Optimized Battery Charging on iPhone: Should You Use It?
Since iOS 13 was released, iPhone users have been taking advantage of Optimized Battery Charging. But with the iPhone 15 series, Apple has taken another step to improve battery life in the long run. Recently, the company updated its support article about this feature, which was spotted by YouTuber Aaron Zollo.
What is Optimized Battery Charging?
Optimized Battery Charging is designed to reduce the wear on your battery and improve its lifespan by reducing the time your iPhone spends fully charged. When the feature is enabled, the iPhone delays charging past 80% in certain situations.
By using machine learning, the iPhone can understand your routine and activate Optimized Battery Charging at appropriate times. The algorithm ensures that your iPhone is fully charged by the time you need to unplug it and head out.
When Optimized Battery Charging is active, a notification on the Lock Screen says when your iPhone will be fully charged. If you need to fully charge your iPhone, touch and hold the notification and then tap Charge Now.
Here’s how to turn it on
Optimized Battery Charging on iPhone is on by default, but you can change that – here’s what to do if you want to turn it off or back on again:
- With iPhone 14 models and earlier, go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging and turn off Optimized Battery Charging.
- With iPhone 15 models, to choose between Optimized Battery Charging, 80% Limit, and None, go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging > Charging Optimization and choose an option.
Should I limit my iPhone 15 battery to 80%?
To improve battery life on iPhone 15 models, you can choose between Optimized Battery Charging, 80% Limit, and None.
When you choose 80% Limit, your iPhone will charge up to about 80 percent and stop charging. If the battery charge level gets down to 75 percent, charging will resume until your battery charge level reaches about 80 percent again.
This feature is useful to increase the lifespan of the battery, but at the end of the day, it all depends on your usage. Losing 20% of your battery life on a daily basis could be an issue. If this is going to impact your life in a negative way, it’s probably not worth it.
That said, there are a few tips and tricks that won’t impact your iPhone usage and will still improve your battery life.
Why isn’t Optimized Battery Charging activating on my iPhone?
Apple says that Optimized Battery Charging engages in locations where you spend the most time, such as at home or work. If you travel a lot, the feature might not work as expected, as it can’t be sure about your charging patterns.
Optimized Battery Charging needs at least 14 days to learn your charging habits. It won’t activate before then. Also, your iPhone needs to experience at least 9 charges of 5 hours or more in a given location for Optimized Battery Charging to activate.
How to maximize your iPhone’s battery life
Apple offers a few valuable tips and tricks to improve battery life on your iPhone, such as:
- Keep your iPhone updated: This will help prevent bugs while bringing system optimizations
- Auto brightness: With auto brightness on, it adjusts your screen to lighting conditions automatically
- Low Power Mode: Low Power Mode increases battery life but reduces display brightness, optimizes device performance, and minimizes system animations. Apps including Mail will not download content in the background, and features like AirDrop, iCloud sync, and Continuity will be disabled. You can still use key functions like making and receiving phone calls, email, and messages, accessing the Internet, and more
- Background Activity: In Settings > General > Background App Refresh, you can check which apps are using background activity the most. You can also revoke access to some of them
- Location Services: You can optimize your battery life by turning off Location Services for the app. Turn off in Settings > Privacy > Location Services.
- Home & Lock Screen: If an app frequently wakes your display with notifications, you can turn off push notifications for the app in Settings > Notifications. Tap the app and set Allow Notifications to Off.
- No Cell Coverage and Low Signal: When you have poor connectivity, the battery life of your iPhone drains faster. An option is to search for a better area or turn Airplane mode on.
Now you know everything about Optimized Battery Charging on your iPhone and how to improve battery life with some tips and tricks. That said, it’s important to note that after a few years, even if you take all of these precautions, your battery will still degrade, and you might need to replace it with a new one to get an improved experience.
