All iPads Why "Charge to 80%" limited to certain iPads?

[msackey]

I upgraded to an iPad Pro 11" M4 chip recently and noticed that is has the "Charge to 80%" setting. My husband has the previous generation iPad Pro 13" with the M2 chip and his doesn't have the "Charge to 80%".

Is there an actual technical reason why that option isn't enabled for older iPads? It would seem to me that all these various battery charging options -- Charge to 80%, Charge to 75%, Optimised Charging -- are all really not chip dependent, no? Why is Apple limiting these battery charge functions?

 

[rappr]

Apple did the same thing when they added these capabilities to the iPhone and Mac. No one has been able to discern a technical reason (maybe specific firmware related to charging?), but I view it as one of those tiny little pushes to upgrade that Apple does over time.

 

[msackey]

Yeah, I had wondered if this were just a way for Apple to keep certain features available only for certain products -- a very artificial divide.

It doesn't make too much sense that my partner's iPad Pro 13" from last year doesn't have that function. He would love to use it and instead currently manually manages the charge by plugging and unplugging when necessary. Meanwhile, I can keep mine fully plugged in and not worry that it will charge beyond around 80%.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Seems to me it's more of a PITA to manage the code for this, than to just enable it for all.

That's what makes me think, there must be a hardware reason. But ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[adamlbiscuit]

I think it may be something to do with the fact that on older iPads, they tend to already have had some level of battery degradation, so they probably thought it wasn't worth the effort to bring it to old(er) iPads, even those one generation prior.

Therefore, only new iPads introduced from the point this feature was implemented are the ones to get it.

You could argue iPads with a degree of battery degradation are the ones that need it most, and I would agree. However, there may be a technical reason why this feature is most useful for new devices, or why it can't be brought down to older generations.

 

[JPack]

I think it may be something to do with the fact that on older iPads, they tend to already have had some level of battery degradation, so they probably thought it wasn't worth the effort to bring it to old(er) iPads, even those one generation prior.

Therefore, only new iPads introduced from the point this feature was implemented are the ones to get it.

You could argue iPads with a degree of battery degradation are the ones that need it most, and I would agree. However, there may be a technical reason why this feature is most useful for new devices, or why it can't be brought down to older generations.

Nah, that assumes Apple doesn’t offer battery replacement service and Apple doesn’t sell refurbished iPad Air/Pro with a fresh battery and chassis.

Besides, we already know a key called DeviceSupports80ChargeLimit controls this function. Simply flip this key on jailbroken devices and suddenly, most older devices support the 80% limit. The feature works well without issue.

 

[msackey]

Besides, we already know a key called DeviceSupports80ChargeLimit controls this function. Simply flip this key on jailbroken devices and suddenly, most older devices support the 80% limit. The feature works well without issue.

Fascinating. Did not know about this for jailbroken devices.