One of our favorite new features of the iPhone 15 is the ability to limit charging to just 80%. For years now, some Apple products have had an Optimized Battery Charging feature that takes into account your daily charging and usage routine and will only charge your iPhone or Mac up to 80% when it determines that you probably won’t need more.
But the iPhone 15 and 15 Pro introduce a third option: force charging stops at 80 percent. This is a great option for those worried about the long-term health of their iPhone batteries, as keeping a battery fully charged causes it to degrade more quickly, and capping it at 80% will help the battery maintain its full capacity. capacity much longer.
It’s unclear why the 80% limit isn’t available on older iPhones or other Apple hardware, as it seems like a relatively simple software change, but those purchasing a new 2024 iPad (the iPad Air M2 or the ‘iPad Pro M4) will be happy. to see it as an option there too. Since Apple hasn’t introduced it to older iPhones in the last five iOS 17 updates, it’s unlikely it will make an appearance until iOS 18, if ever.
The Dutch site iCulture was the first to notice this option. As before, there’s no “optimized battery charging” option on iPads, so it’s a bit strange to see the charge limit feature appear. Previous iPads also lack the battery health display feature in Settings, which is now available on the new 2024 iPads so you can see max capacity and cycle count stats, as well as the date of manufacture and first use of the battery.
Hopefully the 80% charge limit will be an option on all future Apple hardware. For those who don’t need that extra 20% to get through a day, this will really help keep their batteries healthy for years to come.
