The battery is *ALWAYS* used, otherwise when you disconnected power, you'd likely use power, or a very large/dangerous capacitor (or bank) would be needed.
The limited charge/discharge is probably a good thing overall... counter is many phones that stay charged 98-99% lose a lot of battery life if plugged in too much. If you have enough charge to get through the night and can do so during the next day, it's often better to leave unplugged. I usually plug in when the offer to "extreme battery saver" is notifying me... similarly, unplugging when I notice it's full or over 95% or so.
By letting it go down to 80%, it's fewer charge cycles, not more, which keeping it "topped off" would be. That said, Looking at the battery tab, it looks like it isn't going from 80-100%, but just staying at 80%. That's a bit more concerning and why I was looking around. My guess is I'm not seeing the top up to 100% because it's probably just a few minutes here and there.
I kind of wish there were an option to let it go down as much as 50%, to reduce wear even further.