Can somebody shead some light on why this feature is missing on older models? I understand it wasn't ready for 17.0, which was optimized for new iPhone models. But in 17.1 I really thought they would add this to all iPhones and iPads. It seems like a trivial function to add, or am I missing something and there are actually some hardware constraints?
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Other 80% charging limit on older models
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I can't say why as I don't know why and I don't speak for Apple. But, I think it's a thing now because people obsessed about batteries made it a thing.
My 11 Pro Max and my 6s+ have optimized charging and I do have it on. Other than that I have never worried about my battery health.
My 11 Pro Max and my 6s+ have optimized charging and I do have it on. Other than that I have never worried about my battery health.
Is it maybe because the older models will already have naturally aged batteries that will already have a lower capacity due to age and use. So by implementing 80% on an already well used battery they could be kneecapping those models battery life? I’m not sure.
Sure... but not on a say 4 month old 14.
Or an 11 with a newly replaced battery, for example
It could also be to encourage potential buyers to spring for the latest phones. I just bought a NIB iPhone 13 from Best Buy.
The Title and the OP question is about the hard 80% charging limit option available on iPhone 15 models only.
Other members replied talking about Optimized Charging which is something different and available for older iPhones.
We’ll never know the real answer to this question. Cynics will say that it’s just an artificially limited feature on the 15, while others might say that the charging circuit needed a hardware change.
Other members replied talking about Optimized Charging which is something different and available for older iPhones.
We’ll never know the real answer to this question. Cynics will say that it’s just an artificially limited feature on the 15, while others might say that the charging circuit needed a hardware change.
Same reason they won't add smart hdr 5 to older phones, they need us all to upgrade
Apple doesn’t make money bringing this feature to old iPhone’s.
Apple still sells older models brand new. Carriers still sell iPhone 12 brand new. So that can't be the reason.
Reason: Feature rationing.
Even iPhone 6S supports Optimized Battery Charging. In other words, iOS uses a fancy algorithm to stop at 80% overnight. So there's absolutely no reason why it can't stop charging at a simple 80%.
It may because the iPhone isn’t able to detect the battery level?
Optimized Battery Charging only works when the OS is booted up.
The 80% hard stop available on the 15 models works even when the phone is turned off but plugged in.
That requires a hardware change.
As a computer engineer, I'm genuinely confused as to why it didn't come to more recent devices.
This is a feature that is super easy from a software perspective. It is also not a feature that you can really market in a sense to entice people to upgrade, so there's no sense in gatekeeping it.
Same with the battery cycle information you can see in the 15s.
This is the type of feature that is a small nice little touch that is a no-brainer for apple to add to older iPhones. But for some reason, they haven't, and no one can seem to figure it out for sure.
Apple being Apple probably has a reason they think is good enough. Whether we as a consumer base would agree that's a good reason is a different story.
Best case scenario: it actually is a hardware change in addition to the firmware & software.
Worst case scenario: they have some dumb reason for not doing it.
Wild case scenario: Lightning isn't capable of doing it properly so it's limited to USB C iPhones.
Side note: What about iPads then?! Eh not as big of a deal IMO. iPads generally have pretty good battery life and aren't charged as frequently (because they're used less on average probably in most cases) so they don't really benefit from extra battery protections like this. Sure it would be nice if you had the option at least, and in an ideal world we would, but I'm not surprised it's not on iPads (or Macbooks for that matter).
C'est la vie. No reason to lose sleep over it quite frankly.
This is a feature that is super easy from a software perspective. It is also not a feature that you can really market in a sense to entice people to upgrade, so there's no sense in gatekeeping it.
Same with the battery cycle information you can see in the 15s.
This is the type of feature that is a small nice little touch that is a no-brainer for apple to add to older iPhones. But for some reason, they haven't, and no one can seem to figure it out for sure.
Apple being Apple probably has a reason they think is good enough. Whether we as a consumer base would agree that's a good reason is a different story.
Best case scenario: it actually is a hardware change in addition to the firmware & software.
Worst case scenario: they have some dumb reason for not doing it.
Wild case scenario: Lightning isn't capable of doing it properly so it's limited to USB C iPhones.
Side note: What about iPads then?! Eh not as big of a deal IMO. iPads generally have pretty good battery life and aren't charged as frequently (because they're used less on average probably in most cases) so they don't really benefit from extra battery protections like this. Sure it would be nice if you had the option at least, and in an ideal world we would, but I'm not surprised it's not on iPads (or Macbooks for that matter).
C'est la vie. No reason to lose sleep over it quite frankly.
Apple can put in a disclaimer "just like alarms, this feature may not work if your iPhone is turned off."
Battery Charge Alarm
Battery Charge Alarm is an app that helps you charge your device to a specific battery level. You can set an alarm that will go off when the device is charged to the desired level. This is completely adjustable through an intuitive user interface, matching iOS design guidelines. Once you set...
apps.apple.com
To make these complex calculations you need an A17 Pro...that or they just want to force you to upgrade. Just like S7 Watches are able to use namedrop bit S6 cannot. If you did not know S7 is a S6 in disguise. Stagemanager all over again.
Apple blatantly excludes older models from things they’re perfectly capable of doing to incentivize you to upgrade.
The simplest answer is almost always the correct answer.
And they’ve been doing it since way back. Nothing new at all.
The simplest answer is almost always the correct answer.
And they’ve been doing it since way back. Nothing new at all.
Of course, no hardware constraints at all. Clearly it is only for the sake of differentiation for the 15 models.
If even the iPhone X can use optimized charging, setting a temporary limit to 80%, setting a permanent limit to 80% is even easier both in terms of programming and of hardware requirements.
It might come to the older models later when the feature loses leverage.
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The average users only rarely turns off and leaves their iPhone off.
Charging while the device is off happens even less often as it requires the user initiating the charging while the device is on and then shutting it off while its still charging.
The fact that older iPhones don't have the hardware to limit charging while off would just get mentioned in the little "explainer" paragraph below each menu item when enabling the 80% hard limit.
It's only the Apple A17 Pro's 3 nm N3B process production, combined with the newly designed 6 core GPU, that makes it possible to stop charging at 80 percent.
Nah, I'm kidding, it's feature rationing, as @JPack mentioned above.
Nah, I'm kidding, it's feature rationing, as @JPack mentioned above.
Any code has to be written to be backward compatible for hardware, the phone model, chip, battery.
it really just sounds like the team that wrote this code doesn't want to write it to backward compatible.
(or weren't asked to by their leadership)
They were told to write this code for the iPhone 15 models only and never had plans make it work with older phones.
One day Apple will give us an iPhone that has every feature you could ever want. They’ll push the boundaries as hard as they can to get you the best product that can be made. That’s just the company they are.
I joke
I joke
Apple’s battery optimization features are dumbed-down and miss easy low-hanging fruit. You can easily beat them by setting up your own custom charging optimization with a smartplug + shortcut automation, and if that’s too hard, then a Chargie.org USB dongle w/app is simple and foolproof.