Keeping watch charged between 40% and 80%

[ApfelKuchen]

First off, Apple Watch (at least in watchOS 8.x) has the same Optimized Battery Charging feature as iPhone - Settings > Battery > Battery Health.

To reduce battery aging, Apple Watch learns from your daily charging routine so it can wait to finish charging past 80% until you need to use it.

For example, if you are in the habit of putting it on the charger before you go to sleep at midnight and take it off the charger at 7:00 AM, it will bring the charge up to 80% then wait until a little while before 7:00 AM to raise the charge to 100%.

If you charge on an irregular schedule then Optimized Battery Charging may not be able to optimize, but if you follow a consistent sleep schedule, then this should be all you need to keep the battery in good shape.

Personally, I think any efforts more intensive than this is expending far more energy than you're likely to gain in battery life. My Series 4 is approaching 3 years old, and the Battery Health is at 90%.

The notion of spending money on a smart outlet to control power to the charger seems counter to the notion of saving money or natural resources. If somehow an "improved" charging scheme extends battery life by 6 months there seems to be little or anything to be gained.

Since people tend to be fairly poor at maintaining day-to-day disciplines on a "manual" basis (for example, backing up an iPhone to a computer, rather than backing up automatically to iCloud), I put my faith in automation.

If you want to never charge your battery above 80%... fine, it's your life, it's your time and effort. You'll undoubtedly have to charge more frequently to do that, undoubtedly there will be times when the battery dies because you can't take the time to charge it... it really doesn't seem worth the effort to me.

 

[Howard2k]

Wait… how did you do that for the watch? That’s exactly what I do but the other way around (I have my phone ping my watch when my phone rises above 75%). I’ve been trying to figure out how to get a notification when the watch exceeds 75% but haven’t been able to figure that out. Could you please share the details of the shortcut? That would be much appreciated.

Somewhat ironically it seems to not work in Watch OS 8. I don't believe Watch OS 8 allows shortcuts on the watch to run in the background but I'm not 100% sure. Here it is, just make it show on the watch and run it form there.

 

[collin_]

Wasnt intended, a hastily typed attempt to add a bit of humour to my reply. Apologies if it came across that way.



If that was the question asked then I would expect 100 would reply yes. Ask it a different way:

"Are you willing to monitor your watch battery levels to ensure it is charged in a certain way at a specific % in order to extend its life?".

Let's say at best 5 reply "yes" and everyone else replies either "No" or "Not when I can only get 18 hours out of a single full charge".

The masses charge things when it needs to be charged, just like their phones, laptops and other devices. That is not changing.

No worries. Yeah I wish manufacturers did more to extend battery lifespan so it wouldn’t fall on the consumer. Apple’s optimize battery charging seems like too little too late. It’s crazy the amount of people who don’t even know about battery replacements and buy an entirely new $2,000 devices instead of just getting a battery swap when it will no longer hold a charge.

 

[collin_]

Somewhat ironically it seems to not work in Watch OS 8. I don't believe Watch OS 8 allows shortcuts on the watch to run in the background but I'm not 100% sure. Here it is, just make it show on the watch and run it form there.
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Thank you for sharing and hopefully they fix it soon. I always have difficult understanding shortcuts even when I see an image of them. :s

Did you create this on the phone or the watch and is it an automation or shortcut? Could you please walk me through the first few steps? Thank you!

 

[Howard2k]

Created on the phone, then you click the slider things at the top and choose "Show on Watch" or something to that effect. Open the shortcut app on the Watch and you will see it listed (it will need to sync across).

The key thing when creating is that some statements are linked. If/Otherwise/Endif are all going to be dragged in at once, you then add the statements and drag them in order. so add If/Otherwise/Endif and then when you add Ping my Phone you will need to drag it up into position. The indentation shows the statement hierarchy and can be helpful.

Shortcut, not automation.

 

[ajm222]

It is not fear mongering; it is the chemistry of lithium ion batteries, which none of us can magically overcome. While I can see it being inconvenient for some people, it is not inconvenient for me in the slightest because:

• I charge my phone at my desk, so it’s sitting right next to me (I can unplug it without getting up)
• I get a ping to my watch when my phone exceeds 75%, so I don’t need to monitor it manually
• My phone never dies on me or even gets close to dying (ever since 11 Pro Max)
• I fast charge my phone, so if it’s ever low I can juice it up really quickly

These factors make it really easy for me to greatly extend the battery lifespan of my devices, which is especially important for me now because I plan on keeping my 13 Pro Max for a long time. I pay a lot of money for my Apple devices and I like to take good care of them. I am not saying that everyone should be doing this but if you’re in a situation where it’s easy and convenient, it does make a huge difference.

What was a waste of time for me was getting my old MacBook Pro’s battery replaced after only a few years because I didn’t take good care of it. It degraded to the point where the computer would just randomly shut down. 30-minute drive to Apple store, took them a full week to replace it, then another 30-minute drive to pick it up. Wasn’t fun being without my computer for a week.

For reference, I unplug when it rises above 75% while my family members (like most people) do not do this. All of us got the 12 Pro Max when it was released (I just bought it myself whereas they had some sort of carrier deal). We have all had the exact same phone for just over a year now, and here are the battery health stats:

• Brother (93%)
• Mom (92%)
• Dad (92%)
• Me (100%)

This is definitely interesting. But I've always wondered if anyone seeing 100% after that long got lucky or there's an issue with the monitor. Only reason I say that is that despite my best efforts to optimally charge my 12 mini, my battery life is running almost identical to the 3 others we got at the exact same time, and they don't worry about their batteries. My batteries always seem to deteriorate especially quickly, though I've chalked it up to the way I use my phone (which is way too much). Lots and lots of twitter, facebook and internet searching all day long. I am at 92% and got my phone in later December. This is typical for most of the phones I've owned. I was keeping it between 25 and 80/90 most of the time for the first 6 months or so. I finally gave up due to inconvenience (mini dies at the end of most days if not much sooner and I am often about to fall asleep when it gets low and I put it on the charger, and I certainly don't want to wake up and check it to unplug it).

Anyway, I had no idea you could create some notification to tell you when your battery hits a certain percentage.

 

[Howard2k]

My Watch SE which I purchased in Feb 2021 is still at 100% and I'm reasonably careful to stay in the 35% to 75% range. As you mention, could just be coincidence.

 

[collin_]

This is definitely interesting. But I've always wondered if anyone seeing 100% after that long got lucky or there's an issue with the monitor. Only reason I say that is that despite my best efforts to optimally charge my 12 mini, my battery life is running almost identical to the 3 others we got at the exact same time, and they don't worry about their batteries. My batteries always seem to deteriorate especially quickly, though I've chalked it up to the way I use my phone (which is way too much). Lots and lots of twitter, facebook and internet searching all day long. I am at 92% and got my phone in later December. This is typical for most of the phones I've owned. I was keeping it between 25 and 80/90 most of the time for the first 6 months or so. I finally gave up due to inconvenience (mini dies at the end of most days if not much sooner and I am often about to fall asleep when it gets low and I put it on the charger, and I certainly don't want to wake up and check it to unplug it).

Anyway, I had no idea you could create some notification to tell you when your battery hits a certain percentage.

Hm that’s odd. Has the phone been exposed to extreme heat e.g. sitting in a hot car or getting sustained direct sunlight on a hot day?

 

[ajm222]

Hm that’s odd. Has the phone been exposed to extreme heat e.g. sitting in a hot car or getting sustained direct sunlight on a hot day?

No. Not at all. And like I said, all the other members of my family are at like the exact same percentage, plus or minus 1. Four of us all got the 12 mini at the same time.

 

[tomtattoo]

There is an app called Juice Battery which can inform you when watch and iPhone is loaded 80%. Can confirm the effect with my 12 which I sold a few weeks ago - one year old - with battery health saying 100%.

 

[collin_]

No. Not at all. And like I said, all the other members of my family are at like the exact same percentage, plus or minus 1. Four of us all got the 12 mini at the same time.

Hm, well that’s very weird and I don’t have any idea why that would be happening.

What I can tell you is that I don’t think my battery health percentage is inaccurate because my 12 Pro Max still lasts just as long as it did when I first got it. All of my previous iPhones (that I would charge overnight) were very noticeably degraded after a year.

 

[ajm222]

Hm, well that’s very weird and I don’t have any idea why that would be happening.

What I can tell you is that I don’t think my battery health percentage is inaccurate because my 12 Pro Max still lasts just as long as it did when I first got it. All of my previous iPhones (that I would charge overnight) were very noticeably degraded after a year.

with my next phone, i'll probably try keeping it below 80% and above around 25% and see how that works out. and i'm doing that again now with my mini to see how long i can keep it at 92% health. it's possible my usage pattern is such that no good charging habits avoid the degradation. will see.

 

[collin_]

with my next phone, i'll probably try keeping it below 80% and above around 25% and see how that works out. and i'm doing that again now with my mini to see how long i can keep it at 92% health. it's possible my usage pattern is such that no good charging habits avoid the degradation. will see.

Good luck! If it doesn’t work out don’t worry too much because lithium ion batteries don’t degrade in a linear way. For example it could take a long time for one to drop below 99 to 100% health and then below that (like going from 98 down to 90) it could start deteriorating much faster.

 

[ajm222]

Good luck! If it doesn’t work out don’t worry too much because lithium ion batteries don’t degrade in a linear way. For example it could take a long time for one to drop below 99 to 100% health and then below that (like going from 98 down to 90) it could start deteriorating much faster.

thanks! and very true. i've definitely noticed that. my mini was great for the first few months then kind of jumped down quickly. seems to be holding steady for now. overall not too concerned about it as I expect this time I will be upgrading in about 2 years instead of closer to 5.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Good luck! If it doesn’t work out don’t worry too much because lithium ion batteries don’t degrade in a linear way. For example it could take a long time for one to drop below 99 to 100% health and then below that (like going from 98 down to 90) it could start deteriorating much faster.

Or it can even drop for a while and plateau. My iPhone X battery (early 2018 vintage) is now over 3.5 years old. It just recently dropped to 83% from 84% and had been at 84% for well over a year. I just let Optimized Battery Charging do its thing (once it was introduced). Before that (and now), no special treatment on my part.

There are so many variables that affect the life of any battery that all we can do is try. Degradation is inevitable no matter what the battery chemistry. When I think back to the old Eveready carbon-zinc D cells of my youth and how many times I had to discard flashlights because the batteries leaked, today's battery-operated devices are something of a miracle.

 

[ajm222]

Or it can even drop for a while and plateau. My iPhone X battery (early 2018 vintage) is now over 3.5 years old. It just recently dropped to 83% from 84% and had been at 84% for well over a year. I just let Optimized Battery Charging do its thing (once it was introduced). Before that (and now), no special treatment on my part.

There are so many variables that affect the life of any battery that all we can do is try. Degradation is inevitable no matter what the battery chemistry. When I think back to the old Eveready carbon-zinc D cells of my youth and how many times I had to discard flashlights because the batteries leaked, today's battery-operated devices are something of a miracle.

great perspective. and fascinating that the battery stayed at the same percentage for that long.

 

[FriendlyMackle]

It is not fear mongering; it is the chemistry of lithium ion batteries, which none of us can magically overcome. While I can see it being inconvenient for some people, it is not inconvenient for me in the slightest because:

• I charge my phone at my desk, so it’s sitting right next to me (I can unplug it without getting up)
• I get a ping to my watch when my phone exceeds 75%, so I don’t need to monitor it manually
• My phone never dies on me or even gets close to dying (ever since 11 Pro Max)
• I fast charge my phone, so if it’s ever low I can juice it up really quickly

These factors make it really easy for me to greatly extend the battery lifespan of my devices, which is especially important for me now because I plan on keeping my 13 Pro Max for a long time. I pay a lot of money for my Apple devices and I like to take good care of them. I am not saying that everyone should be doing this but if you’re in a situation where it’s easy and convenient, it does make a huge difference.

What was a waste of time for me was getting my old MacBook Pro’s battery replaced after only a few years because I didn’t take good care of it. It degraded to the point where the computer would just randomly shut down. 30-minute drive to Apple store, took them a full week to replace it, then another 30-minute drive to pick it up. Wasn’t fun being without my computer for a week.

For reference, I unplug when it rises above 75% while my family members (like most people) do not do this. All of us got the 12 Pro Max when it was released (I just bought it myself whereas they had some sort of carrier deal). We have all had the exact same phone for just over a year now, and here are the battery health stats:

• Brother (93%)
• Mom (92%)
• Dad (92%)
• Me (100%)

Lol, that’s still better battery health than my one-year old 12 Pro Max has! I think it’s at 87% now. I’ve charged it entirely too much and too frequently. But I’m probably only going to keep it for another year, and battery life is still quite good.

 

[FriendlyMackle]

Created on the phone, then you click the slider things at the top and choose "Show on Watch" or something to that effect. Open the shortcut app on the Watch and you will see it listed (it will need to sync across).

The key thing when creating is that some statements are linked. If/Otherwise/Endif are all going to be dragged in at once, you then add the statements and drag them in order. so add If/Otherwise/Endif and then when you add Ping my Phone you will need to drag it up into position. The indentation shows the statement hierarchy and can be helpful.

Shortcut, not automation.

Thank you, that’s useful guidance on how to create a shortcut and get it onto the watch! Something I haven’t even tried yet. ?

 

[FriendlyMackle]

This is definitely interesting. But I've always wondered if anyone seeing 100% after that long got lucky or there's an issue with the monitor. Only reason I say that is that despite my best efforts to optimally charge my 12 mini, my battery life is running almost identical to the 3 others we got at the exact same time, and they don't worry about their batteries. My batteries always seem to deteriorate especially quickly, though I've chalked it up to the way I use my phone (which is way too much). Lots and lots of twitter, facebook and internet searching all day long. I am at 92% and got my phone in later December. This is typical for most of the phones I've owned. I was keeping it between 25 and 80/90 most of the time for the first 6 months or so. I finally gave up due to inconvenience (mini dies at the end of most days if not much sooner and I am often about to fall asleep when it gets low and I put it on the charger, and I certainly don't want to wake up and check it to unplug it).

Anyway, I had no idea you could create some notification to tell you when your battery hits a certain percentage.

Maybe…you’re an energy vampire!? joking.
Yeah, I also tend to go through batteries pretty quickly. But with myself, I know it’s that I default to placing devices on their chargers because I have a horror/fear of being out of battery when I need the device! And I rarely keep a phone longer than 2 years, in which the worst my battery health has reached is 87% with the XS Max. And that was still more than enough for a long day (even with the subpar inherent battery life of that model). My Apple Watch Series 4, after 3 years is still at around 89%, and I am horrible at charging it! I routinely let it run down to 15% or less (I just don’t notice, until I get a prompt about the Watch going into Power Reserve mode), and then I charge it right up to 100%.

 

[3Rock]

Place it on my charger at bedtime and take it off the charger in the morning. I do the same thing with my iPhone. if I have to keep on babying each of these items I well go bonkers. After a few years I’m going to get another watch anyway as well as an iPhone. So I don’t worry about it…….Ever

 

[collin_]

Created on the phone, then you click the slider things at the top and choose "Show on Watch" or something to that effect. Open the shortcut app on the Watch and you will see it listed (it will need to sync across).

The key thing when creating is that some statements are linked. If/Otherwise/Endif are all going to be dragged in at once, you then add the statements and drag them in order. so add If/Otherwise/Endif and then when you add Ping my Phone you will need to drag it up into position. The indentation shows the statement hierarchy and can be helpful.

Shortcut, not automation.

Hm so I haven’t been able to get this working but Shortcuts is allowed to run in the background on WatchOS 8. I think the problem is likely that Apple made big changes to Shortcuts in the latest operating systems which broke a ton of them. I remember /r/shortcuts being really upset about it. I’ll ask them when I get a chance to see if they can figure it out and I’ll post an update if successful.

 

[MJaP]

This is meant tongue in cheek...

What's it like to live in fear? In a constant state of anxiety where all your device's battery percentages constantly rule your life every day, and where you rush to take a device off charge as close to 80% as humanly possible and are constantly paranoid if you fall below 40%? The best charge state for a lithium Ion battery is when it's in equalibrium at 50% so perhaps you should be on the safe side and keep your devices constantly between 45-55% to preserve your battery health even more?! So presumably you must never use your MacBook plugged in as the battery will charge itself to 100%, oh the humanity oh the disaster!

Battery tech is quite advanced these days you really don't have to worry about it. If you want to get into specifics then it's more harmful to run your battery down than run it up to a complete charge because a lithium Ion battery's capacity is more than the 100% it reports so the 50% equalibrium mark is actually higher than the 50% reported mark. But my take on it is this, I don't let a silly thing like a battery percentage figure rule my life, I charge and use my tech dependant on my needs and get on with my life.

P.S. Heat is the enemy of batteries so you should never charge an iPhone in a case as it will increase the heat and stress on the battery and reduce its lifespan... iPhone cases FEAR THEM! FEAR THEM! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

 

[BigMcGuire]

I did the best I could to keep my S6 between 80-60%. Despite this, it was at 94% health when I traded it in for the S7 (same as my wife’s S6 - and she charged normally). So this time, with my S7, I’ll charge when convenient and not give it too much worry. Yes, I saw all the 12 Pro / Pro Max threads where some people had significant battery capacity loss. My 12 Pro Max was still 104% when I traded it in for a 13 Pro Max. My wife’s 12 Pro Max health dropped like a brick (91%) but I think that was due to the cooking from MagSafe (Outside of the 12PM our phones have always been near identical battery health despite me babying my device and she using hers heavily).

After spending the last generation doing 80-60% I am going to go back to normal usage this year with the S7. As far as my 13 PM phone - I’ll do whatever is convenient - since the battery on that lasts forever, it’s not so much of an inconvenience to do 80%. I am charging with USB A watch charging cables so maybe the slightly reduced charging voltage will help? I noticed it seems to charge slower than the S6 (could just be me).

To each their own. I had a lot of fun doing the 80-60% because it worked for me (I work at a desk) - not terribly inconvenient. Now? I’d rather just upgrade when I want and not worry bout it - I’m not terribly certain it’s worth it for me.

A note: After spending a year doing 80-60%, it’s amazing how much longer the watch lasts when doing 100% - 40%. Lol. I realize this is obvious but it really hits me how much more enjoyment I get out of the watch using the full range of the battery. This alone, to me, makes the 40-80% thing less attractive.

 

[collin_]

@Howard2k Update: Finally got around to this and ended up just buying an app called JuiceWatch. It works perfectly.

 

[Htsi]

I would love it if there was a setting that would limit the charge % to 80 or 90 on the device itself. If there was such a thing, I’d use it on all my devices. Since that isnt there, i give 0 ***** and charge then as and when i find it convenient. Watch & Phone overnight is what Works for me. It is way too much hassle to micromanage the charge level. Years back my lenovo laptop had the charge limit feature. Which meant it could be left plugged in 24/7 if you so wished and yet the battery would stay at 85%