iPhone 13 mini Optimised Battery Charging

[Alpha Centauri]

Ok, I just cannot figure this out. Bought the 13 Mini (with iOS16) in January 2023 and after 1 month, optimized charging learned to stop at 80% overnight, then continue a few hours before the morning alarm. I think it only did this consistently for 6 months and hasn't utilized this optimization since then.

Relevant location services are and always have been active active, namely:

• Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Location Services.
• Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services > System Customization.
• Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services > Significant Locations > Significant Locations.

I'm on iOS17 now. I have noticed my last significant location is work, but shouldn't it really be home as that's where the charging mainly occurs? So it did used to work and now doesn't. I've reset the significant location data but now likely will have to wait 2 weeks anyway for it to re-learn my patterns. Pretty sure I've tried this before, trying to get it to work.

Any other ideas, as this subject does seem to surface now and then?

 

[now i see it]

This feature causes more stress than it’s worth. It’s never been 100% reliable for everyone. It’s buggy.
Get a HomeKit compatible smart plug and set up a shortcut automation to turn the charger on & off at your own set points.

 

[Alpha Centauri]

This feature causes more stress than it’s worth. It’s never been 100% reliable for everyone. It’s buggy.
Get a HomeKit compatible smart plug and set up a shortcut automation to turn the charger on & off at your own set points.

It's terrible. Trying to get to the bottom of why it initially worked well and guessing that potentially because significant location was set for work? Wish it could be customised for optimised charging being locked to home location, just frustrating, as it used to work.

Thanks for your suggestion. You might have guessed I'm trying to be kind to the battery, using Apple's own provided tools for exactly this purpose. For 10months had 100% health, and now, last months it rapidly dropped from that to 96%. So rather than a smart plug I'll put the money toward a new battery for when the time comes.

 

[BugeyeSTI]

Ok, I just cannot figure this out. Bought the 13 Mini (with iOS16) in January 2023 and after 1 month, optimized charging learned to stop at 80% overnight, then continue a few hours before the morning alarm. I think it only did this consistently for 6 months and hasn't utilized this optimization since then.

Relevant location services are and always have been active active, namely:

• Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Location Services.
• Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services > System Customization.
• Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services > Significant Locations > Significant Locations.

I'm on iOS17 now. I have noticed my last significant location is work, but shouldn't it really be home as that's where the charging mainly occurs? So it did used to work and now doesn't. I've reset the significant location data but now likely will have to wait 2 weeks anyway for it to re-learn my patterns. Pretty sure I've tried this before, trying to get it to work.

Any other ideas, as this subject does seem to surface now and then?

I was never able to get optimized battery charging to work reliably. It would work beautifully for a couple weeks then out of nowhere it just stopped working correctly. I just gave up and used smart plugs and automations to limit charging. Now in iOS17 and the 15PM, I've been using 80% limit charge setting and it's been working great. Hopefully it continues to do so, as iOS has been hit or miss since iOS13. Some are plagued with bugs and others aren't

 

[now i see it]

So rather than a smart plug I'll put the money toward a new battery for when the time comes.

I never thought of it that way. That’s good thinking on your part.

 

[Alpha Centauri]

I was never able to get optimized battery charging to work reliably. It would work beautifully for a couple weeks then out of nowhere it just stopped working correctly. I just gave up and used smart plugs and automations to limit charging. Now in iOS17 and the 15PM, I've been using 80% limit charge setting and it's been working great. Hopefully it continues to do so, as iOS has been hit or miss since iOS13. Some are plagued with bugs and others aren't

Thank you. I've only just recently updated to iOS17 so will see (not holding my breath) if the algorithm does improve. But honestly, one would think it wouldn't unlearn the charging pattern quite so easily after it had begun to solidly function after the initial 2-4 weeks. Weird.

 

[Alpha Centauri]

I never thought of it that way. That’s good thinking on your part.

You know, it's more-so that I keep my devices for a lengthy time (6 yrs OG SE prior to this 13 Mini). So I do try to develop good charging habits from the start using a 5W charger and charging only when really necessary. I recall when first buying the Mini almost 1 year ago, asking the staff at the Apple store what could I do to maintain a healthy battery on this phone? The reply was so simple: "Charge as little as possible" I did buy this phone with the intention of replacing its battery at least once (or twice) during ownership.

Thing is, the optimised battery function has been around a while now and somehow it appears to still have such large issues of inconsistency. I guess I'll monitor allocation of significant locations and observe if there's a correlation between having solely the address of actual charging vs optimization running successfully. My expectation off course was that it would just work properly.