Other Why no charge thresholds? This is the 21st century.....

[pgoelz]

So here we are in the 21st century and we still don't have settable charge thresholds. Why not? My Lenovo laptop can be set so charging stops at any charge level desired. It is going on 10 years old and is on the charger continuously, but never above 90% state of charge. The battery is still well above 80% capacity.

After spending $130 on a HomePod mini and some outlet switches, I now have that capability. But I have to wonder.... why do we not have something similar built into IOS? I see endless discussions about maximizing battery life but nothing about preventing the phone from sitting at 100% for lengthy periods, which reduces battery lifetime.

 

[eyoungren]

I'd suggest turning on Optimized Battery Charging in the Settings app, but I suspect you don't want to leave it up to the device.

And that's the crux of the problem. Apple doesn't want you thinking about any of that stuff. They just want you to use the device.

 

[pgoelz]

Optimized charging won't work for me because I'm retired and don't have a fixed / regular schedule.

We already have state of charge detection. All we need are two additional automation actions...... "STOP CHARGING" and "START CHARGING".

 

[russell_314]

With a laptop that stays plugged in it makes sense, and the integrated it into the operating system. It's built in to MacBooks where they limit charging to about 80% if you leave it plugged it and you can get an app to do it all the time. Most people plug their phone in at night, then use it throughout the day unplugged. Most people aren't going to just leave their iPhone plugged in for days.

Limiting yourself to 80% of the battery capacity so the battery doesn't get reduced to a condition where it only has 80% of the capacity doesn't make a lot of sense. If you're worried about battery life, the biggest favor you can do for your phone is keep it away from extreme heat. People will put their phone on a car vent mount with heat blasting on it or on the dashboard while it's getting baked by sunlight.

My iPhone still shows 100% battery health at just a few days shy of eight months. Other than keeping it away from extreme heat I don't do anything special. I charge it daily with wired and MagSafe charging. I suspect it will be fine for at least two but likely three years. At that point I could spend $99 and keep it for a total of six years. I suspect by then it would be time for a new iPhone.

I guess if you were in some sort of apocalypse situation this might be useful but I don't see many people wanting this under current conditions, so that's probably why they don't have it. I'm not sure it's even available on android phones, but I don't know for sure.

 

[Böhme417]

Yes, here we are in the 20th century... the same century where smartphones were largely available to the masses.

My Dell laptop can also be set at a percentage and almost never obeys it. What is available on that computer is crap (as far as effectiveness) compared to iOS and macOS. My phone and MBP use optimized charging, and both are still at 100% capacity (launch-day 14 Pro Max and 14" MBP). So, it would seem that Apple's solution works.

However, I do agree that iOS could use some better options. It very often unnecessarily charges to 100%. I don't understand why it can't recognize when an alarm is set and base the optimized charging on that.

 

[pgoelz]

Limiting yourself to 80% of the battery capacity so the battery doesn't get reduced to a condition where it only has 80% of the capacity doesn't make a lot of sense. If you're worried about battery life, the biggest favor you can do for your phone is keep it away from extreme heat. People will put their phone on a car vent mount with heat blasting on it or on the dashboard while it's getting baked by sunlight.

With my current workaround of HomePod and outlet switch, I have the charge set to stop at 90% and start at 80%. I'm retired and I don't charge every day but when I do charge, it is great to be able to drop it on the wireless charger and forget it.... it charges to 90% and stops. Battery life is excellent and I don't mind giving up 10% to gain longer battery lifetime. And if I want a 100% charge for any reason I can just turn off the automation.

Another scenario that is common for me is when I trailer camp I use the phone as a hotspot. In that scenario, the battery drains faster than normal and I would like to simply leave it on charge and not worry about it. But I can't use my current workaround when camping because I don't have WiFi.... the phone is my WiFi So the phone sits on charge for long periods at 100%.

Apple obviously recognizes the benefit of spending as little time as possible at 100% charge..... that is why they developed optimized charging. I don't see it as such a big ask to simply make the charging control an automation action... I was surprised when I discovered that it wasn't. Its all about choices. Might not be important to you but it is for me.

 

[russell_314]

With my current workaround of HomePod and outlet switch, I have the charge set to stop at 90% and start at 80%. I'm retired and I don't charge every day but when I do charge, it is great to be able to drop it on the wireless charger and forget it.... it charges to 90% and stops. Battery life is excellent and I don't mind giving up 10% to gain longer battery lifetime. And if I want a 100% charge for any reason I can just turn off the automation.

Another scenario that is common for me is when I trailer camp I use the phone as a hotspot. In that scenario, the battery drains faster than normal and I would like to simply leave it on charge and not worry about it. But I can't use my current workaround when camping because I don't have WiFi.... the phone is my WiFi So the phone sits on charge for long periods at 100%.

Apple obviously recognizes the benefit of spending as little time as possible at 100% charge..... that is why they developed optimized charging. I don't see it as such a big ask to simply make the charging control an automation action... I was surprised when I discovered that it wasn't. Its all about choices. Might not be important to you but it is for me.

I agree that some people might like this, but I don’t think it’s very many hence why it’s not really a thing with phones. With laptops it is because they are left plugged in 24/7 sometimes.

Optimized charging on the iPhone doesn’t limit the percentage, but rather just waits till when it thinks it’s the best time to charge to 100%. You can leave your phone plugged in 24/7 and it will still keep it at 100%. On a MacBook it will stop below 80%

 

[reppans]

nvm

 

[Helmsley]

I'd say most users don't consider, understand, or even care about, battery health. They plug in, charge and use.

Battery gets crap. They get a new device.