iOS 26 Features Battery Settings Overhaul

[jwdsail]

Once you realize that keeping a lithium battery at a high charge level can be just as damaging as letting it drop to a low voltage, you might start wishing your device would never charge all the way to 100%. Even though Apple has said that “when you set the charging limit between 80% and 100%, the system may occasionally allow a full charge to 100% to calibrate battery readings,” the long-term effects are worth considering.

For what it’s worth, I’ve been really happy with the battery life on my iPhone 16 Plus — I can actually go two days between charges. Interestingly, from day one until now, my battery health is still at 100%. Compare that to my old iPhone 7 Plus: even after replacing it with a brand-new original battery, and sticking to my usual habit of charging to 100% all the time, I remember clearly — within the first month, the battery health had already dropped below 100%.

So regardless of what others say or what conspiracy theories float around, I personally stick to a max charge limit of 85% and never let the battery drop below 30%. I absolutely refuse to get obsessive about always hitting 100%.

By the way, when it comes to battery lifespan, I have two cases that might be worth sharing.

First, I had a Dyson vacuum cleaner that I used for over four years. My usage pattern was pretty light—about once every one to two weeks, and each session lasted around 15 minutes. Here’s the key part: I always left it on the charging dock, keeping it at 100% all the time. Then one day last year, it suddenly stopped working. Just a few days earlier, I had used it and everything seemed perfectly normal—battery levels looked good and there were no signs of any issues. Then out of nowhere, the battery just died.

The second case was with my old MacBook Air i7. I also always kept it fully charged at 100%, and the battery cycle count was extremely low. But one day, it just shut down unexpectedly while I was using it. No warning signs at all. After replacing the battery, everything went back to normal.


These two cases might be useful as reference points when thinking about battery health.

I couldn't get an answer from Apple Support re: which, charging to 100% to get two full days use while on LPM (reducing charge cycles) or the 80% limit requiring (boost charging to get through a 2nd day), would be better for the long-term battery life/capacity.

So far, LPM for two days and going to 100% has worked well?

I've toyed with the idea of trying a 95% limit? 80-85% didn't even get me to 5pm on a second day? But, would 95% give any real benefit?

Shrug.

 

[jwdsail]

Apple needed AI for this feature 😆

And yet, I don't expect it to be any more accurate/informative than the file transfer estimates...

/me glances at the progress bar "2 hrs 14min.... 5hrs 38min... 45min... 35min... 12hrs..."

 

[neuropsychguy]

ROFLMAO!

"ON-DEVICE MACHINE LEARNING" for basic software that has been around since SonyEricsson's feature phone days running supported and non-supported J2ME apps!?

Yes code in smartphones today are more co.olex yet how and how much battery power they call on and to when when used or in background is NOT majorly challenging that an NPU is needed!

If you seriously believe that marketing hype then you believe Craig F really has been doing his full jobs requirements the last 29 hrs. Lol and Santa Clause has you on his Vood list this Xmas lol

I'm sure you're an intelligent person. You, however, completely misunderstood my comment and the context of it. Please take time to understand the context and content before replying with something that's not relevant.

Your comment was like overhearing people talk about cricket. You then rush up and start laughing at them and correcting them because you think they are talking about ice hockey. This reply is correcting you in that I was talking about something else and your mocking reply was way off base. The fact that people upvoted your comment also shows they didn't take time to read the context either.

I quoted from Apple about what they call "Optimized Battery Charging". Who cares if forms of it have been around for a long time? That wasn't the point of my comment. Some machine learning is simple logistic regression, which goes back to 1958. That's a completely different issue.

There are people who are confused and think the "optimized" charging is the same as the charge limit feature of newer phones. I was pointing out that they are different and use different approaches. The optimized charging is based on software. It's not clear if the charge limit the limited to iPhone 15 and newer phones is purely software. People, without evidence, claim it's purely software. All I'm saying is that there just might be a hardware reason why it's limited to iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models.

How is that laughable?

 

[Artemiz]

Optimized charging: "Your iPhone uses on-device machine learning to learn your daily charging routine so that Optimized Battery Charging activates only when your iPhone predicts it will be connected to a charger for an extended period of time. The algorithm aims to ensure that your iPhone is still fully charged when unplugged."

That's different than the 80% charge limit that works when iPhones 15 and newer are off. With an iPhone 15 or later you can turn on the charge limit setting, plug in your phone to charge, turn it off, and it will stop charging at 80%. If you have an older iPhone or don't have that feature turned on, the Optimized Charging "AI" algorithm cannot function if the phone is off.

You’re missing my point. What you should be focusing on is the BMS’s ability to hold the charge at a certain level even on older devices. The required tech is already there. It’s not like the software suddenly loses the ability to hold the charge after a couple hours and you need special hardware if you need it held longer. The current flow is completely controlled by the software using the already existing hardware.

Do you really think battery cycle count requires special hardware present in iPhone 15 or later as well? Cuz the older devices don’t have it.
It’s merely Apple’s reluctance so they could sell more of the latest. Nothing else to it. If you need more evidence then go read up on BMS and how they’re implemented and their capabilities.

 

[neuropsychguy]

You’re missing my point. What you should be focusing on is the BMS’s ability to hold the charge at a certain level even on older devices. The required tech is already there. It’s not like the software suddenly loses the ability to hold the charge after a couple hours and you need special hardware if you need it held longer. The current flow is completely controlled by the software using the already existing hardware.

Do you really think battery cycle count requires special hardware present in iPhone 15 or later as well? Cuz the older devices don’t have it.
It’s merely Apple’s reluctance so they could sell more of the latest. Nothing else to it. If you need more evidence then go read up on BMS and how they’re implemented and their capabilities.

I didn't miss your point. All I'm saying is the charge hold feature might require special hardware. Is it unreasonable to say it might be a hardware-linked feature? People are so convinced it's purely "Apple’s reluctance so they could sell more of the latest" when there's the possibility there could be a hardware difference. Or do you have evidence there is no hardware difference you can provide? Not indirect things like the functioning of BMS in general, I mean evidence the hardware controlling the charging on the iPhone 15 and later has not added any new capabilities that did not exist before.

I'm a scientist and I like evidence to support claims. So far no one has provided any evidence that the charge limit is not dependent in part on hardware differences in iPhone 15 and newer phones. I don't have evidence it is hardware related, which is why I say "might". All I'm asking is people saying it definitely is not and is only about Apple wanting people to upgrade their iPhone either temper their statement to stop being so definitive or provide evidence it's not hardware-related.

 

[Artemiz]

I didn't miss your point. All I'm saying is the charge hold feature might require special hardware. Is it unreasonable to say it might be a hardware-linked feature? People are so convinced it's purely "Apple’s reluctance so they could sell more of the latest" when there's the possibility there could be a hardware difference. Or do you have evidence there is no hardware difference you can provide? Not indirect things like the functioning of BMS in general, I mean evidence the hardware controlling the charging on the iPhone 15 and later has not added any new capabilities that did not exist before.

I'm a scientist and I like evidence to support claims. So far no one has provided any evidence that the charge limit is not dependent in part on hardware differences in iPhone 15 and newer phones. I don't have evidence it is hard-ware related, which is why I say "might". All I'm asking is people saying it definitely is not and is only about Apple wanting people to upgrade their iPhone either temper their statement to stop being so definitive or provide evidence it's not hardware-related.

For the love of God—there are only hardware safeguards to protect the battery. Everything else is controlled by software, including the amount of current that flows in and out of the device. You’re definitely not going to find a document from Apple titled “We limited the feature with software. We’re just being an ass about it.” That’s why I suggested you read up on the hardware—so you can understand it yourself.

The optimized charging limit shows that the flow of current is controlled by software. Pretty much every device cutting off current when the battery’s full shows that it’s done by software. Or do you believe all the older devices just keep charging even after reaching 100%? You’re a scientist—infer from that what you will.

 

[neuropsychguy]

For the love of God—there are only hardware safeguards to protect the battery. Everything else is controlled by software, including the amount of current that flows in and out of the device. You’re definitely not going to find a document from Apple titled “We limited the feature with software. We’re just being an ass about it.” That’s why I suggested you read up on the hardware—so you can understand it yourself.

The optimized charging limit shows that the flow of current is controlled by software. Pretty much every device cutting off current when the battery’s full shows that it’s done by software. Or do you believe all the older devices just keep charging even after reaching 100%? You’re a scientist—infer from that what you will.

Are you talking about optimized charging or the separate charging limit feature? If optimized charging, I'm talking about the separate charging limit feature that you have to turn off optimized charging to use: https://www.macrumors.com/2024/09/24/iphone-80-percent-charging-test/

If talking about the charging limit, is it possible there is a hardware component to it that only iPhone 15 and newer models have?

 

[Artemiz]

Are you talking about optimized charging or the separate charging limit feature? If optimized charging, I'm talking about the separate charging limit feature that you have to turn off optimized charging to use: https://www.macrumors.com/2024/09/24/iphone-80-percent-charging-test/

For a scientist you seem to be misreading my post a lot.

I’m talking about charge limit but using optimized charging as an example of the role and capabilities of software in controlling the current. If my 13Pro can hold the charge for few hours overnight at 80%, it’s certainly capable of holding the charge for a lot longer than that.

 

[brownpaw]

It depends on many factors. If you are using it, Battery Percentage, ambient Temperature. It’s best to let iOS handle it by itself. If people saw the weird fluctuations batteries experience during charging they would complain their iPhones are defective

I mean it shouldn’t be a problem for it to tell me that the current charger is providing x watts.

 

[ddhhddhh2]

I couldn't get an answer from Apple Support re: which, charging to 100% to get two full days use while on LPM (reducing charge cycles) or the 80% limit requiring (boost charging to get through a 2nd day), would be better for the long-term battery life/capacity.

So far, LPM for two days and going to 100% has worked well?

I've toyed with the idea of trying a 95% limit? 80-85% didn't even get me to 5pm on a second day? But, would 95% give any real benefit?

Shrug.

I think the main issue really comes down to the battery's original capacity. May I ask which iPhone model you're using? I’m on the 16 Plus myself. Also, I’ve made a conscious choice to turn off “Background App Refresh” for almost all apps. The only exceptions are navigation apps like Maps. Of course, this depends on your needs — for example, messaging apps might need it on. But in my case, I realized that even with it turned off, once I open or enter a messaging app, everything syncs up pretty quickly anyway. So it hasn’t caused any inconvenience for me.

More importantly, I used to think that turning off background refresh would prevent notifications from coming through — but that actually never happened. So I decided to leave it off permanently. I feel like this strikes a good balance between saving battery and keeping apps functional.

Of course, I’m not saying we should go to extremes just to save power. From a battery longevity standpoint, consistently charging to 100% does degrade the battery over time — but if your daily needs really require it, then it is what it is.

Just to add some context — this is actually my first time trying a “don’t charge to 100%” approach as a way to preserve battery health. So I’m still observing how it holds up in the long run. For now, I can only share based on my current setup and personal experience. I’ve never tried this strategy before, and honestly, my mindset was kind of like: “Well, the old way never worked out, so why not try something different this time?”
So far, it’s been working out pretty well for me.

Also, Apple does clearly mention that even when you set a max charge limit below 100%, the system may occasionally charge to 100% to calibrate battery readings.

 

[jwdsail]

I think the main issue really comes down to the battery's original capacity. May I ask which iPhone model you're using? I’m on the 16 Plus myself. Also, I’ve made a conscious choice to turn off “Background App Refresh” for almost all apps. The only exceptions are navigation apps like Maps. Of course, this depends on your needs — for example, messaging apps might need it on. But in my case, I realized that even with it turned off, once I open or enter a messaging app, everything syncs up pretty quickly anyway. So it hasn’t caused any inconvenience for me.

More importantly, I used to think that turning off background refresh would prevent notifications from coming through — but that actually never happened. So I decided to leave it off permanently. I feel like this strikes a good balance between saving battery and keeping apps functional.

Of course, I’m not saying we should go to extremes just to save power. From a battery longevity standpoint, consistently charging to 100% does degrade the battery over time — but if your daily needs really require it, then it is what it is.

Just to add some context — this is actually my first time trying a “don’t charge to 100%” approach as a way to preserve battery health. So I’m still observing how it holds up in the long run. For now, I can only share based on my current setup and personal experience. I’ve never tried this strategy before, and honestly, my mindset was kind of like: “Well, the old way never worked out, so why not try something different this time?”
So far, it’s been working out pretty well for me.

Also, Apple does clearly mention that even when you set a max charge limit below 100%, the system may occasionally charge to 100% to calibrate battery readings.

16 Pro.

This is my 2nd phone I've tried minimizing charge cycles with, the SE2/3 I had (before the 16 Pro) stayed in LPM almost 100% of the time. The 16 Pro easily gets me through two days on LPM, where the SE struggled to get past 8pm on day 2.

I still have the SE2/3 (use it as an iPod/audiobook device), it's showing 85% battery capacity, but for it's age and daily use, that's not half bad?

 

[ddhhddhh2]

16 Pro.

This is my 2nd phone I've tried minimizing charge cycles with, the SE2/3 I had (before the 16 Pro) stayed in LPM almost 100% of the time. The 16 Pro easily gets me through two days on LPM, where the SE struggled to get past 8pm on day 2.

I still have the SE2/3 (use it as an iPod/audiobook device), it's showing 85% battery capacity, but for it's age and daily use, that's not half bad?

My wife is also using a 16 Pro too — I had her upgrade on launch day, so she's actually been using it a bit longer than my Plus. So far, her battery health is still at 100% as well. I asked if the charge limit setup caused any inconvenience in her daily use, and she said it’s been totally fine. She initially set it to 95% since she was worried not charging to 100% would leave her short on battery, but eventually found it wasn’t an issue and gradually lowered it — now she’s on an 85% limit.

Also, your SE2/3 holding at 85% is honestly impressive, especially given its age and daily use. That’s solid. This is actually my third iPhone — before this I had the iPhone 7 Plus and the old iPhone 3GS. In both cases, I wasn’t too happy with battery longevity (especially the 7 Plus, which I had to replace the battery twice). That’s why I’m now experimenting with a different approach this time around.

 

[mihike]

If you want to find out by yourself, there are USB C adapters on Amazon that tell you how much power they are drawing from the wall. It’s a nice nerdy device

Thank you! I’ve got a Kill-o-Watt but that’s a little ungainly for frequent use. This is perfect!

 

[ikjadoon]

I didn't say it has to be, just that it might be. So many people online say it's only a software limitation. It's as equally likely it is a hardware limitation.

With an iPhone 15 or later, you can turn on the charge limit setting, plug in your phone to charge, turn it off, and it will stop charging at 80%. While that might be done with software, it seems at least possible that the controller is different on newer phones that allows the phones to do that.

All iPhones on iOS 13 or newer can limit charge to 80% via Optimized Charging for a short period of time; however, only iPhone 15 & newer can limit charge to 80% indefinitely with a Charge Limit.

About Charge Limit and Optimized Battery Charging on iPhone - Apple Support

Optimized Battery Charging is designed to reduce the wear on your battery and improve its lifespan by reducing the time your iPhone spends fully charged. It is available when Charge Limit is set to 100 percent. When the feature is enabled, your iPhone will delay charging past 80 percent in certain situations.

To change your charging option with iPhone 14 models and earlier, go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging and turn Optimized Battery Charging on or off.

This has nothing to do with hardware. The hardware to limit charge to 80% exists in all iPhones on iOS 13 and newer to limit charge to 80%.

Apple has simply locked its all-day 80% limit to iPhone 15 & newer.