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I just don't understand why it's not possible for older iPhones with iOS 18. It would help to explain in your article. I had a 2013 MBP where I could set the charge limit to 60% with a simple free app. Yea, I realise it's a Mac not an iPhone. There are wireless chargers everywhere and I've never seen my SoC drop below 40%, but I also don't want it much higher than 80% but have no option... sad.

It’s very possible. People who jailbroke their device proved that it’s just a toggle that Apple disabled. It works for iPhone 11-14.
 
Because dorks don't have a life. Just like they fret and argue over 16GB vs 8GB vs ?GB. Self proclaimed experts where everyone should abide by their opinion.

Just let IOS and the phone do what they do. Most people get a new phone every three years, or less. The battery zealots probably get a phone every year thus battery life should be of no concern.

That's kind of offensive. Many of us just want to maximize the life of the battery and its overall health. We "have a life", we don't view things that can improve battery health as "idiotic" either. If you and the other gentleman don't care about these features and battery health, that's ok, but no reason to put us down.
 
I don't get why Apple can't just do the same thing a lot of Android phones do; when you plug in the charger it says "Charging rapidly" if it's a fast charger, and you can go into settings and see how many watts your phone is charging at.

This sounds like it would be trivial to do, but they always seem to dance around giving you the actual information and just do subtle stuff like telling you it was charging slowly after the fact.

Agreed. Sometimes Apple is odd about limiting the information given to the device owner.
 
Completely pointless feature. I've been using my 15 for a year without this enabled, and battery life is still 99%.
 
I just checked in Settings battery charging, and realized that it wasn’t enabled on my iPhone. I assumed it would be the default, but maybe it isn’t. So this is worth checking out if you haven’t already.
 
Hardcore Apple stans will tell you this is because of an hardware limitation 😂
Correct, improvements in battery chemistry. My iPhone 15 Pro still has 99% original capacity after a year, without even using optimized charging.
 
That's kind of offensive. Many of us just want to maximize the life of the battery and its overall health. We "have a life", we don't view things that can improve battery health as "idiotic" either. If you and the other gentleman don't care about these features and battery health, that's ok, but no reason to put us down.

dominiongamma you thumbs down me pointing out its offensive to put people down for caring about battery life and health? Really man? Really?
 
That's kind of offensive
I don't consider being a dork offensive. I was a slide rule carrying charter member in high school. If you do, so be it.

I do find it is entirely weird to argue over battery life and battery settings. My last phone lasted four years without my doing anything to concern myself over battery health. Maximizing battery health to get five years from a battery, when the device is traded in within three years, is a waste of time. My current phone is one year old and is still at 100% without my doing anything special. Just use the phone.
but no reason to put us down.
I don't see where I put anyone "down". I did state the arguments that spring up on this place, and the fretting over battery life, are just a waste of time.
 
Can someone please help me to understand this. Maybe I’m just missing something obvious…
I get that you limit your battery charging capacity to save the battery overall. But if you limit it to 80% surely that means that from day 1 you’re only receiving 80% of the maximum capacity of the battery… meaning that you’ve effectively downgraded your battery from day 1. And you won’t see any savings until the point your battery health would’ve otherwise dropped below 80% had you not made the change. This could take several years. Up until that point you’re giving yourself a worse experience.
My phone is 3 years old and at 87% battery health. So if I’d enabled the above feature let’s say it might be at 90% plus but I’d still only be using 80% so I’d be worse off than I am right now?
Unless you plan to keep your phone for many years (say 5+) which I’m guessing the majority of people in this forum won’t, what is the value of enabling this feature?
 
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The slow charger warning is one step, but why can't they just easily report the wattage somewhere...
 
That's kind of offensive. Many of us just want to maximize the life of the battery and its overall health. We "have a life", we don't view things that can improve battery health as "idiotic" either. If you and the other gentleman don't care about these features and battery health, that's ok, but no reason to put us down.
I also don't understand this attitude. So many devices, some much more expensive than iPhones or MacBooks, run on Li-Ion batteries these days. Learning about them and how to take care of them is not a bad idea. Nobody says you have to be obsessive about it.
 
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I don't consider being a dork offensive. I was a slide rule carrying charter member in high school. If you do, so be it.

I do find it is entirely weird to argue over battery life and battery settings. My last phone lasted four years without my doing anything to concern myself over battery health. Maximizing battery health to get five years from a battery, when the device is traded in within three years, is a waste of time. My current phone is one year old and is still at 100% without my doing anything special. Just use the phone.

I don't see where I put anyone "down". I did state the arguments that spring up on this place, and the fretting over battery life, are just a waste of time.

Ok, well those are your opinions. I (and obviously many others) don't view the discussion as "fretting" and I think saying we "have no life" is quite insulting, not to mention wrong.
 
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This could take several years. Up until that point you’re giving yourself a worse experience.
I think you described it perfectly. Lowering the max charging state will limit the amount of time/energy you can get out of a single charge.

If this is useful for you completely depends on your circumstances. I charge my phone twice a day and sometimes in my car and don't usually need a full charge to get through my day. Others will use their phone heavily on the go and will prefer to only charge overnight.

I personally would use the new setting, but I completely understand if someone decides that they don't want it. It's very nice though, that many iPhone users will have a choice at least.
 
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Can someone please help me to understand this. Maybe I’m just missing something obvious…
I get that you limit your battery charging capacity to save the battery overall. But if you limit it to 80% surely that means that from day 1 you’re only receiving 80% of the maximum capacity of the battery… meaning that you’ve effectively downgraded your battery from day 1. And you won’t see any savings until the point your battery health would’ve otherwise dropped below 80% had you not made the change. This could take several years. Up until that point you’re giving yourself a worse experience.
My phone is 3 years old and at 87% battery health. So if I’d enabled the above feature let’s say it might be at 90% plus but I’d still only be using 80% so I’d be worse off than I am right now?
Unless you plan to keep your phone for many years (say 5+) which I’m guessing the majority of people in this forum won’t, what is the value of enabling this feature?

Lifespan of the battery and maintaining more of the original design capacity for a longer period. Nobody is claiming this is some magical battery panacea, but caring for the battery and doing a few things that can make it last longer before needing replacement, is a good thing.
 
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I think you described it perfectly. Lowering the max charging state will limit the amount of time/energy you can get out of a single charge.

If this is useful for you completely depends on your circumstances. I charge my phone twice a day and sometimes in my car and don't usually need a full charge to get through my day. Others will use their phone heavily on the go and will prefer to only charge overnight.

I personally would use the new setting, but I completely understand if someone decides that they don't want it. It's very nice though, that many iPhone users will have a choice at least.
This makes total sense, thanks!

As someone who typically charges their phone just once a day I couldn’t see the benefit but now I understand!
 
Can someone please help me to understand this. Maybe I’m just missing something obvious…
I get that you limit your battery charging capacity to save the battery overall. But if you limit it to 80% surely that means that from day 1 you’re only receiving 80% of the maximum capacity of the battery… meaning that you’ve effectively downgraded your battery from day 1. And you won’t see any savings until the point your battery health would’ve otherwise dropped below 80% had you not made the change. This could take several years. Up until that point you’re giving yourself a worse experience.
My phone is 3 years old and at 87% battery health. So if I’d enabled the above feature let’s say it might be at 90% plus but I’d still only be using 80% so I’d be worse off than I am right now?
Unless you plan to keep your phone for many years (say 5+) which I’m guessing the majority of people in this forum won’t, what is the value of enabling this feature?
Being at full charge causes lithium batteries to degrade faster.

If you're finishing every day with 50% left on the battery, because you're a light user or whatever, 80% limit lets you keep the charge range of the battery below 100% so that, overall, it ages a bit more slowly.

Keep in mind the 80% is 80% of the current capacity. So if the battery has degraded your 80% will be less than a new battery. If you start not having enough capacity you can turn off the 80% limit.

We don't know if it actually makes a huge difference. It probably doesn't. But it's good to have the option.
 
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The sweet spot for modern lithium ion batteries seems to be to keep the device between 20-80% charge, so this is a great option to have.

Here's hoping Apple will roll something similar out for the AirPods at some point...
Istr that its best between 30-80% - will have read it at the battery university site most likely
 
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I work from home and only charge my 15 Pro Max every other day or so. I'm still at 100% battery health after a year with it.

... and while I understand the logical screwiness of purposefully handicapping your battery to try to prevent future handicapping of your battery... I can also see how the vast majority of the time it would be just fine for me.

I just wish that there was a way to quickly turn it off in control center. Give me a single button to switch between 80% mode and regular mode and I would probably use it...

But without that ability, I think I will continue to pass. I keep my phones for 3 years at this point, and this one may go 4 years. I just know that at some point I'll probably have to swap the battery and I just don't really worry about it.

Any time people ask me about battery stuff, I always just tell them, use it how you like and plan on paying the money to swap it out after a few years and you'll be so much happier than if you're always micro managing it. Just live your life...
 
This whole thing wreaks of subversive marketing. When in fact it’s a way for Apple to cover their asses for warranty claims. It will alleviate the number of claims they have to honor (the 80% battery capacity limit). I’ll keep mine charging to 100% thank you very much.
 
Everyone is acting like apple is promoting or pushing this option. They really aren't. It's tucked away in settings. They aren't talking about it. It's not some sort of strategy. Even if they let old phones use it, what percentage of people would turn this on? 1%? Less?
 
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From a technical standpoint, why can't this be done for all (many ?) iPhones. I understand that certain OS features require better processors than the older phones have, but this doesn't seem like it would be one of them.

At the least, give older iPhone users the option to get an audible alert when the phone reaches those charging percentages maybe ? (Definitely not as useful as setting a cap, especially overnight, but it's something !)
 
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