Should I charge my new phone only to 80%?

That’s excellent! John Gruber’s 15 Pro lost 11% of its capacity in just one year. Do you get up at the same time every morning? If so, that’s why OBC is working so well for you.

Apple guarantees five years of availability. I would wager that even a device that’s maintained optimally would be a good candidate for a battery replacement at least a year before that.

Yup, same time every day, 7 days a week. My phone usage is also pretty light & it normally has 75-80% of it’s charge left in the evening unless I’ve had any long conference calls on any given day.

I am experimenting with the 80% limit on my 16 Pro Max. So far, it has been workable. At the end of the day I am usually around 40%. The biggest adjustment is mental, as I was always topping off my 13 Pro Max to 100% prior to getting this new phone. My 13 Pro Max battery was at 86% after 3 years, so I guess I wasn’t doing too bad with my routine at the time, and maybe this isn’t worth it.

My six year old Xs Max still has 85% capacity left (only 4% less than Gruber’s 15 Pro after only a year) and supports normal peak performance.

A battery pack in my back pocket and a lightning cable got me through some very long support calls more than once :grinning:

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One more thing: he treats Juli Clover’s results as definitive (“I’m so glad Clover ran this test for a year and reported her results, because it backs up my assumption”), but so far these are all anecdotal.

And anecdotally, August Mueller‘s experience seems to be more typical of my own experience and that of most of the those I’ve heard from re. using the 80% limit:

I kept my phone at 80% charge for most of the year. There were 4-5 times where I let it charge to 100% for things like camping trips or long climbing days…

My day one iPhone 15 Pro stats are: max capacity: 100%, cycle count: 229.

Am I an outlier, or are Gruber and Clover?

https://shapeof.com/archives/2024/9/iphone_battery_life_after_a_year_at_80.html

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80% for sure is the magic mark for Lithium Ion batteries. This is not Apple exclusive, almost any EV manufacturer offers/mentions the 80% mark as an option to stop charging for prolongation of battery health.

I am impressed with Apple’s battery health management if you prefer to charge up to 100% daily always at the same time under ideal circumstances (thermal conditions and what not) - like in my case - battery health/capacity at 100% after a year of charging to 100% daily. It can be done, without harming battery health.

It does make sense to stop charging at about 80%, especially if the iPhone is sitting on a charger very often or if connected to a wired CarPlay connection. I am quite sure that this will help the battery.

P.S. Another thing is the “fast charge” phenomenon. While the iPhone 16 is able to charge faster, it may be an idea to keep using a charger that does charge not so fast. Those 20W power adapters are more than enough.

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This whole discussion really confuses me. I wouldn’t have a problem most of the days (if I‘m not traveling or something) to start with only 80% and then to recharge some time in the afternoon for half an hour. Or even charge for ten minutes every hour or whatever.
I don’t leave it on the charger for longer periods of time anyway (exept when driving longer distances). The question for me is mainly: Charge once the full way or more frequently but not fully?

From above - this still is my opinion, too.

But… if you want to you can help maintaining battery health by (in no particular order):

  • not charging too fast
  • not charging under extreme thermal conditions
  • not depleting the battery down to less than 20%
  • not charging the battery to 100% when keeping the iPhone connected to the charger for long times when it is fully charged
  • charging at a certain schedule so that iOS can make use of optimized charging
  • using the 80% limit if the iPhone is connected to chargers quite often or for long times

After all, I do not bother too much about this. Everything depends on how we are using our iPhones and what works best for us individually - and to be honest: sometimes a battery inside of an iPhone may just be a little more healthy than in another iPhone… Just because.

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Using the 80% limit and charging more frequently but not fully is working well for me (still at 100% capacity). Though I can usually go all day on 80% with the Pro Max, it tends to get topped off from CarPlay or me just using a charger because it’s there.

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