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iPad Pro People who game heavily on ipad/iphone, notice long term battery issues? safe practices?
- Thread starter kofman13
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I don't worry about the battery at all. I bought the iPP to use heavily and I never worry about the battery on any of my devices.
While this is true, note that Apple generally doesn't let you just "ask" for a battery replacement for $99 whenever you want. The battery has to be showing some kind of issue (Health <80%, or some other kind of physical warping / expansion).
The reason for this is that when you do a battery replacement, they actually just give you a "new" (usually certified refurbished) iPad - they don't actually swap out the battery because it's too difficult to do with iPads.
There's a few threads here describing this process, as someone who's battery life seemed to be way down (ie. was only lasting a few hours) but system showed Battery Health >80%, wasn't allowed to just pay the $99 to replace the battery. I think eventually they were able to, but it required a lot of pushing / escalating / discussing with supervisors.
Back to the original topic - I've been gaming a bit more on my 2018 11" iPad Pro since late last year when I got the 3 month trial for Apple Arcade. I've noticed it gets warm to the touch after playing for an hour or so, but nothing that has worried me. And I've seen no issues on battery life or health degradation.
awesome thanks. how do you check battery health on ipad? its not in settings. do you have to plug it into a computer with another app running?
iMazing on Windows or Coconut Battery on Mac. Even then, the battery diagnostics used by Apple often reports higher battery health.
battery "replacement" on iPad is tricky.... If you want to keep the iPad for many years, you have 2 alternatives, either you take care of the battery (some would say you baby it...) or you don't but hope to replace the battery once it goes below 80% as measured by apple (which is more like 50-60% as measured by imazing). But for a 2018 ipad pro you have 4 more years to get below that level, after that it's over, you'll keep what you have. Apple only replaces battery for 5 years after they stop selling a devices in their stores if they meet the wear conditions.
As far I am concern, since I have multiple iPads I tend to charge once they are below 50% and stop after 90%. I have set Siri shortcuts to remind me, but if I don't hear them or forget, it's not a big deal, I am not very strict, as long as I do this most of the time.
If you have only 1 iPad and you use it a lot, it's not really feasible, and it's annoying since you cannot use another iPad while one is charging etc.. so you better aim at the other scenario, replacing the battery before it's too late... (or selling the iPad by then...)
As far I am concern, since I have multiple iPads I tend to charge once they are below 50% and stop after 90%. I have set Siri shortcuts to remind me, but if I don't hear them or forget, it's not a big deal, I am not very strict, as long as I do this most of the time.
If you have only 1 iPad and you use it a lot, it's not really feasible, and it's annoying since you cannot use another iPad while one is charging etc.. so you better aim at the other scenario, replacing the battery before it's too late... (or selling the iPad by then...)
Follow the 20/80 rule and you should minimize battery wear. Don't charge above 80% and don't let it drop below 20%. Also let the battery cool down before charging.
I don't think this rule is a good balance... I think going up to 90 is fine, especially if you use you iPad regularly (so it doesn't stay high for very long anyway) it gives you more room. And waiting until it goes to 20 is not ideal either, cause what are you doing if you need your iPad and it's at 20?
So if I don't need to use it I start charging already if it's below 50, if I need it I use it till I need it of course...
I don't think @velocityg4 is saying to only charge when battery reaches 20%. I believe what he's saying is to charge it at 20% or higher.
Yeah, I think so too, but some people might interpret like only charge at 20...
As stated don't let it drop below 20%. Not wait until it hits 20%. Just to clarify. Charging at 30% is better. 40% is better yet.
You can go to 90%. It just reduces the number of cycles your battery may handle. 30/70 is even better, 40/60 is better yet. 20/80 is just a balance between whats convenient and what's best for the battery. Certainly 90% max is much better for the battery than 100%.
Also if you do charge to 100%. It's best to at least drain the battery to somewhere around 80% to 90% before recharging.
Depth of discharge is the biggest worry. Even if you are going to charge to 100% all the time. 20/100 is way better than 0/80. Anyways, even moving to 30/100 can make a big difference. Just not as substantial as say 25/85 or 25/75.
Personally, I follow a 30/100 rule. Usually closer to 50/100. I know it's not the best. But I'm not going to waste time constantly checking the charge. Usually I'm busy with something else. If there was an option to kill charging at 80%. I'd use it. But there isn't. iOS supposedly has the ability to do so automatically. But I see no way of enabling it manually. So far, it just goes to 100% all the time. Even though I rarely use more than 50% in a day.
Based on my discharge cycle rate and charging habits. On average. I should expect my batteries to still have at least 85-90% of factory capacity after 5 years.
Yeah, I use battery life extender in most of my devices, but each manufacturer implements it differently.
For me the best is Samsung which sets the threshold at 85%. I think it's the best compromise between preserving battery and convenience. HP does up to 75-80%, it's fine to but you have a bit less life...
Microsoft instead does it at 50%, which while great for battery if you keep it plugged in all the time, it makes it much less useful as it cuts in half your battery life, so it's either 100 or 50 but you need a reboot since you need to do it via the bios, contrary to Samsung where it's just a switch in both android and windows.
Apple does not give you the option, so I do what I mentioned as "my" best compromise, but only for tablets I care.
I care about my 12.9 since I just had the swap/battery replacement and I know I won't have a 2nd one since the cut-off of the first gen pro is next year. I also care about my 11 pro since it's the 1TB cellular model and I want to keep it for many years.
I don't care about the the 10.5 which I will sell at some point so I fast charge it at 30w and don't really mind charging to 100%.
This kind of babying makes no sense. First of all, I don't believe that it has as significant an effect on battery longevity as some people seem to believe. Second, it makes no practical sense. What's even the point of inconveniencing yourself to maintain 100% of your battery's capacity if you're limiting yourself to only ever using 60% of it? You're artificially limiting your battery's capacity to protect it from a much less pronounced gradual reduction. ?
Just use your device and charge it whenever you need to. If (emphasis on IF) battery health becomes a problem before you're ready to replace the device for other reasons, it probably won't be for years, and you can address the problem then.
it doesn't make sense when you have one device, it does make sense when you have several and when you have laptops that are plugged in anyway most of the time... And it make sense when it's just a switch and it's done automatically (as in my tab S7+). I don't need full battery at home, but I do when I am away.... And I can keep it plugged it at 85% when I don't use it
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Not letting batteries drop below 20% is something I'm conscientious about. To 100% less so. However, I do have the smart plugs automated to turn off after 30 minutes (fast charger) to 1 hour (12W charger) to avoid overcharging when possible.
Helpful to know strategies that may help in extending the lifespan of batteries in a device. At the end of the day one can make their own decisions.
I'm mindful of severe depletion too but I'm not going to sweat the risk of lifespan depletion for overcharging. I've likely seen the side effects of that decision on my devices but it hasn't bothered me in the past as I generally upgrade a device within a few years anyway.
I'm mindful of severe depletion too but I'm not going to sweat the risk of lifespan depletion for overcharging. I've likely seen the side effects of that decision on my devices but it hasn't bothered me in the past as I generally upgrade a device within a few years anyway.
I think that there a wrong idea about "worrying" about batteries, as if it were something painful and that gives you a poor experience. It's just a matter of habits (and shortcuts). There is nothing annoying or painful...
Someone that does not have any habit will typically charge when the battery is very low, which is not only bad for the battery but obliges to have your device plugged in and therefore less mobile or unusable when you might need it...
A life extender feature lets you keep it plugged it when not in use without worries about the battery health and if high enough still gives you good battery life. Because truth is you hardly ever need your device for 10 (or even 5 most of the time) hours running when at home. For devices like iPads that don't have the life extender, plugging them at half charge instead of waiting for the battery to die is not only better for the battery but also gives less hassle because you are less likely to find yourself with an empty battery when you need it. Again this works when when you have at least 2 iPads. And then if you manage to disconnect before 100 better otherwise, just give priority to use to the iPad that is charged most...
Someone that does not have any habit will typically charge when the battery is very low, which is not only bad for the battery but obliges to have your device plugged in and therefore less mobile or unusable when you might need it...
A life extender feature lets you keep it plugged it when not in use without worries about the battery health and if high enough still gives you good battery life. Because truth is you hardly ever need your device for 10 (or even 5 most of the time) hours running when at home. For devices like iPads that don't have the life extender, plugging them at half charge instead of waiting for the battery to die is not only better for the battery but also gives less hassle because you are less likely to find yourself with an empty battery when you need it. Again this works when when you have at least 2 iPads. And then if you manage to disconnect before 100 better otherwise, just give priority to use to the iPad that is charged most...
There is no such thing as overcharging an iPad (or any device from a reputable manufacturer) in modern device. The voltage is cut once the limit is reached.
Leaving it plugged in is not bad because it overcharges it, but because at 100% battery are in a stressed situation (just like a bus full of people), since the voltage is near the maximum level. If it's at 100% for a short while (like a couple of hours) the impact is negligible, but leaving them overnight or for days or months does wear the battery over time. If not plugged in the device will naturally discharge to a lower voltage.
My iPad mini was kept plugged in for the first 6 months and used very little back in 2019. With less than 20 cycles it went from 106% to 90% (losing over 15%). The following 1.5 years it did 65 more cycles but not plugged in and only lost 4%.
However, when the battery is at 0, and voltage is therefore very low, it's even worse, because in addition to being stressed, some cell could die if they go lower than a certain level. That doesn't mean that the battery is dead, but when some cells are dead the battery will start having strange behaviors like discharging very quickly all of a sudden and will progressively die over time...
Having said that you probably did not mean overcharging in the sense of going beyond the voltage limit (which is something that wears the battery much more and can kill it in a few months, typical of some low cost Chinese devices), but just charging it too much in the sense that the battery cannot discharge naturally since the charger will trickle charge it to the max voltage then stop and trickle charge it again over and over to keep it at the max voltage.
I think it might be possible to automate with Shortcuts and smart plugs if you always use the same charger.
I just have my smart plugs set to turn off automatically after 30 minutes to 2 hours depending on the charger (fast charger 30 minutes, slow charger 1-2 hours). That gives me plenty of juice without the devices being on 100% all the time. And if they do occasionally go to 100%, I don't really sweat it.