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Radon87000

macrumors 604
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Nov 29, 2013
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I want to preserve the battery health of my new iPhone 11 Pro Max as much as possible and I don’t really need fast charging. Is it better to use the 5w charger and slowly charge the phone to preserve battery health? Or will slow charging be detrimental as iPhone 11 Pro will be designed with fast charging in mind?
 
The point is mostly heat, which is bad for battery chemistry. Slower charging tends to charge at lower temperatures. But charging a battery that's hot, for example because you left your phone on a table in direct sunlight, can be harmful no matter how you charge it.
 
I used the fast charger EVERY night with my X. Absolutely no battery life issues. My wife has the same phone and we got them at the same time(2 years ago) She uses the 5w charger every night. Our battery health was exactly the same last time I checked like 3 months ago.

I now have the 11 Pro and from what I've read they have made improvements to where this is no longer even a thought of an issue.
 
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Charge controllers in well-designed devices will deal with pretty much whatever is thrown at them. And battery chemistry is much less sensitive to charge rate than it was ten years ago or so. What you and your wife experienced isn't surprising at all - it's how this should work now. But take a look at the page linked below, especially the difference between the Apple 29W and 30W adapters. The 29W adapter doesn't support the full current range of charging voltages, charged at a higher rate and generated more heat than any of the others tested.

http://www.chargerlab.com/iphone-11-pro-max-charging-test/
 
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I like the 12 watt iPad chargers for my phone. I think it’s the sweet spot. Not too much wattage, but charges pretty fast.

I agree. Most of the time I wirelessly charge my phones but when I do need a lot of juice in a hurry, I have a 12W iPad charger for my iPhone.
 
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Keeping the iPhone in the sun for a bit of time does more damage than charging with the charger it comes with. you're overthinking it.
 
I only use the 5 Watt charger. I Keep my battery percentage between 30%-90%.

And don’t let your phone die.

With the Pro Max, ^ this is fairly easy!
 
Not sure about charger type but Charging to 100% is reason why battery is dying so fast. Max charging to 80% is ideal. Ios 13 will has a feature when it will keep the battery at 80% until the phone determines, based on your charging pattern, to charge to 100% just prior to you being active on the phone. If you keep battery between 40-80%, you will extend life significantly. Don't let it drop below 20% either, both extremes are very bad for lithium batteries.
 
Not sure about charger type but Charging to 100% is reason why battery is dying so fast. Max charging to 80% is ideal. Ios 13 will has a feature when it will keep the battery at 80% until the phone determines, based on your charging pattern, to charge to 100% just prior to you being active on the phone. If you keep battery between 40-80%, you will extend life significantly. Don't let it drop below 20% either, both extremes are very bad for lithium batteries.
I used to swear by all these rules, and I’m SO glad to be over it. I picked up my 8+ a year ago last week. I’m at 99% battery heath, and I charge it any time I’m home and charge it to 100% while I sleep. Babying a phone in order to get an extra 6-12 months (at best) from it over the course of 3 years time is not worth it. If the battery couldn’t be replaced then by all means, yes. We’re talking about a battery that costs about $75 to replace, and even the most hardcore users will easily make it 18-24 months before needing it.

40-80% is a real thing. Lithium ion batteries prefer to stay at 70% at all times. It’s all true, it’s just not worth the hassle and I’m so glad to be over my battery ocd. I advise anyone on here who is dealing with it to just plug it in and force yourself to get over it. The alternative is maybe one extra battery over the course of 4 years of ownership, but most of us won’t keep our phones that long.
 
I am no expert. My husband and I both got iPhone 8+ phones within 4 days of each other. He slow charges his phone all the time, I used the 18 watt USB power adapter from Apple and did fast charging. We bought the phones in late April, 2018. His phone’s battery health is at 99%. Mine was at 90%, then I got the iPhone 11. I asked technical support and they said that the fast charging was harder on the battery and that is why my battery health was so much worse. My 8+ did get hot when charging.
I know the newer batteries are different, but, I am only using the 5 watt USB adapter.

This is just anecdotal and our phone usage does vary from each other.
But, honestly not that much.
 
I want to preserve the battery health of my new iPhone 11 Pro Max as much as possible and I don’t really need fast charging. Is it better to use the 5w charger and slowly charge the phone to preserve battery health? Or will slow charging be detrimental as iPhone 11 Pro will be designed with fast charging in mind?
You spring for the iPhone 11 pro max after all the stuff about Tom cook, planned obsolescence, etc. Guess you don’t believe your own hyperbole. :rolleyes:
 
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You spring for the iPhone 11 pro max after all the stuff about Tom cook, planned obsolescence, etc. Guess you don’t believe your own hyperbole. :rolleyes:

I went Android with the Note for a year and I missed the integration with iPad and Apple Watch. There are no equivalents on that side. That’s why I came back. I don’t plan to upgrade past iOS 13.
 
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Maybe there are a couple of things to keep in mind, the charging rate is controlled by the phone, not the charger. But of course the phone can’t charge at a faster rate than the charger supplies, so a phone capable of fast charging will charge faster using a charger with capacity over 5W.

iOS 13 will have better charging profiles for those that plug the phone in every night. Use the supplied charger and cable and as @tonybarnaby says, don’t worry about it.

You might also consider a good wireless charger. Wireless maxes out at 7.5W on an iPhone which seems like a decent compromise in charging rates. Be sure to get a wireless charger that the phone will recognize as QI compliant, otherwise it will not charge beyond 5W.
 
I used to swear by all these rules, and I’m SO glad to be over it. I picked up my 8+ a year ago last week. I’m at 99% battery heath, and I charge it any time I’m home and charge it to 100% while I sleep. Babying a phone in order to get an extra 6-12 months (at best) from it over the course of 3 years time is not worth it. If the battery couldn’t be replaced then by all means, yes. We’re talking about a battery that costs about $75 to replace, and even the most hardcore users will easily make it 18-24 months before needing it.

40-80% is a real thing. Lithium ion batteries prefer to stay at 70% at all times. It’s all true, it’s just not worth the hassle and I’m so glad to be over my battery ocd. I advise anyone on here who is dealing with it to just plug it in and force yourself to get over it. The alternative is maybe one extra battery over the course of 4 years of ownership, but most of us won’t keep our phones that long.

Well I read and watched many YouTube videos on it and I want my new phone to be at 98% in a year by doing this I might achieve that, my last iPhone I didn’t care and did what you are doing and in a year it was at 88% battery health
 
Well I read and watched many YouTube videos on it and I want my new phone to be at 98% in a year by doing this I might achieve that, my last iPhone I didn’t care and did what you are doing and in a year it was at 88% battery health
It depends how often you use your phone and how hot it gets. Assuming you get down to 80% in under 2 years, a new battery is around $80. For me, it’s not worth babying it for that long of a time to save chump change.
 
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I agree with this comment; however, it’s pretty easy not to let your phone die all the way. My wife was always using her phone until it died rather than charging it each night, and her battery needed to be replaced while mine still had good battery health (this was with the iPhone 6). I’ve always used it during the day, and charged it every night. If I know I’m going to be needing it a lot in the evening then I’ll throw it on the wireless charger at work or plug it in while I’m driving, but in the 2 years I’ve owned the iPhone X I think I’ve only let the battery die two or three times.

But ya, definitely don’t overthink it. Use your phone as you like and don’t make it cause you any extra work or worry.
 
Well I read and watched many YouTube videos on it and I want my new phone to be at 98% in a year by doing this I might achieve that, my last iPhone I didn’t care and did what you are doing and in a year it was at 88% battery health

FWIW, I have an 8+ that I keep topped up to 100% as often as possible. It's 1 year old and I use the standard 5w charger. I just checked and my battery health is 100%. Obviously, YMMV.
 
I would definitely keep using my 7.5w Wireless Mophie charger on my night stand when I recharge through the night. Im not in a rush for complete charge then.
 
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