iPhone 16 Pro Max 80% Charge Limit: One Year Later, Was It Worth It?

[kevine]

I'm at 98% with 293 cycles with my 16 Pro Max obtained on launch day.

I've only charged via MagSafe, and have it set to full charge.

I get a new iPhone each year trading in my 2 year old iPhone and using my 1 year old iPhone as a backup. So my usage is absolutely just fine.

I think a lot of people don't realize that going over 80% isn't as bad as they think, especially if they don't stay over 80% for long and they do this as opposed to going under 20%. I very rarely go under 20%, not out of effort to save health, but due to not wanting to run out.

 

[richard4339]

I’m at 95%/367 cycles on a 16 Pro with it set to 90%

 

[rodavilla]

Interesting. I am not saying it doesn't slightly improve battery life, but for people upgrading to a new iPhone every year, I don't think it's as big of a deal as those who hold onto their iPhone's for for several years before upgrading.

I guess if you are on something like the IUP then it's not a big deal. But if you go 3 or 4 years in between upgrade cycles than I could see it being very useful.

 

[mmacrumor]

iPhone 15 pro max before selling it.
Mostly MagSafe charger
Never limited
Has optimized charging on
Charge daily overnight on a 40w charger
Ran iOS 18 beta and iOS 26 beta

 

[mxrider88]

Lots of people reporting here how their battery is still close 100% after a year or so.

You can get the battery replaced at thousands of authorised service points all over the world. In addition, there are lots of non-authorised ones.

You can also order the replacement from Apple. A courier will pick the phone up and bring it back after a few days.

This has got nothing to do with planned obsolescence. If your battery has degraded by a few percentage points it won’t affect the usability of the device in practice.

If you don’t want to get the battery replaced (why?) then just buy a $20 power bank and juice up a bit while on the go.

For $200 aud? No thanks!
Or from a random shop in a shopping centre? Also no thanks.

I get discounted prices for new iPhones so I am better off replacing it yearly. But this is 100% planned obsolescence.
Just got the fact that they put a metric for it so people like me sell the phone before if goes to 85% and becomes unsellable.
It won’t affect the usage but it will affect the market value.

 

[julesme]

iOS says I still have 100% battery capacity after a year of "80% charge limit" and 234 cycles on my iPhone 16 Pro (pre-ordered and began using it on release day). This doesn't seem possible; should I trust that it still actually has 100% capacity?

A few other notes: 1) I never use MagSafe charging; 2) I don't leave phone plugged in overnight (state of charge is usually around 60-78% overnight); 3) I never leave phone plugged in for long periods of time, so it's usually BELOW 80%; and 4) state of charge has rarely (if ever) dipped below 20%; and 5) I did (rarely) charge to 85-90% ahead of expected heavy use while traveling, but this was infrequent.

My conclusion is that max "80% charge limit" was worth it. Does anyone else still have 100% capacity?

 

[dpace32]

15 Pro Max, 83% Max Capacity - always charge to 100% and most of the time on a magsafe...

 

[SnacksGU]

So, let’s say I keep my phone for 4 years. In order to protect the battery life of my phone, i have to limit the device battery endurance by 20% per day over this period. And this every day - probably running out of juice several times because I forgot a power bank when I was out and about. And all this to keep the max battery capacity after the 2nd or 3rd year above 80% - but one will use only 80% anyway. Hmmm, better use the battery to the max during the life time and then it’s probably time to upgrade anyway.

My 13 Max Pro is now just over 3 years old. And the max battery capacity dropped recently 80 %. So, right now, after 3 years, I am limited to 80% from now on only. And if had charged to 80% from day one, I would have limited EVERY DAY from day 1… not sure, if I see the sense in all this.

13 Pro (first moth it was released) owner here. 90% MagSafe charging, throw it on the MagSafe charger every night, all night. Battery capacity 81% and I live in a very hot and humid climate (house is almost always 86F). My experience says, just use it.

 

[JCCL]

iPhone 16 Pro Max. I work from home primarily, so those days limit is always at 85%. When I know I’m going to be out for prolonged time or during travel I always charge it to 100%. 240 cycles later, battery is still at 100%. Doing that with my new 17 Pro Max and iPad Pro M4, which has the hidden menu from the iPhones to limit in 5% increments.

 

[bigglow]

I 5W or 12W USB-A slow charge overnight or at office to 90%. Will be swapping my 16 Pro Max with a 18 Pro Max when available.

 

[Boeingfan]

I'll throw my stat's in for the sake of the discussion; my i16PM says battery health normal, maximum capacity 99%, cycle count 195, manufacture date July 2024, first use September 2024.

 

[BigMcGuire]

iOS says I still have 100% battery capacity after a year of "80% charge limit" and 234 cycles on my iPhone 16 Pro (pre-ordered and began using it on release day). This doesn't seem possible; should I trust that it still actually has 100% capacity?

It's because they come over provisioned from the factory (103% or 104%, etc) - so Apple just shows 100% - you can use an app like coconutBattery on your Mac to find out how much health it actually has (pulling from the phone's own diagnostics) - but that's how some phones stay 100% for a long long time. I also believe the 80% limit helps a bit too.

 

[insomniac86]

*goes into battery settings, sets back to 100% charging*

 

[MICHAELSD]

View attachment 2558149

Crossed 300 cycles at 100% health on my 16 Pro Max. I had it set to 90% charge limit since new, and only a few times have I manually charged to 100% when needed. Best battery of any phone I've ever had.

Wired or wireless charging? I’m curious which has greater impact: charging to 80-90%, or charging solely with a wire. Wireless has been such a quality of life improvement.

 

[st7891]

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?

Don't kill me, but I've been using my iPhone 15 Pro Max for two years, with no limitation when charging, and I think this is pretty reasonable for how "irresponsible" I've been to the battery/phone.

My cycle count is probably very high, but 86% I think it is not bad at all.

 

[MICHAELSD]

Idea: setting for charge limit of 80% at home, no charge limit when out and about.

If I’m charging at home, I can more so get away with limiting to 80% of charge. If I’m charging in my car, that additional battery is going to be more necessary.

 

[teh_hunterer]

I've always found this to be quite deranged. "I'm so worried about my battery losing 10% capacity over two years that I'm going to artificially use the device as if it has already lost 40% of its capacity".

How so many people seem to have fallen into this type of thinking baffles me.

I never say this, but some people seriously need to touch grass.

 

[Woodcrest64]

I have a 16 Pro and I charge my up to 95%. Currently my battery health is at 99%. Though there are other factors that degrade battery life like heat due to performance heavy apps, hot weather, cases insulating the phone while in hot temps due to anmb temps or direct sunlight etc.



I don’t game on my phone. I’m a fairly light user in terms the apps I use, email, text, Twitter, etc. I usually take my case off at home.

 

[diamornte]

Never had this setting on. My 16 Pro Max right now is at 100% battery health at 192 cycles. I guess I am not a heavy user like most...

 

[M1_and_beyond]

iPhone 15 Pro Max [602 cycles, 91%]
I do the 80% limit, never MagSafe charge, try to use 12-30W chargers. I always have chargers around, but if I were to be away from outlets often I would just charge to 100% and replace the battery. 17 Air just plan on replacing at 12-18mos, for example.

 

[ImAlwaysRight]

iPhone 16 Pro, manufactured Oct 2024, first use Nov 2024. I charge up to 95% nightly using MagSafe charging, occasionally plug in while using CarPlay. 189 cycle count. 100% maxiimum capacity!!!!! Battery health "Normal." Wow, that's remarkable.

 

[zenmacx]

Sharing my experience, with vast numbers of battery powered Apple iPhones, iPads, PowerBooks, MacBooks, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air laptops and other devices over many years.

My experience reveals that overall Apple does an exemplary job with all of these. Which is not to say they've all been trouble free but the big picture has been excellent.

And then Apple introduced "Battery Health"
Part factual "data collection" nicely displayed in Settings and part "marketing tool"

Initially drawn in by a genuine desire to learn and deploy good charging habits and to maximize battery life I read all the material Apple published regarding the topic. Now being all-in it was easy to obsess over the details and results. Often not enjoyable.

Fast forward to the present, I've learned to just charge it and forget it. The end results are nearly the same no matter how much attention charging is given as long as one understands the basics.

I've found that even if I do have to have a battery replacement performed the Apple Store is fast reliable and reasonably priced.

 

[tomekwsrod]

The difference I notinced over a 3-5 years between two phones is ~ 2-5% of less battery wear if used in more or less similar conditions.

 

[segfaultdotorg]

Still waiting for this Apple iCharge Pro functionality to be implemented on my iPhone Pro 13!

 

[TinyMito]

My iPhone 16 Pro Max, bought very nearly a year ago ("First use: October 2024"), has been on this 80% limit the whole time. Maximum Capacity is still at 100%

I think probably because my normal usage is light enough that even with that charging limit it almost never falls very low - say, below 20% - by the time I put it back on charge at the end of the day, so it's well suited to my lifestyle. On a couple of occasions I had a busier than normal day and nearly ran flat before getting home - it was predictable though and I should have forced a charge to 100% at the start of those days. But those were the exception. Even then I didn't actually run flat; when I noticed it was getting low I stopped doomscrolling on the train and put it on low power mode. (I think the continual seeking for base stations (often not finding them) during the train journey was probably the real drain.)

So the lesson might be: Do it, if your normal usage is light enough that you're not skating close to running flat all the time; because if you are, that's probably doing as much or more harm than just letting it charge to full and having more left in the tank by the end of the day.

edit, as others are listing it: 145 cycles. Very light compared to most of you lot 😉

Finally someone explain this is not worthless. Same here my daily usage from 80% down to 50% when I get home at 5pm. So it never hits the red and never overcharged to 100%.

I can increase to limit to 100% when I knew or plan on big day activities and the device will ask me with option “Allow until tomorrow” that it will set back down to 80% limit.

I think this is great feature need a full battery boost when I need the most for heavy day and back to light day mode.

In my opinion keep topping at 100% daily that at the end of the day will only ends up 65-70 % batteryeft does more harm. Battery doesn’t like to be 100% charged and also too low.