iPad Pro Are people concerned with battery degradation with iPad Pro?

[Abazigal]

$99 is Apple's out-of-warranty battery service.

Which only works if your iPad battery doesn't meet Apple's own 80% threshold, using their own in-house diagnostic tools. It's not like the iPhone, where Apple replaces the battery for you so long as you are willing to pay, no questions asked.

That's what happened with my 9.7" iPad Pro. Battery life was getting extremely bad after iOS 12, third party battery apps pegged battery health at around 80%, apple store rated it at 94%, and so I was out of luck.

The simple reason for this is that Apple replaces the iPad altogether, rather than just the battery, so it's definitely costing them more than a simple $99 in this regard.

 

[ericwn]

For someone not upgrading that often (5/6 years with a Pro) I think it should be a concern. Most people here do upgrade every 2/3 years it seems, so I don’t expect them to worry about this particular issue.

At any point in that journey you can avail of battery service through Apple as a paid service. That should give you piece of mind for the timeframe.

 

[ericwn]

To maximize the battery-life on li-ion device, you should keep the battery around 20%-80% or so. Charging, especially over nights usually keeps the iPad at 100% for longer periods of time. If this is so harmful, then why Apple doesnˋt give an option to set the max charge state at 80% on iPads (or iPhones). It should be pretty easy to do via software.

Why doesn´t Apple allow the user to decide if he wants to set a certain charging level without unplugging the device manually?

For example, on Teslas this is basic stuff to keep the battery life healthy as possible.

Don’t they have the optimised battery charging capability on iOS for quite a while now?

 

[rui no onna]

Don’t they have the optimised battery charging capability on iOS for quite a while now?

Only for iPhones, Apple Watches and Macs as far as I know. iPad does begin to trickle charge at 80% though.

 

[rui no onna]

At any point in that journey you can avail of battery service through Apple as a paid service. That should give you piece of mind for the timeframe.

Again, you can't for iPads. Apple only allows it if their internal battery tests show the iPad is below the 80% threshold. For some reason, Apple's numbers are usually much higher than the numbers you get from iMazing and Coconut Battery.

Personally, I think Apple should have Battery Health data in Settings for iPads same as on iPhones but absent a class action lawsuit/#batterygate, I don't think that's gonna happen.

 

[PhillyAnt]

Note: charging to 100% is not bad per se, it's keeping it at 100% that's bad, so leaving it plugged in all night or worse several days.

I had no idea that this is bad for it. I constantly keep my iPads plugged in and charging. At home it’s on the charger. In the car it’s on the charger. Been doing it with my iPads for years. Am I damaging my battery? I have Apple care on my new 1tb M1 12.9" cellular ipad so I’m not really worried, but I’m curious.

 

[subjonas]

but I definitely don't want to pay in the future to replace the battery and have my iPad taken apart for it.

Don’t fall for the tech industry’s trick of making people think battery replacement is too much of a hassle and too expensive (though it could stand to be simpler and cheaper). They do this to try to make people unconsciously believe it’s better to just buy a new device, which in reality is just as big of a hassle if not bigger when you include having to resell or trade in your old device, and of course much much more expensive. They actually depend on people believing this. A couple years ago Apple temporarily reduced the price of iPhone battery replacements and experienced significantly lower iPhone sales, and Tim Cook explained to stockholders it was because of increased battery replacements. They want people to be wasteful. Of course, if one wants to upgrade when the battery dies because they wanted to upgrade anyway then that’s fine, but just don’t let the battery be the reason.

Batteries degrade, it’s just a fact of current technology, and it needs to be accepted that it will eventually need to be replaced if you want to get the most out of your device. But like people said, in iPads, battery degradation is not like phones. Bigger the battery, the slower the noticeable degradation. I keep my devices for as long as possible. At 4 years and counting, my 2017 12.9” iPad Pro and its battery are doing fine, at least fine enough that I haven’t found myself wanting to replace the battery yet. I expect the battery to go another couple years if I need it to, but if this iPad is about to become obsolete then I’ll probably have the battery replaced just to ensure the iPad’s life is extended for as long as possible.

 

[ericwn]

Again, you can't for iPads. Apple only allows it if their internal battery tests show the iPad is below the 80% threshold. For some reason, Apple's numbers are usually much higher than the numbers you get from iMazing and Coconut Battery.

Personally, I think Apple should have Battery Health data in Settings for iPads same as on iPhones but absent a class action lawsuit/#batterygate, I don't think that's gonna happen.

Agreed that they should have the same functionality for iPad all the way around, not just there. Make it possible to run the watch app, give us the calculator, weather, all the little things, and the battery life details.

I never had to have an iPad battery serviced in the decade+ that we have iPads around - but some of the remarks about iPad battery service sound rather anecdotal at this point.

 

[philosopherdog]

You probably don't have enough going on if this is a worry for you. The batteries are not an issue. If you own one long enogh you may need to replace the battery but that'snever happened to me since ipad 1.

 

[arvinsim]

I just bought the M1 iPad Pro 11" last week. The rate that it was draining batteries is a lot faster than my previous 2018 12.9" iPad Pro.

Is this normal?

 

[FrozenDarkness]

it's like $99 to replace the battery. what is the concern?

 

[Digitalguy]

it's like $99 to replace the battery. what is the concern?

I guess the concern is that Apple will only accept to replace the battery for $99 if it's severely degraded. Some people might not want to wait that long (you often see people unhappy on these forum because after a few years their battery is not as good as it used to be but according to Apple the degradation is not severe enough to justify the replacement...)

 

[Sensamic]

Question.

Do tablet batteries degrade faster because these devices are turned on 24/7? I mean, with a laptop you can get easily 6 years of good battery life, but tablets don't last that long. Maybe it's because laptops are turned off whenever they aren't being used and therefore battery health stays better in the long run?

Maybe turning the tablet off regularly will make battery life last longer?

 

[Digitalguy]

Question.

Do tablet batteries degrade faster because these devices are turned on 24/7? I mean, with a laptop you can get easily 6 years of good battery life, but tablets don't last that long. Maybe it's because laptops are turned off whenever they aren't being used and therefore battery health stays better in the long run?

Maybe turning the tablet off regularly will make battery life last longer?

Of course a device battery discharges more if it's in stand-by than if it's off, but given the standby consumption of iPads and how much turning on and off uses the battery, I would say turning it on and off regularly will make very little difference over the long term.
That being said I don't agree that iPads battery degrade faster than laptop ones, if usage and charging practices are similar.... If anything, the opposite happens more often....

 

[ElectronGuru]

If it worries you, you should adopt measures to mitigate degradation (warning, some people here may say it's not worth it, it's not fun etc., but they can have a big effect of your battery health).
Batteries don't like extremely high or low voltage (100% / 0% or close) and heat.
1. Avoid leaving the battery fully charged or fully discharged (for instance use shortcuts to get a notification when battery reaches a given level, eg. 90%, 30%)
2. If you can, keep your older iPad to use while your new one is charging. You will avoid both deep discharges and using while charging, which can increase heat depending on what you do.

Note: charging to 100% is not bad per se, it's keeping it at 100% that's bad, so leaving it plugged in all night or worse several days.

FWIW, my almost 7 years old iPad Air 2 still has about 85% of its original battery capacity (@ CoconutBattery) and can be used for 3-5 hours non-stop. I find that for some reason iPad batteries age better than those of iPhones or MacBooks.

FYI: some years ago now, apple added a ‘kiosk mode’ to iPads. It monitors how long it’s been connected to AC and if it’s been enough days, changes from ‘max charge’ over to ‘storage charge’ with a lower voltage, safer for long term battery health while continuously plugged in.