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rkuo

macrumors 65816
Sep 25, 2010
1,308
955
80% of what?

That's what spins me around on this whole thing. 80% of full? What's full? What behaves differently in the chemistry at 80% than it does at 70, 90 or 100%? I'll bet there's not a step function anywhere along that continuum. All of these numbers are arbitrary.

Remember when Jobs redefined what the signal "bars" mean?

100% is just some point on the capacity-longevity curve. It can be moved. 80% is a different point. I get that some people think their use case is different than typical and they'll get a better product by changing from Apple's defaults, but the fixation people have on it seems misplaced to me.

I wish Apple would release data on battery longevity for both settings-- this sounds to me like a give-em-what-they-want feature. Especially after trying to do it right with machine learning and then backing off to a dumb toggle.
iOS 18 does in fact allow users to set the limit in 5% increments down to 80 percent.

Not sure what other point you were trying to make … just because there’s a continuum of potential choices doesn’t invalidate the benefit. This is a well known enough logical fallacy that it has a name.

 

MallardDuck

macrumors 68000
Jul 21, 2014
1,678
3,230
I have recently set the 80% limit for my battery on my iPhone 15 Pro Max, Watch Ultra and my M4 iPad Pro. I have never done this before and although I can still last the day, it takes a bit of getting used to, to not see 100% charged in the morning.

Do you use the 80% limit or not? Do you think it’s worth it?
Definitely. I’ve seen a marked difference in battery aging on the devices that support it. Since I plan to keep this iPad for many more years than my previous models (it’s vastly overpowered for my needs), if I can extend battery life it’ll definitely be worth it. I do charge to 100 before I travel, but for daily use? 80% is fine.
 

Analog Kid

macrumors G3
Mar 4, 2003
9,360
12,603
It’s not that deep. Set the toggle to 80% and go touch some grass in life. I don’t understand it must be Asperger’s or Spectrum that “some” people deep dive into such simple details and fret over and over.
What’s funny is you think I’m fretting over details and I think you are… “make sure it’s set to an 80% limit” looks a bit specific to me. My position would be: just take it as it comes and touch some grass in life.
 
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Analog Kid

macrumors G3
Mar 4, 2003
9,360
12,603
iOS 18 does in fact allow users to set the limit in 5% increments down to 80 percent.

Not sure what other point you were trying to make … just because there’s a continuum of potential choices doesn’t invalidate the benefit. This is a well known enough logical fallacy that it has a name.


My point was not that a continuum invalidates the point, it was that obsessing specifically over 80% without knowing what that relates to in the physical electro chemistry of the battery is getting very focused on a number without meaning. Apple can change what 100% means tomorrow, as they did with signal strength, or change the battery construction, or a dozen other things and 80% suddenly means something different.
 

Tagbert

macrumors 603
Jun 22, 2011
6,254
7,280
Seattle
I think a good metric for deciding if you should turn this on is trading off the battery replacement cost.

MacBook -> Expensive as hell battery replacement. 80% mode turned on.

iPad/Pro -> They last forever (I get 4-6 years out of a battery charging 100% all the time). Don't bother!

Apple Watch -> Lasts about 3 years charging to 100% before it gets annoying and then the chassis is knackered anyway. Don't bother!

iPhone -> Replace battery every 2 years anyway. Don't bother!
It really depends on whether you plan to keep the device for a while and whether you are someone who used most of your battery every single day. A lot of us use significantly less than 80% of charge on a normal day so there is no downside to turning on the 80% limit. It has no impact on how we use our phones. The benefit is better battery life when the device gets older. There are still some days when I want more battery and I can turn it up to 100%. that preserves my ability to get 100% even when the device is older.
 

AlexJoda

macrumors 6502a
Apr 8, 2015
817
619
I leave my M1 12.9” plugged in for 24 hours daily during the work week so I’d appreciate having this feature. Right now I’m using a HomeKit Smart Plug + iOS Shortcuts so its stays between 70-80%.

I would never use it on my iPad mini though. I just use that one too much that an 80% limit would be too limiting (no pun intended).
Same with me. Using a Tapo smart plug to charge my M1 iPP to 80% and it works great. The battery degradation seems less to me watching this with coconut battery. On my MacBook I am using Energiza for the same purpose. Especially when you leave your device on power for a longer time this is very useful…
 
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AlexJoda

macrumors 6502a
Apr 8, 2015
817
619
I have recently set the 80% limit for my battery on my iPhone 15 Pro Max, Watch Ultra and my M4 iPad Pro. I have never done this before and although I can still last the day, it takes a bit of getting used to, to not see 100% charged in the morning.

Do you use the 80% limit or not? Do you think it’s worth it?
I am doing it since I am driving a Tesla EV. Doing the same with the car and that improved my knowledge about batteries…
 
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AlexJoda

macrumors 6502a
Apr 8, 2015
817
619
I seem to be using about 50% charge daily on my iPad Pro M4, so going from 80% to 30% rather than 100% to 50% seems like a no-brainer for my use case. When I think I’ll need more I’ll go to 100% of course, I don’t lose sight of the fact that it’s there to serve me, rather than vice versa. :)
Very good explanation!
 

NewOldStock

macrumors regular
Mar 20, 2023
224
161
And soon your 80% will be 70% in time frame then what ya going to do?
Use the whole 100% while you got it available to you.
80%now say 8 hours
80% later say 6 hours when things wear down a bit.
 

cjsuk

macrumors 6502a
Apr 30, 2024
613
2,251
It really depends on whether you plan to keep the device for a while and whether you are someone who used most of your battery every single day. A lot of us use significantly less than 80% of charge on a normal day so there is no downside to turning on the 80% limit. It has no impact on how we use our phones. The benefit is better battery life when the device gets older. There are still some days when I want more battery and I can turn it up to 100%. that preserves my ability to get 100% even when the device is older.

Having on at least 2 occasions been caught off guard and ended up in hospital with no powerbank, that 20% may be needed.
 

rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
14,915
13,259
Having on at least 2 occasions been caught off guard and ended up in hospital with no powerbank, that 20% may be needed.

I start the day with 80% and at the end of the day, it's still 80% since the devices are always plugged in at the office. 🤷‍♀️
 
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Zwhaler

macrumors 604
Jun 10, 2006
7,265
1,963
I have recently set the 80% limit for my battery on my iPhone 15 Pro Max, Watch Ultra and my M4 iPad Pro. I have never done this before and although I can still last the day, it takes a bit of getting used to, to not see 100% charged in the morning.

Do you use the 80% limit or not? Do you think it’s worth it?
I use it on devices that support it because it more than halves the wear and tear on the battery. Charging from 0% to approximately 91% has the same cycle wear on a battery as charging from 91%-100%.
 
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AVBeatMan

macrumors 603
Original poster
Nov 10, 2010
5,967
3,848
How do you manage battery heath on a Mac? What's this al dente thing?
 

Wizec

macrumors 6502a
Jun 30, 2019
680
777
I think the upcoming 90% is going to be a lot more useful for me personally on my iPad, and the 95% on my iPhone. It’s nice that they are giving us more options to tailor to our own workflows.
 
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Tagbert

macrumors 603
Jun 22, 2011
6,254
7,280
Seattle
How do you manage battery heath on a Mac? What's this al dente thing?
Apple’s battery controls on the Mac are limited and mainly an automated setting that is supposed to limit the battery charge level but many of us find that it never quite gets there.

Al Dente is a third-party utility that lets you set the specific charge level you want and it maintains that. There are other features but I only use the charge limiter.
 
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Analog Kid

macrumors G3
Mar 4, 2003
9,360
12,603
I use it on devices that support it because it more than halves the wear and tear on the battery. Charging from 0% to approximately 91% has the same cycle wear on a battery as charging from 91%-100%.
Do you have a source for this, because I'd be interested in seeing how that test was done.
 
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Zwhaler

macrumors 604
Jun 10, 2006
7,265
1,963
Do you have a source for this, because I'd be interested in seeing how that test was done.
The source was from a battery health app on my previous Android phone which had a slider showing the charge cycle wear vs percentage charged. It was 0.5 cycles at 91%. The app may have been called battery pro or something similar, I don't remember. So I don't know the science behind it or whether or not their numbers were vetted.
 

Analog Kid

macrumors G3
Mar 4, 2003
9,360
12,603
The source was from a battery health app on my previous Android phone which had a slider showing the charge cycle wear vs percentage charged. It was 0.5 cycles at 91%. The app may have been called battery pro or something similar, I don't remember. So I don't know the science behind it or whether or not their numbers were vetted.
Yeah, I'd like to see a technical reference. An app like that is kind of motivated by a belief system.

Every technical reference I find makes it clear that this is not a simple relationship in any way and it's driven by too many variables to focus on any one. Even capacity doesn't have a simple definition-- one paper suggests that charging to higher voltages reduces the charge capacity, but charging to lower voltages increases the internal resistance which leads to lower power capacity. The battery chemistry and physical design impacts the aging impacts of both time and cycling. There are several short term impacts as internal structures form that mean you can't easily experiment with a new battery to look for trends.
 

aevan

macrumors 601
Feb 5, 2015
4,537
7,234
Serbia
My point was not that a continuum invalidates the point, it was that obsessing specifically over 80% without knowing what that relates to in the physical electro chemistry of the battery is getting very focused on a number without meaning. Apple can change what 100% means tomorrow, as they did with signal strength, or change the battery construction, or a dozen other things and 80% suddenly means something different.

80% of maximum capacity of the battery that is inside your device. Apple can’t change that, that is a fixed value for each battery. Don’t overthink it. Using this setting prolongs battery health.
 
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magbarn

macrumors 68040
Oct 25, 2008
3,016
2,380
If you're planning on keeping your iPad till obsolete status, it's definitely would be worth it. I've never had luck getting my iPad batteries replaced even though there is definite real world loss of battery run time AND coconut battery also reporting battery wear to less than 80% capacity which SHOULD result in a battery replacement. Apple's diagnostic software always reports 10% higher capacity than coconut battery on iPads which I find odd as iPhones and MacBooks read about the same on coconut battery vs Apple's diagnostic software. I just took it in again 2 weeks ago as it now randomly shuts off. NOW Apple's diagnostic software reports a bad battery at 65% battery capacity. Now the iPad Air 2 is obsolete and they can't change the battery out anymore. What a crock.
 

aevan

macrumors 601
Feb 5, 2015
4,537
7,234
Serbia
The “ignorance is bliss” argument.

No, you’re just complicating something that’s not that important. There’s a setting on your iPhones and iPads that makes your battery last longer. It works. That’s all there is to it. That’s what the OP asked - does it make a difference? Yes it does.
 
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