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iPhone 14 Pro Max I pampered my 14PM battery. Battery health just dropped to 91% over 6 weeks

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OSXphoto

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 23, 2013
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Hi all,
I pampered *) my 14PM battery from the day I bought it (jan 2023). Battery health was still at 98% one year later, but over the past few weeks it suddenly dropped to 95 -> 91%. Is this common for this model?

*) Treatment is basically to avoid 0% ~ 30% and 85% ~ 100% as much as practically possible. I did the same with my previous phone, iPhone 8plus, which I bought in 2017. My kid is still using that 8 plus, now seven years on and that battery is still at a respectable 75%.

Any input very welcome. Thanks!
 
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iPhone 14 is rated for 500 complete charge cycles, before it gets to 80% capacity. Lets say you've charged it 250 times in the past year-- in that case, your battery health report at 98% is not correct, as it should be closer to 90% at that point.
I don't know why people take such great effort to baby their batteries. It costs less than $100 bucks to replace.
 
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OSXphoto said:
Hi all,
I pampered *) my 14PM battery from the day I bought it (jan 2023). Battery health was still at 98% one year later, but over the past few weeks it suddenly dropped to 95 -> 91%. Is this common for this model?

*) Treatment is basically to avoid 0% ~ 30% and 85% ~ 100% as much as practically possible. I did the same with my previous phone, iPhone 8plus, which I bought in 2017. My kid is still using that 8 plus, now seven years on and that battery is still at a respectable 75%.

Any input very welcome. Thanks!
Click to expand...
How many cycles?
 
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It’s pretty well documented that the iPhone 14 series for some reason was poor for battery health degradation. A 10% drop in a year is maybe more than you’d want/expect. It’s a shame Apple couldn’t or wouldn’t implement the new battery info onto older devices to make it easier to see cycle count etc.
 
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Battery health is largely luck of the draw. Almost nothing you do will have a significant effect on your battery in the long run, and in all likelihood your battery will still be good when you decide to replace your device anyway. The whole keeping it between 30 and 80... It's extra effort for little if any noticeable benefit. And if you're only ever using 50% of your battery just to keep it in that ideal range, what's the point of worrying about it's max capacity anyway? You're not using it.

You'd probably be happier if you just didn't check. You probably wouldn't have even noticed that change just from use. In fact, it's likely that your battery health has been gradually declining this whole time and the health estimate was high rather than it really dropped all at once so suddenly.
 
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Thanks all for your input. There will always be different views re battery management and I accept that. The big question is if battery health drops can be caused by particular app behaviour.

Over the past weeks I noticed that I sometimes needed to charge my 14PM twice a day. This is a distinct change.

A major change since January is that I started using the Home Assistant companion app. While reviewing battery consumption stats this app has been eating battery charge continuously, because by default it reports sensors and gps location. I immediately disabled all of those.

Then I installed the same app with defaults on my work phone (iPhone SE3) to see what will happen. That phone is now at 99% battery health.
 
vinegarshots said:
I don't know why people take such great effort to baby their batteries. It costs less than $100 bucks to replace.
Click to expand...
I don’t care about money. Not having to replace batteries reduces chemical waste. The routine I have is set and forget so it’s easy to implement.
 
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joeblow7777 said:
You probably wouldn't have even noticed that change just from use. In fact, it's likely that your battery health has been gradually declining this whole time and the health estimate was high rather than it really dropped all at once so suddenly.
Click to expand...
I really do see your point. But in this case it’s different. I rarely check battery health. The reason I did was because last week, more than once I would need to recharge my phone before the end of the day, whereas until January a 85% charge would last a whole day and still be at 40% or so by bed time.
 
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OSXphoto said:
I really do see your point. But in this case it’s different. I rarely check battery health. The reason I did was because last week, more than once I would need to recharge my phone before the end of the day, whereas until January a 85% charge would last a whole day and still be at 40% or so by bed time.
Click to expand...
Fair enough. In that case, what about the usage stats? What app(s) are using the most power? Any changes there?
 
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OSXphoto said:
The big question is if battery health drops can be caused by particular app behaviour.
Click to expand...

IME/IMHO - yes. My 4.5yr XR seems to evaluate BH similarly to how I do - ie, looking at the 10d batt graph rolling avg %batt/hrSOT or extrapolated maxSOT/full-charge. Had 96% BH (and roughly Apple SOT spec) after 3yrs. Then 4% sudden drop to 92% after 10d rolling avg SOT dropped significantly (from over 7hrs to less than 3hrs. Then another 6% sudden drop to 86% BH when I changed battery charging habits from 1hr charge while using (B’fast surfing) to 5am charge before waking - that reflects as a 1hr/7hr SOT loss or 14% efficiency loss. So IMHO, the algorithm benchmarks your normal usage pattern and an app or usage change that negatively impacts those efficiency calcs will look like you’ve lost capacity.

FWIW, batt mgt works for me too - I usually keep my phones ~6yrs with good batt performance after 4.5yrs using an automated custom charge optimization (shortcut/smartplug). Plugging in once/day and forgetting about it, works out less time/hassle/cost than a battery swap for me.
 
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Why obsess over battery health upkeep? Merely buy replacements as needed and enjoy.
 
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My 14 Pro Max I got on launch day in 2022 has never been pampered as you call it.
I charge it overnight on an Anker 60W USB-C charger, put it on my Qi-Charger in my car whenever I‘m driving somewhere, charge it in my office on an Anker 30W charger when I feel I might need some extra % later…

And just in January it hit 97% battery health.

Stop worrying about battery health! Stop being obsessed about not charging over XX% or not letting it drain below YY%!
The value shown under settings is nothing more that an estimated value calculated in software. Just use your phone!
 
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DaveS86 said:
How many cycles?
Click to expand...
1710432594647.png

Honestly, if these numbers are correct, this battery appears to be in a free fall
 
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reppans said:
FWIW, batt mgt works for me too - I usually keep my phones ~6yrs with good batt performance after 4.5yrs using an automated custom charge optimization (shortcut/smartplug). Plugging in once/day and forgetting about it, works out less time/hassle/cost than a battery swap for me.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your reply. This (smart plug / automation) is exactly what I have been doing for years. It's become routine, never think about it usually.
1710433242889.png

This is the 10 day energy usage graph and the top consuming apps. Home Assistant is up there doing much more than I actually use it.
 
iPhone 14 Pro Max bought April 2023 currently running iOS 16.7 with Battery Health 99%
  • Never charged wireless, only used Xiaomi 4 USB Type A port brick and Apple Lightning cable for charging
  • Tried Always On Display for a few hours but turned it off completely and never used it again
  • Never played games
  • Allowed to fully charge to 100% and fully drained to 0%
  • At times I charge it when it is showing between 1% to 10% battery charge
  • Took about around 800 plus photos and videos with the longest duration [recording] almost an hour
  • As per Coconut Battery, 49 charge cycles as of Feb 01 2024 so probably 100 plus or more as of posting
  • Background App Refresh enabled only on Wi-Fi
  • Never used cellular/mobile data when outside, I use an android phone for connectivity when outside
  • Never used iCloud for photo, video, and device backup and restore
  • Performed Erase All Content and Settings about 5 times during the device lifetime
  • Only used for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube [36 apps installed]
  • Rarely made and received phone calls, even VOIP
  • Never used a case since purchase
 
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Having a 13 Mini I was on 100% for the first 10 months, 5 months later it's down to 90%. Noticeable with the smaller battery having gone from 1 1/2 days per charge to 1 days use and charging overnight with a 5 W charger (from the OG SE). I sort of lost interest of trying to preserve once it dropped below 100%. I'm fine with the current health but a bit peeved that optimised battery charging stopped working after 6 months and I've no idea why that's the case.
 
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OSXphoto said:
Thank you for your reply. This (smart plug / automation) is exactly what I have been doing for years. It's become routine, never think about it usually.
View attachment 2359035
This is the 10 day energy usage graph and the top consuming apps. Home Assistant is up there doing much more than I actually use it.
Click to expand...

OSXphoto said:
View attachment 2359024
Honestly, if these numbers are correct, this battery appears to be in a free fall
Click to expand...
I suppose if it keeps going like that you might be eligible for free battery replacement :(
 
johannnn said:
The battery states 100% even though it made be more than 100%. It could have gone from 105% to 98% the first year, and now from 95% to 91%.
Click to expand...
This explains why many people can get maybe closer to one years with 100% BH. Many iPhones coming from the factory with more battery capacity mah than stated and iOS works off the min specced battery mah. This is giving more headroom and extra capacity before iOS starts showing the drop from 100% BH.

Eg… here’s my 15 Pro real battery stats from analytics. The original max capacity is higher than the supposedly 3274mah rated from factory (online sources) @ 3366mah and the BH is already dropping based on these numbers.

IMG_3284.jpeg


However battery health in iOS settings will stay at 100% until this drops below 3274mah.

IMG_3285.jpeg
 
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