iPad Pro Never ending question about battery health

[Astonish_IT]

Hello everyone!

I will ask you a question that you may have heard and read million times. I also read many threads, but still, I did not find a certain answer. Everyone is saying something else. My question is as follows:

I love my iPad Pro and am using it a lot. While at work and working constantly on it, my old iPad Pro (2015 model bought new in 2016), I was keeping it always plugged in. Strangely or fortunately it’s battery health is at 93% according to Coconut Battery.

The used iPad Pro that I bought, which is a 2018 model, has a battery life around 93% as well. They have relatively similar cycle times, around 225 cycles even tho it seems strange to me as I can’t belleive I charged my 2015 iPad Pro that few. So I am curious, if I charge it let’s say from 95% to 100%, does it not count as charging cycle?

I know that according to many, I have to keep the battery around 20-80% of battery. I am not trying to protect 1-5% of battery capacity in 1-2 years but I also don’t want it’s battery to fall at 60% in a year.

Here‘s my question, is it better that I use it unplugged and plug it in before it hits 20% ? Or is it better to keep it plugged in when I can?

I am confused because for example even tho I use my 2017 Macbook Pro the way I use/charge my iPad Pro, even tho I bought it about a year later, the Macbook has 58% of battery capacity left telling me that service is required, so I don’t want to experience the same thing with my iPad Pro, that is why I am asking.

Thank you!

 

[Apple_Robert]

Plug in when it hits 20-30%. If you want to use it a lot when it is still plugged in, make sure to let the battery discharge every few weeks.

It seems you are spending a lot of time focused on and worrying about the battery when your device is working as it should. Try not to be focused on the battery so much. Enjoy your iPad and if the battery starts to not want to charge or hold a charge for very long, that would be the time to be focused.

 

[akash.nu]

The bottom line is that you don’t want to keep the battery either in too low or too high charge point for too long. So if you keep it between 20-80% then that’s the best option. However, depending on your usage pattern you could just plug it in when you can. That will be fine as well, just don’t keep it plugged in 24/7 just because you’re home always and can plug it in.

I’ve been charging all my devices like that and they’ve survived years without any issues. My 2013 MacBook Air required a battery replacement a couple of years ago but it was way over 80% even then.

My iPad 2017 is still at 98% battery health. My iPhone 11 Pro is at 98% as well and my MacBook Pro from last year is at 100%.

 

[AutomaticApple]

Hello everyone!

I will ask you a question that you may have heard and read million times. I also read many threads, but still, I did not find a certain answer. Everyone is saying something else. My question is as follows:

I love my iPad Pro and am using it a lot. While at work and working constantly on it, my old iPad Pro (2015 model bought new in 2016), I was keeping it always plugged in. Strangely or fortunately it’s battery health is at 93% according to Coconut Battery.

The used iPad Pro that I bought, which is a 2018 model, has a battery life around 93% as well. They have relatively similar cycle times, around 225 cycles even tho it seems strange to me as I can’t belleive I charged my 2015 iPad Pro that few. So I am curious, if I charge it let’s say from 95% to 100%, does it not count as charging cycle?

I know that according to many, I have to keep the battery around 20-80% of battery. I am not trying to protect 1-5% of battery capacity in 1-2 years but I also don’t want it’s battery to fall at 60% in a year.

Here‘s my question, is it better that I use it unplugged and plug it in before it hits 20% ? Or is it better to keep it plugged in when I can?

I am confused because for example even tho I use my 2017 Macbook Pro the way I use/charge my iPad Pro, even tho I bought it about a year later, the Macbook has 58% of battery capacity left telling me that service is required, so I don’t want to experience the same thing with my iPad Pro, that is why I am asking.

Thank you!

Honestly, Coconut Battery can be hit or miss. In my usage, it hasn't been accurate.

 

[joeblow7777]

Honestly, Coconut Battery can be hit or miss. In my usage, it hasn't been accurate.

All battery health measurements are estimates, and people really shouldn't stress over them. My best advice is to use your device however you want, and charge it however/whenever you want. In the grand scheme of things, battery health is mostly the luck of the draw, and aside from regularly exposing your battery to extreme temperatures or leaving it completely depleted for an extended period, nothing a user does is likely to have a significant effect on its long term health.

An iPad battery that's in good health to start with will likely remain so for years regardless of what you do. I would suggest not even looking at its health unless you notice that it's performing significantly worse for no apparent reason. Bottom line: just enjoy your device instead of worrying about babying the battery.

*Note: while I quoted AutomaticApple this post is really intended for the OP. I was just agreeing with the bit about battery health measurements not always being accurate in the first place.*

 

[tops2]

My best advice is to use your device however you want, and charge it however/whenever you want. In the grand scheme of things, battery health is mostly the luck of the draw, and aside from regularly exposing your battery to extreme temperatures or leaving it completely depleted for an extended period, nothing a user does is likely to have a significant effect on its long term health.

This! Just ignore the battery health unless you really notice a significant drop in battery life. ?

Probably the only rule I try to apply is not using a device until the battery dies and the device turns itself off. Theres so many "rules" that's been passed around that doesn't really have any real impact under normal consumer. And some of the rules like charging to 100% may really just apply to if you store the device/li-on batteries for long term storage and has minimal effect for devices we use daily.

My iPhone 6 Plus, I charged it however I want and gamed on it enough times till the device turns itself off until the battery runs out. I gamed on it a lot with the phone plugged into the wall as well. ~3 years later when I brought it to the Apple store to change battery..the Apple support ran a battery test and it was something like 91%. ?‍♂️

 

[akash.nu]

All battery health measurements are estimates, and people really shouldn't stress over them. My best advice is to use your device however you want, and charge it however/whenever you want. In the grand scheme of things, battery health is mostly the luck of the draw, and aside from regularly exposing your battery to extreme temperatures or leaving it completely depleted for an extended period, nothing a user does is likely to have a significant effect on its long term health.

An iPad battery that's in good health to start with will likely remain so for years regardless of what you do. I would suggest not even looking at its health unless you notice that it's performing significantly worse for no apparent reason. Bottom line: just enjoy your device instead of worrying about babying the battery.

*Note: while I quoted AutomaticApple this post is really intended for the OP. I was just agreeing with the bit about battery health measurements not always being accurate in the first place.*

Couldn’t agree more. Nicely summarised. The total capacity of the battery plays a part in terms of total number of cycles it’s gonna go through within a given time frame.

 

[Digitalguy]

One thing that is important to note is that battery cycles are not a measure of battery wear.
You can have 30 cycles and a battery in worse condition than one with 300.
So the number of cycles should not be used as a measure of battery remaining capacity.
Some elements are particularly bad for batteries, one of the most important is heat.
This is not a big issue with iPads, since they heat much less than (Intel/AMD) laptops, except maybe when fast charging (so fast charging does reduce battery life if done systematically, if done evey now and then the impact is minimal).
The battery don't like to stay completely full or empty. But keeping a battery at 50% is not ideal since you don't benefit of the full battery life, especially if you don't want to discharge to less than 20%. Personally if I have on my desk with a charger available I charge at around 70% so that I can benefit of longer battery life and run less the risk of having to go near zero. But once they charge I disconnect (sometimes before 100% if I remember).
Mind you, I don't do this precisely and sytematically since I have better things to do than babying my batteries, but I took some habits that let the batteries stay most of the time between half and full.
The only exception is my 12.9 which has a short battery life (2 hours) so it's always plugged it, so that I can have the longest battery life when I need it, otherwise it becomes unusable...

 

[Ungibbed]

I have a somewhat similar topic/question that I’m going to ask in here.

The hardware in a iPad that different from the iPhone from the OG to the latest iPP, so why is it that Apple has not added the battery health feature into iPadOS? ???‍♂️

 

[Digitalguy]

I have a somewhat similar topic/question that I’m going to ask in here.

The hardware in a iPad that different from the iPhone from the OG to the latest iPP, so why is it that Apple has not added the battery health feature into iPadOS? ???‍♂️

What Apple should really add is what Samsung has in their laptops and tablets, a life extender feature, which lets you choose to stop charging at 85%. This way you can leave it plugged in all the time without worrying about wearing the battery and if you know you need the full battery life, you just disable it and let it charge to 100%

 

[Astonish_IT]

Thank you very much for all of your answers.

To be honest, I have never babied my devices, batteries included. But iPad is a device that I love using, on the go as well, sometimes, drawing in a cafe..etc and especially after my Macbook batteries’ health in after two and a half years dropped to less than 60% (it may not be accurate, but the battery lasts me around an hour, and it shuts down when it goes to 60-70%) , i have been terrored to face such problems on the iPad Pro. Ofcourse, worst case scenario, for 100 euros, I can have it replaced.

Actually till now, I have been doing how you guys advised me, use it how you like and charge it when you feel the need to. The only thing that I try to do, is to charge before it hits 20%. And I don’t really charge it to 80%, I mostly do 100% or close to it as I prefer having the longer time between charges instead of mantaining 1% of health in time by compromising 20% of battery for years.

I was thinking about buying a fast charging charger from Baseus or Anker. Not that I need a faster charger as it charges already much faster than my 1st Gen iPad Pro with it’s 18W charger comparerd to 12W of my first gen, but it is to be able to have multi charge ports with one adapter instead of bringing with me everyday to the office several chargers. But I dont think that 30W charger will harm it’s battery much as computers such as Macbook Airs use similar batteries with higher charging speeds. Do you disagree?

Thank you very much for your replies.

 

[matrix07]

So I am curious, if I charge it let’s say from 95% to 100%, does it not count as charging cycle?

From Apple

Apple lithium-ion batteries work in charge cycles. You complete one charge cycle when you’ve used (discharged) an amount that equals 100% of your battery’s capacity — but not necessarily all from one charge. For instance, you might use 75% of your battery’s capacity one day, then recharge it fully overnight. If you use 25% the next day, you will have discharged a total of 100%, and the two days will add up to one charge cycle. It could take several days to complete a cycle.

Batteries - Why Lithium-ion?

Learn why Apple rechargeable lithium-based technology provides the best performance for your iPhone, iPad, iPod, and MacBook.

www.apple.com

 

[mikehalloran]

Uh… Battery Health and charge level are two different issues.

Apple will replace the battery once its health reaches 80%. Whether they charge for this or not depends on it it's under warranty, AppleCare+ or not.

If not under warranty and it swells, breaking your iPad, you are out of luck unless covered under a special program as was in effect for iPhones at the end of 2018.

Like many users, I'm looking for a truly decent Battery Health app. It's nice that there's one built into iOS for the iPhone — but what about us?

Not a big fan of coconutBattery. Any recommendations? The one I had before iOS 12, no longer works.

 

[A_Flying_Panda]

so 93% or 98% I don't think you'll ever notice during your daily usage, unless you are paying special attention to your battery life. just use it however you want, by the time the battery won't hold up, it's probably time to upgrade your device as well.

or unless you are expecting your iPad to last 10 years. it can, but I don't think you want to do any productivity work on your 10 years old or even 5 years old iPad.

 

[Digitalguy]

so 93% or 98% I don't think you'll ever notice during your daily usage, unless you are paying special attention to your battery life. just use it however you want, by the time the battery won't hold up, it's probably time to upgrade your device as well.

or unless you are expecting your iPad to last 10 years. it can, but I don't think you want to do any productivity work on your 10 years old or even 5 years old iPad.

Some iPads can last 5, and even 10, years and still be productive.... The iPad pro 12.9 from 2015 is an example. I just had a $100 battery replacement from Apple (swapped with a new iPad in reality...) and it's now ready for at least 5 more years... Also this will be more and more the case with future iPads as the main limiting factor, RAM, is being progressively removed.... I expect a 6GB RAM iPad bought now, even one from 2018, to easily last and be performance until 2030 (with a battery swap in between...)

 

[throAU]

What Apple should really add is what Samsung has in their laptops and tablets, a life extender feature, which lets you choose to stop charging at 85%. This way you can leave it plugged in all the time without worrying about wearing the battery and if you know you need the full battery life, you just disable it and let it charge to 100%

they actually do this automatically now based on usage pattern. if you wake up a lot earlier than normal and check your phone for example it will be on 80 percent until an hour or so before you normally wake up.

 

[Digitalguy]

they actually do this automatically now based on usage pattern. if you wake up a lot earlier than normal and check your phone for example it will be on 80 percent until an hour or so before you normally wake up.

I don't use iPhone as my main phone and I have not seen this behaviour in Ipad so far. The only thing I could come up with is using shortcuts automation to get a notification when battery is below or a above a certain level...

 

[macdogpro]

I don't use iPhone as my main phone and I have not seen this behaviour in Ipad so far. The only thing I could come up with is using shortcuts automation to get a notification when battery is below or a above a certain level...

Mind sharing the shortcuts script?

My battery charge level shortcuts that I got use the 150 times repeat and when the battery is not exactly what the script is told to notify (let say on 80% level) it will then wait 30 seconds and then continue the repeating cycles.
This only succeed around 70-80% chance of giving the notification when the charge level reaching exactly 80% level.
The notification will fail to execute when the repeating cycle doesn‘t meet exactly 80% battery level.

 

[Madhatter32]

My advice is don't worry about too much. I have read that it is better not to run it down to 0%. But I have done so many times. I also fully charge it regularly. My iPad battery is still good after four years.