The newest iPhones still offer a ton of fun and useful new features, but they don’t do much good if your phone doesn’t last all day. That’s why Apple has been adding battery-saving features to iOS for years – and there’s one you should start using.
A quick caveat: this feature is currently limited to iPhone 15 models, but there’s no reason Apple can’t bring it to older iPhones running iOS 18 or an iOS 17 update. If you have one of the newer Apple phones, you’ll find a new one 80% limit
Apple introduced the concept of Optimized Battery Charging in iOS 13. Powered by machine learning, it tracks your daily charging habits to “reduce wear and tear on your battery and improve its lifespan by reducing the time your iPhone goes fully charged.” When enabled, Optimized Battery Charging will periodically limit charging to 80% when you don’t need a full charge to help keep your battery healthy longer.
On the iPhone 15, you can go even further in optimized battery charging by choosing to always limit the charge to 80%. This means that your iPhone will essentially treat 80% as 100% and stop charging when it hits 80%. If the battery charge level drops to 75 percent, charging will resume until the battery charge level reaches approximately 80 percent again.
Why would you want this? Quite simply, it will extend the life of your iPhone battery, especially if you are in the habit of charging it often. On the one hand, a lower percentage means fewer full charge cycles and a longer lifespan. Additionally, a lower charge percentage means your battery is less likely to reach extreme temperatures.
When I traded in my iPhone 14 Pro after just a year, the battery health was 90%, so you can see how the battery can degrade quickly even after a short time. So if you have an iPhone 15, turn it on and test it for a few weeks.
