iPhone 12 Pro Max Apple needs to give us the 80% max charge option on the iphone!

[zkap]

I really don’t get the point behind micromanaging and willingly using half of the battery capacity.

So let’s say that we charge up to 80% and use it until 20%. You are using 60% of the capacity with a brand new phone.

1. The battery is still aging
2. You are already using only 60% of the battery, that is equivalent to a 5-6 year old phone
3. Since the battery ages anyway, the “60%” that you are using is going to be less actual use time every month/year

I can write much more, but there’s no point. Batteries are consumable parts and cost 100 to replace every 2-3 years if you want peak performance.
And if you are fine with 60% of the original capacity to begin with, why bother? The battery will reach that point after 5-6 years anyway, but at least you enjoyed 100-90-80% for quite a few years.

I agree, though to be fair, this mostly applies to people who use most of the battery's capacity throughout the day and still obsess over battery health. They indeed do use only a portion of the battery's capacity because they allow their schedules to be interrupted by charging a battery that has enough juice left and at that point you're just willingly cutting the capacity of your battery in half in practical terms. Those users are inconvenienced needlessly by their own making and that defeats the point of slowing down battery degradation.

With that said, choice is still a good thing and I guess it would be fairly easy for Apple to implement a toggle in Battery settings where you can choose that you max charge is always 80% instead of a 100%, done. That may mess with Optimized charging, but just pop up an alert saying using 80% as max charge disables Optimized charging and that's that, user's choice.

 

[krspkbl]

i have a custom automation in shortcuts that alerts me when it goes over 80%. i was going to do one for it dropping below 20% but i didn't bother with it.

it would be cool if Apple put options in the settings to stop charging if it hits 80%, maintain 80%, or trickle charge to 100% if it goes beyond 80%.

in fact there is a setting called "optimised battery charging" which says "to reduce battery ageing, iPhone learns from your daily charging routine so it can wait to finish charging past 80% until you need to use it". but it doesn't seem to work for me.

thanks to the shortcut i rarely let my phone charge beyond 80%. sometimes it might be closer to 90% before i unplug it. i will easily notice if my battery drops to 20% due to the warning. i have charged the phone to 100% a couple times but never fully drained it. i try to stay between 20-80% but sometimes it can be 10-90%.

i've had my iphone 12 pro max since November 2020 so almost 2 years and right now it still has 92% health. i get people dont want to worry about maintaining their battery charge and would rather just use the phone. that's cool but it doesn't bother me and even if i'm only sitting between 20-80% then i still get good enough battery life to get me through the day so it's not really affecting my usage of it. if i really need that extra charge i will charge it a bit more before i leave the house or i will boost the charge if i have my charger with me.

the automation i have is easy to set up if anyone wants to do it.

• go into shortcuts, automation, and press + or "create personal automation" (if you don't have any existing automations)
• go to battery level and move the slider to 80%
• tick "rises above 80%" and press next
• add action, search for "notification" and pick "show notification". if you just want it to play a sound then search for "Play Sound". i like to have a notification incase i miss the sound.
• change the notification text. i have "Charge Warning". press next
• disable "ask before running" and then "don't ask". enable "notify when run".

 

[Jason J. Schneider]

but it doesn't seem to work for me.

Yes, in order for Optimized Battery Charging to learn, you need to:

If Optimized Battery Charging doesn't activate​

Optimized charging is designed to engage only in locations where you spend the most time, such as your home and place of work. The feature doesn't engage when your usage habits are more variable, such as when you travel. Because of this, some location settings must be enabled for Optimized Battery Charging to activate. None of the location information used for this feature is sent to Apple.
Here are a list of settings that must be enabled:

• Settings > Privacy > Location Services > Location Services.
• Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services > System Customization.
• Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services > Significant Locations > Significant Locations.

From here.

 

[krspkbl]

Yes, in order for Optimized Battery Charging to learn, you need to:



From here.

thanks, i checked my settings and all that is enabled. maybe it is working but i haven't noticed it.

 

[ApplesAreSweet&Sour]

thanks, i checked my settings and all that is enabled. maybe it is working but i haven't noticed it.

Despite enabling all settings and being in the right location, I'm pretty sure it won't kick in if there's no obvious regularity to when you charge:

In my experience, the feature only works reliably if you charge your device at approximately the same hours of a day.

It also seems to work better if you have the sleep schedule thing enabled and actually don't use your phone during your scheduled sleep. Or you have to have 4-8 hours every day where you don't interact with your iPhone.

Other than that, it seems that with Battery Optimisation enabled, almost none of my devices ever reach 100% regardless of when I charge them.

I'm pretty sure Apple has weighed the pros and cons and decided that the "at-least 80% but rarely all the way to 100%" is the best combination of slowing battery ageing long-term but having enough charge to actually get a substantial amount of SOT from one charging session to the next.

As mainstream as iPhones are today, I don't think we'll see them go all the way on battery ageing and micromanaging settings. Not unless iPhones become so efficient that a single charge easily lasts 5 days or more without lowering display brightness significantly.

 

[allenvanhellen]

So crippling your battery out of the box so that it performs worse that it ever would 5 years down the line somehow makes you guys feel better? You think that making your battery act like it is absolutely shot somehow prevents it from becoming absolutely shot?

I'm sorry but I don't see the logic. If you can cope with self-inflicted dreadful battery life right out of the box then you can surely cope with that same kind of battery life 5 years down the road if you charged and drained your battery normally up to that point.

Not charging a lithium battery fully and not letting it go near totally flat are scientifically proven ways to extend the overall life span. Again, many of us prefer to prioritize device and battery lifespan longevity over being able to use 100% of a single charge on a given day; many of us aren’t such heavy users anyway.

 

[Jason J. Schneider]

Not charging a lithium battery fully and not letting it go near totally flat are scientifically proven ways to extend the overall life span. Again, many of us prefer to prioritize device and battery lifespan longevity over being able to use 100% of a single charge on a given day; many of us aren’t such heavy users anyway.

I'll just add to this, that I find myself lately switching Off the Wifi connection completely on my iPhone and iPad when I'm at my desk, working on my Mac. Or even when I chill in the evening on my iPad, I still keep the iPhone off Wifi.

My train of thought is why to keep these devices connected all the time, even when I'm not using them and clearly using another device where I receive all the communication anyway. It seemed like an awful waste of resources: connections kept alive, push notifications, fetches, different apps updates, all with no actual need. And all consuming a bit of battery every minute.

I've observed that by doing these, I can use my 13 Pro for days (around 4), and still doing the 25-80% charging way. Saves also some charging cycles...

 

[sunking101]

Not charging a lithium battery fully and not letting it go near totally flat are scientifically proven ways to extend the overall life span. Again, many of us prefer to prioritize device and battery lifespan longevity over being able to use 100% of a single charge on a given day; many of us aren’t such heavy users anyway.

...but you're expanding the longevity of a battery you never use fully. Even after 5 years of full charges and full discharges it would still perform well enough for your very humble needs.

That's what I don't understand, the fact that you mimic owning a thoroughly worn out battery straight out of the box with your 30-80% charge cycles yet claim to want to prevent owning such a battery. Baffling

 

[BigMcGuire]

...but you're expanding the longevity of a battery you never use fully. Even after 5 years of full charges and full discharges it would still perform well enough for your very humble needs.

That's what I don't understand, the fact that you mimic owning a thoroughly worn out battery straight out of the box with your 30-80% charge cycles yet claim to want to prevent owning such a battery. Baffling

So you have a point here. Even BatteryUniversity's graphs show that the biggest advantage of doing 40-80 seems to come at thousands of charge cycles later.

In my experience, with a 2 year usage cycle, one won't see a massive difference in battery health doing 40-80 vs 0-100. I kept most of my phones at 100% for most of their lives before I educated myself and learned it was not the best to leave them plugged in all the time (desk worker here).

That said, even in my worst case scenarios, over a 2 year usage cycle I only dropped like 6%. My wife who uses her phone significantly more than I do (usually has almost 2x the cycles) - was within a few % of health to my phone.

Thus, I think it is valid to ask the question: What is the benefit? IMO, benefit really only shows itself over a 3-5 year usage cycle. Since I never keep my phones for more than 2 years, the benefit is minimal.

 

[Bacong]

i have a custom automation in shortcuts that alerts me when it goes over 80%. i was going to do one for it dropping below 20% but i didn't bother with it.

it would be cool if Apple put options in the settings to stop charging if it hits 80%, maintain 80%, or trickle charge to 100% if it goes beyond 80%.

in fact there is a setting called "optimised battery charging" which says "to reduce battery ageing, iPhone learns from your daily charging routine so it can wait to finish charging past 80% until you need to use it". but it doesn't seem to work for me.

thanks to the shortcut i rarely let my phone charge beyond 80%. sometimes it might be closer to 90% before i unplug it. i will easily notice if my battery drops to 20% due to the warning. i have charged the phone to 100% a couple times but never fully drained it. i try to stay between 20-80% but sometimes it can be 10-90%.

i've had my iphone 12 pro max since November 2020 so almost 2 years and right now it still has 92% health. i get people dont want to worry about maintaining their battery charge and would rather just use the phone. that's cool but it doesn't bother me and even if i'm only sitting between 20-80% then i still get good enough battery life to get me through the day so it's not really affecting my usage of it. if i really need that extra charge i will charge it a bit more before i leave the house or i will boost the charge if i have my charger with me.

the automation i have is easy to set up if anyone wants to do it.

• go into shortcuts, automation, and press + or "create personal automation" (if you don't have any existing automations)
• go to battery level and move the slider to 80%
• tick "rises above 80%" and press next
• add action, search for "notification" and pick "show notification". if you just want it to play a sound then search for "Play Sound". i like to have a notification incase i miss the sound.
• change the notification text. i have "Charge Warning". press next
• disable "ask before running" and then "don't ask". enable "notify when run".

just to add my information, I've had a 12 Pro since release-ish in 2020, and my battery health is a disappointing 84%, and I charged wirelessly every night. you did a lot of work for that 8%, people just need to decide if it's worth it. thankfully I got a 14 Pro so the 12 Pro's battery life is of no concern now

 

[reppans]

...but you're expanding the longevity of a battery you never use fully. Even after 5 years of full charges and full discharges it would still perform well enough for your very humble needs.

That's what I don't understand, the fact that you mimic owning a thoroughly worn out battery straight out of the box with your 30-80% charge cycles yet claim to want to prevent owning such a battery. Baffling

Anecdotally, it seems SoT decline and battery health decline are not linear. Many folks reporting 80-something% BH, seem to claim their phones used to last all day, yet now require multiple plug-ins per day. A 20% drop in SoT is not really significant… but from all the user reports, a 20% drop in BH does sound quite significant to SoT?

As a battery/efficiency hobbyist (from UL backpacking) I like to ‘tune’ my phone to Apple SoT spec and screenshot the batt graphs when brand new as a benchmark to compare back to:

At best, I only have time to average half that SoT (already too much time-wasting), so I could cycle 100-50, and I’d probably get your typical Apple estimate of ~500cycles/80%/2yrs… like most folks.

Instead, a $10 smartplug and shortcut automation - for me, far less cost/time/hassle than an Apple battery swap, and I live 5mi. away - lets me cycle 65-15 effortlessly, and 38months later… my battery is still just great:

And this isn’t the first time - I averaged 6yrs with my previous 2 iPhones and iPad, as primary, using light timers (that ‘cost’ ~5sec/day to adjust). FWIW, I’m not budget constrained, I just find upgrading gear to painful and therefore procrastinate it.

 

[turbochgd]

Instead, a $10 smartplug and shortcut automation - for me, far less cost/time/hassle than an Apple battery swap, and I live 5mi. away - lets me cycle 65-15 effortlessly, and 38months later… my battery is still just great:

Could you give more information about the smart plug and shortcut automation you’ve setup? Thanks!

 

[allenvanhellen]

...but you're expanding the longevity of a battery you never use fully. Even after 5 years of full charges and full discharges it would still perform well enough for your very humble needs.

That's what I don't understand, the fact that you mimic owning a thoroughly worn out battery straight out of the box with your 30-80% charge cycles yet claim to want to prevent owning such a battery. Baffling

You’re only thinking of daily use. I still have an iPhone 4S that I use from time to time, and I’m glad its battery is in decent shape. That’s true because I didn’t fully charge and discharge it every day.

I have an Apple Watch and sometimes leave my iPhone at home. When I’m home, I often leave it in the office, sometimes switched off, sometimes on. I often need the iPhone on for running shortcuts, getting text notifications on my Watch and iPad, etc. That means I often leave it plugged in. I would like to know that I’m not wearing out the battery faster by leaving it plugged in and charged to 100% (I think you might not be aware that this is harmful to the long-term health/life of lithium batteries; this is why Apple has added optimized charging features to most of its devices; it’s based on science and is indisputable).

Your argument is not empirical. Your usage patterns and priorities do not match mine and others. We want this option. If you don’t need it, then…

 

[MrTSolar]

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apple-needs-to-give-us-the-80-max-charge-option-on-the-iphone.2365460/post-31653730

Due to events ^, all I have to say now is:

 

[MrTSolar]

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apple-needs-to-give-us-the-80-max-charge-option-on-the-iphone.2365460/post-31653730

Due to events ^, all I have to say now is:

 

[MacCheetah3]

Anecdotally, it seems SoT decline and battery health decline are not linear.

Battery health is not typically linear. The peak health will normally drop quickly (e.g., 1% per month for the initial several percent), then appear to plateau, and, finally, drop steeply again as the cells truly become unusable.

With that said, the common (problematic) mentality is if the battery health does drop, for example, 1% per month, “I’ll need to swap my iPhone battery in six months!"

Many folks reporting 80-something% BH, seem to claim their phones used to last all day, yet now require multiple plug-ins per day. A 20% drop in SoT is not really significant… but from all the user reports, a 20% drop in BH does sound quite significant to SoT?

The most common culprit: perception denial.

Deep Blue Sea:

Preacher:
Einstein's theory of relativity. Grab hold of a hot pan, second can seem like an hour. Put your hands on a hot woman, an hour can seem like a second. It's all relative.
Tom Scoggins:
I spent four years at CalTech, and that's the best physics explanation I've ever heard.

Similar reactions can be seen in every “battery drain” complaint err discussion following nearly every OS update. Some people even aggressively try to convince themselves and others, “It’s not because it’s a new OS release and I’m trying all of the new features. I’m using my iPhone the same as I always have.” Right… 😉 Pointless (and to me strange) rationales.

I used to charge it in the car, where it would spend a lot of time at 100%, and that is when most of the degradation occurred.

Bottom line, minimizing time above 80% charge allows the battery to live its longest life.

Yep. And if you charge a device to 100%, unplug it within a couple of hours, then use it normally, all is good. By the way, the same goes for discharging: begin charging within a couple hours after low battery auto shutdown and all is good.

 

[MrTSolar]

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apple-needs-to-give-us-the-80-max-charge-option-on-the-iphone.2365460/post-31653730

Due to events ^, all I have to say now is:

 

[MacCheetah3]

True, but not all that doable with CarPlay and/or navigation running on longer drives. Hence the request for an explicit 80% charge limit. Full-on charge stop and hold at 80% avoids most battery degradation. Samsung has it. Apple can add it (doing away with a lot of the “predictive” code would also help with runtime).

Fair. And not that I’m against having the feature — more the attitude it’s a make or break — but my guess is even if it were implemented, most users would forget to enable/ignore it or worse, forget they enabled/selected it and be angry the device is not at 100% charge (e.g., when they reach their destination, work or otherwise). In other words, it’s not absolutely as simple as have it there for users who want it and it’ll be out of sight, out of mind for those who don’t.

 

[sunking101]

Fair. And not that I’m against having the feature — more the attitude it’s a make or break — but my guess is even if it were implemented, most users would forget to enable/ignore it or worse, forget they enabled/selected it and be angry the device is not at 100% charge (e.g., when they reach their destination, work or otherwise). In other words, it’s not absolutely as simple as have it there for users who want it and it’ll be out of sight, out of mind for those who don’t.

Deep in the settings.....toggle on for lousy battery life.☺️

 

[MacCheetah3]

Deep in the settings.....toggle on for lousy battery life.☺️

People have shown they are capable of mind boggling behaviors.

 

[MrTSolar]

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apple-needs-to-give-us-the-80-max-charge-option-on-the-iphone.2365460/post-31653730

Due to events ^, all I have to say now is:

 

[4sallypat]

...but you're expanding the longevity of a battery you never use fully. Even after 5 years of full charges and full discharges it would still perform well enough for your very humble needs.

That's what I don't understand, the fact that you mimic owning a thoroughly worn out battery straight out of the box with your 30-80% charge cycles yet claim to want to prevent owning such a battery. Baffling

Yes, agree it's baffling how some people think...

I run into this all day on a FB page I moderate for EV Truck owners.

Some want to only limit their EV charge to 80% thinking they will make the battery last longer and own it past the 8 year warranty period...

I don't keep vehicles past 4 or 5 years (normally 2-3 years) so 80% charge is ridiculous.

Every charge goes to 100% as I am not going to shortchange my vehicle's range for the "happy 80% number"....

Why would you fill you gas tank to 80% each time you refill ?
Is it to go visit the gas pump more often ?

Just don't understand....

 

[Ifti]

i have a custom automation in shortcuts that alerts me when it goes over 80%. i was going to do one for it dropping below 20% but i didn't bother with it.

it would be cool if Apple put options in the settings to stop charging if it hits 80%, maintain 80%, or trickle charge to 100% if it goes beyond 80%.

in fact there is a setting called "optimised battery charging" which says "to reduce battery ageing, iPhone learns from your daily charging routine so it can wait to finish charging past 80% until you need to use it". but it doesn't seem to work for me.

thanks to the shortcut i rarely let my phone charge beyond 80%. sometimes it might be closer to 90% before i unplug it. i will easily notice if my battery drops to 20% due to the warning. i have charged the phone to 100% a couple times but never fully drained it. i try to stay between 20-80% but sometimes it can be 10-90%.

i've had my iphone 12 pro max since November 2020 so almost 2 years and right now it still has 92% health. i get people dont want to worry about maintaining their battery charge and would rather just use the phone. that's cool but it doesn't bother me and even if i'm only sitting between 20-80% then i still get good enough battery life to get me through the day so it's not really affecting my usage of it. if i really need that extra charge i will charge it a bit more before i leave the house or i will boost the charge if i have my charger with me.

the automation i have is easy to set up if anyone wants to do it.

• go into shortcuts, automation, and press + or "create personal automation" (if you don't have any existing automations)
• go to battery level and move the slider to 80%
• tick "rises above 80%" and press next
• add action, search for "notification" and pick "show notification". if you just want it to play a sound then search for "Play Sound". i like to have a notification incase i miss the sound.
• change the notification text. i have "Charge Warning". press next
• disable "ask before running" and then "don't ask". enable "notify when run".

Will creating this also make the notification pop up on my Apple Watch??
I want to be able to leave my phone to charge, and then have a notification pop up on my watch to inform me when its at a certain level......

 

[Shadowbech]

Will creating this also make the notification pop up on my Apple Watch??
I want to be able to leave my phone to charge, and then have a notification pop up on my watch to inform me when its at a certain level......

Well if you have a smart plug you can use the shortcut automation to turn off the smart plug when you set it to a certain charge level whether than having to wait for it to go certain level.

 

[MrTSolar]

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apple-needs-to-give-us-the-80-max-charge-option-on-the-iphone.2365460/post-31653730

Due to events ^, all I have to say now is: