Battery health and longevity are hot topics among iPhone users, especially in online forums and social media groups dedicated to iPhone discussions. Since battery health directly impacts both battery and overall iPhone performance, it's natural for users to feel anxious when they see the numbers on their screens decline.
The good news? There are effective strategies to keep your iPhone battery performing at its best! In this article, discover the dos and don'ts for preserving the battery life of your iPhone 15.
Lithium-ion Batteries
The latest iPhone series uses lithium-ion batteries. These rechargeable batteries are popular for their ability to store high amounts of energy despite their small size, making them ideal for smartphones and electric vehicles. It also has a long lifespan before it fully degrades.
Sadly, like any other battery, degradation is inevitable. This process refers to the gradual loss of a battery's capacity to hold charge, which can occur due to age, usage, and environmental conditions.
Charging Cycles and Their Impact on Battery Health
A device's lifespan is determined by its charging cycles, which refer to the times it is charged to 100%. For example, charging from 0% to 100% counts as one cycle. Additionally, charging from 50% to 100% and then back to 50% also uses one cycle. However, charging from 30% to 60% doesn't count as a full cycle, but if you charge it from 30% to 60% and then back down to 30% before charging it back to 100%, that would count as one complete cycle.
So what are the things you can do to prolong your battery life?
Update to Latest iOS Version
To prolong your battery life, it's crucial to update your iPhone to an optimal iOS version. Aim for the 4th update (e.g., 17.4) to avoid ongoing bugs while benefiting from improved performance.
Optimizations and improvements that help the battery are added to every version. Bug fixes that prevent apps from running in the background are also another reason to do this. Security optimization also fights malicious software that can quickly drain your battery.
To read more about how to upgrade to the latest version, check out the guide from Apple.
Use Wi-fi instead of Cellular Data
Using Wi-fi instead of Cellular Data prolongs your battery life. Cellular Data tends to also make the temperature of your iPhone higher, thus affecting the battery. Remember that extended periods of high temperature are not good for the battery life.
This is also especially important when downloading or loading high amounts of data. Not only that Wi-Fi is faster, but it also means reducing your need to use your screen time to get that data. Sometimes, you find yourself with no option but to rely on your cellular data, and that's perfectly fine. Just make sure to choose Wi-fi if it is the option.
Optimization
There are different ways to optimize your iPhone to preserve battery life. Here are some of them that are proven and tested effective:
Auto-Brightness
Brightness is a major factor in how quickly your battery drains each day. Although you can always manually lower the brightness of your iPhone, Auto-Brightness makes this easier.
- Go to Settings
- Click Accessibility
- Tap Display & Text Size
- Turn on Auto-Brightness
Charging
With how smart the iPhone is now, it can learn your sleeping schedule and adjust the charging times accordingly so as not to overwhelm your battery especially when you’re charging at night during your sleep.
- Go to Settings
- Click Battery
- Click Battery Health & Charging
- Tap Optimized Battery Charging
Background App Refresh
When you use apps and don’t close them after switching, they continue to run in the background, updating regularly even if you don’t reopen them. This continues to drain your battery, requiring you to charge sooner rather than later. It is highly recommended to disable this feature; however, be sure not to rely on it for receiving important updates from your apps.
- Go to Settings
- Click General
- Tap Background App Refresh
So keep that in mind, some apps need the Background App Refresh turned on to run effectively, like Running Apps to track your movement and location. You can always turn it off anyway after using such apps.
Charging Habits
When you visit forums that focus on iPhone discussions, one of the most asked questions is how they conserve their batteries. “Do they leave them overnight?”, “Do they use it while charging?”, A common charging practice in the community is the 20-80 rule. This suggests that you should charge your phone when it drops below 20% and unplug it once it reaches 80%.
While there’s no harm in making this a habit, you’ll realize that Apple itself did not include this in its guide to maximize your battery. The truth is, you don’t have to worry about such little details when it comes to charging. Your battery has been optimized to not overcharge despite leaving it at night.
Just make sure to not leave your battery at 0% for long periods as it damages the chemicals inside the battery much faster.
No matter how hard you try to preserve your iPhone’s batteries, it will continue to degrade over time. Phone batteries inevitably deteriorate over time, no matter how we use them.
Final Thoughts
Your battery is a crucial part of your iPhone, so it's important to take care of it. To wrap it up, maintaining your iPhone's battery health is vital for extending its lifespan and ensuring optimal performance. By adopting effective charging habits, using features like Auto-Brightness and Background App Refresh, and keeping your iOS updated, you can reduce battery drain. And if your battery has been degraded, which will eventually happen, you can always visit Mobile Care by Power Mac Center for iPhone battery replacement.
