How to preserve battery health on iphone?

By HotBotUpdated: July 31, 2024

Understanding iPhone Battery Health

The health of your iPhone battery is crucial to ensuring its longevity and optimal performance. The battery health metric is a measure of how much of your battery's original capacity remains, influencing how long your iPhone can operate before requiring a recharge. Apple provides tools within iOS to monitor and manage battery health, but users can take additional steps to preserve their battery.

Charge Cycles and Battery Degradation

Every lithium-ion battery, including those in iPhones, has a limited number of charge cycles before its capacity diminishes. A charge cycle is counted each time your battery uses up 100% of its capacity. This doesn’t necessarily mean a single charge from 0% to 100%; it could be two charges from 50% to 100%. Understanding this can help you strategize charging habits to extend battery life.

Optimal Charging Practices

Avoid Extreme Temperatures

iPhone batteries perform best at moderate temperatures. Extreme heat or cold can accelerate battery degradation. Try to keep your iPhone in environments between 0° to 35° C (32° to 95° F). Avoid leaving your device in a car on a hot day or exposed to freezing temperatures for extended periods.

Use Optimized Battery Charging

Apple's Optimized Battery Charging feature, available from iOS 13 onwards, helps reduce battery aging by learning your daily charging routine. It waits to finish charging past 80% until you need to use it. Ensure this feature is enabled by navigating to Settings > Battery > Battery Health and turning on Optimized Battery Charging.

Avoid Full Discharges

Frequently letting your iPhone battery fully discharge to 0% can shorten its lifespan. Ideally, keep your battery level between 20% and 80%. Occasional full discharges are okay but shouldn't be a regular practice.

Use the Right Charger

Using the charger that came with your iPhone or a certified third-party charger is crucial. Non-certified chargers can deliver inconsistent power, potentially damaging the battery. Fast charging is convenient but should be used sparingly as it generates more heat, which can degrade the battery over time.

Software and Settings Management

Update to the Latest iOS

Apple consistently updates iOS with new features and optimizations. Keeping your iPhone updated ensures you benefit from the latest battery management improvements. Go to Settings > General > Software Update to check for updates.

Manage Background Activity

Apps running in the background can drain battery life. Navigate to Settings > General > Background App Refresh and disable it for apps that don't need to constantly update.

Adjust Display Settings

The display is one of the largest power consumers on your iPhone. Reducing screen brightness or enabling Auto-Brightness (Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size) can save battery. Additionally, using Dark Mode (Settings > Display & Brightness) can be beneficial, especially on OLED screens like those in the iPhone X and later models.

Hardware Considerations

Battery Replacements

Over time, even with the best practices, your iPhone battery will degrade. Apple offers battery replacement services, which can significantly extend the life of your device. If your battery health drops below 80%, it might be time to consider a replacement.

Avoid Heavy Use While Charging

Using your iPhone for resource-intensive tasks while charging can generate excess heat, harming the battery. If you need to charge your device, try to avoid gaming, streaming, or other heavy tasks simultaneously.

Daily Habits for Long-term Battery Health

Regular Reboots

Restarting your iPhone periodically can clear out software glitches and processes that may be unnecessarily draining battery life. A simple reboot once a week can maintain optimal performance.

Disable Unnecessary Features

Features like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and location services can drain your battery if left on unnecessarily. Turn these off when not in use via Control Center or Settings.

Monitor Battery Usage

Regularly check your battery usage in Settings > Battery. This section shows which apps consume the most power, helping you identify and manage battery-draining activities.

Advanced Tips and Tricks

Use Low Power Mode

Low Power Mode can extend your battery life by reducing background activity, lowering performance, and optimizing system functions. Activate it via Settings > Battery or Control Center when your battery is running low.

Calibrate Your Battery

Occasionally, you may need to calibrate your battery for more accurate readings. To do this, fully charge your iPhone to 100%, then let it drain completely to 0%, and recharge it to 100% without interruption.

Third-Party Battery Health Apps

Several third-party apps can offer more detailed insights into your battery's health and performance. Apps like CoconutBattery (for Mac users) can provide additional diagnostics and monitoring tools beyond what's available in iOS.

Summing Up the Essentials

Preserving your iPhone battery health is a multifaceted task involving careful charging habits, optimal use of settings, and occasional hardware interventions. By combining these practices, you can extend the life of your battery and ensure your iPhone remains functional and efficient.

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