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Other iPhone Battery Life Preservation - Keep it connected to a charger all day, or not?

N

NathanDrake

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 14, 2020
44
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The battery life on my iPhone 6S is so bad I just keep it connected all day long. I am about to get an iPhone 12 and wonder if this is a bad idea, or if it it really even matters?

I am mostly at work and at home where I can keep it connected mostly all the time if I wanted, but is this a bad idea? Should I only really charge it at night or as needed?
 
You shouldn't leave your phone plugged in all the time. In the long term it's bad for the battery. Just use it normally and charge it when you need to.

I charge my XR when I need to and it's at 99% health after two years.
 
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The battery will age faster if you keep it topped up over a long period of time.

That's why the "optimized" charging was introduced for the iPhone. It will wait to charge to 100% until shortly before you usually take it off the charger in the morning.

Most electric car makers also advise you to only charge to about 80% in day to day use unless you know you will be driving a long distance the next day, for the same reason.
 
I keep my XS Max on a wireless charger almost all day at work and the battery health is at 86% after 2 years. Not sure if that’s good or bad but take it for what it is.
 
Apple has a page with battery advice. I’d go there before believing a group of strangers but that’s just me.
 
I have an iPhone 11 Pro that is now 1 year old. I keep it on a wireless charger on my desk at work all day, it's essentially always charging, and my battery health is still 100%. There are a lot of factors that go into battery degradation over time, but no matter what you do it's going to happen as your phone begins to age.
 
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Nozuka said:
The battery will age faster if you keep it topped up over a long period of time.

That's why the "optimized" charging was introduced for the iPhone. It will wait to charge to 100% until shortly before you usually take it off the charger in the morning.

Most electric car makers also advise you to only charge to about 80% in day to day use unless you know you will be driving a long distance the next day, for the same reason.
Click to expand...

Still can't believe "optimized" charging doesn't have an option to stop charging at 80%.
 
NathanDrake said:
So basically I should keep my battery in the 20-80% zone?

don’t charge to 100%?
Click to expand...

Battery experts say pretty much that. 30-80% is best for long term health. But if you need to go to 100 to get through your day then that’s what you should do. Deep discharges are the worst for the battery as well. And if you do charge to 100 get it off as soon as you can. Letting it sit at 100 is supposedly not ideal either. I can get through a work day charging my (non-i) Phone chafing to about 80 or just below. And I just top it up to the 50 range if I need to when I get home and start my routine again in the morning.
 
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Depends on how long you plan on keeping the phone. If you get a new phone every couple of years, maybe 3, then just charge at night with a low watt wired charger. No need to live like the battery has lost 50% by staying in the 30-80% range to save the battery from going to 85% health when you get rid of it.

For long term keepers you could get a plug timer to have charger cut off around 85-90% at night. Would be trial and error based on typical usage to get some more cycles out of it.
 
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Supra Mac said:
Depends on how long you plan on keeping the phone. If you get a new phone every couple of years, maybe 3, then just charge at night with a low watt wired charger. No need to live like the battery has lost 50% by staying in the 30-80% range to save the battery from going to 85% health when you get rid of it.

For long term keepers you could get a plug timer to have charger cut off around 85-90% at night. Would be trial and error based on typical usage to get some more cycles out of it.
Click to expand...

I plan on keeping it 5+ years like with my 6S

I’m surprised my battery on the 6S has lasted as long, but I basically keep it plugged in at all times do not really managing it correctly
 
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