The iPhone I had before this one was a used iPhone 5 that was given to me. It was used hard by the previous owner but I don't know what the battery condition was when I got it. Back then I was clueless about how to take care of the battery so I left it plugged in 24/7 for months as I was stuck at home with an injury.
After a couple months of always being plugged in even while I used it during the day, the battery began to swell and push the screen off the chassis.
I got a mobile cell phone repair shop to come to my place to swap the battery and I told him how I was using it (always plugged in) and he said don't do that.
So after getting spanked by a swollen battery, I vowed to find out the best way to take care of them and studied up at
Battery University™ is a free educational website offering hands-on battery information.
batteryuniversity.com
That website currently is the best place to learn about lithium ion batteries.
So when I got my brand new shiny iPhone 6 Plus, (4 years ago) I was determined to take care of that battery the best way I could, - following the care tips I learned at Battery University.
So I've kept the charge on this battery (for the most part) between 45% and 80% with maybe two dozen charges to 100% over the years to recalibrate the charge level indicator a couple times and because a few times I left it unattended plugged in. I found that if I never charged it to 100% (for like 8 months) the charge indicator would become erratic and inaccurate.
For the first three years I always turned off the phone completely when I went to sleep and not plugged in. If the battery was at 50% (or 40%) when I went to sleep, I'd leave it partially discharged like that when I turned it off and charge it the next morning (but never to 100%).
What I learned about lithium ion batteries (from battery university) is that they are happiest resting at their nominal voltage, which is about 40% SOC. As the voltage and charge level increases beyond that, so does the stress on the battery. The higher the charge level, the more stressful it is on the battery.
I think the deepest this battery has ever been discharged was to maybe 5% once or twice (in 4 years.
This last year I've been leaving the phone on (but unplugged) when I sleep because when I wake up in the middle of the night I like to check the time. Knowing if it's 1:30AM or 4AM makes a big difference. I don't have a watch or another clock I can see at night. I leave it in Airplane Mode (WIFI & Bluetooth off) and usually put it in Low Power Mode if I remember to eeek a little more power savings out of it.
I live in the desert. Summertime temps are always hot as hell and even indoors it gets to 100° or hotter during late afternoon... for four months of the year. When the air temp gets to about 96°F, I strap a small frozen blue ice block stuffed in a sock to the back of the iPhone with rubber bands (big bezels top & bottom are perfect for this). The cold block brings the battery temperature down from a hand scorching 105°F to a comfortable 75° to 85° depending on what I'm doing.
Obviously with a ice pack strapped to it, it doesn't fit in any pocket.
I haven't really noticed any obvious degradation of the battery since I got it new over 4 years ago. CoconutBattery says the capacity is still over 90% and that feels about right. I can't tell.
Since I got it, I almost never charged it to 100% and used it down to 10% in one go, so I don't really have a reference to benchmark it against (since I usually plug it in when I see the forty something indicator on the charge status icon.
All of this attention paid to the battery is actually kind of ridiculous. A new genuine Apple battery only costs $49. Ha!
But I've been pampering device batteries for so long now, it's become an ingrained habit... and kinda fun to see how far it'll go...
I'd like to be using an 8 Plus now instead of my trusty 6 Plus, but since I've also got a 7 and 8 I almost never use, (because of their smaller screens) I can't justify buying another phone just for the bigger nicer screen.
So I'll use this phone until it dies.
