100%.
Ever since the iPhone 14 Pro? or 15 Pro? the phone can run off wall power - not touching the battery and not use any cycles. The old iOS 18 battery meter - I could run for a week without touching any battery usage because I leave it plugged in so much. That explains your low cycles. And I think it just depends on how hot the phone gets - because I use 40-67 w chargers for my phone, but it rarely discharges so it never gets hot.
Here is 16 Pro Max with no limits and almost entirely charged on MagSafe. I would say it was not worth it.
