Transcription
Your iPhone's battery health is one of the most important yet also one of the most misunderstood parts of your device. Things like battery cycles, charge habits, and what actually causes your battery to degrade over time can get confusing very fast. So, in this video, I'm going to make it easier for you because I'm going to break down how the lithium-ion battery in your iPhone really works, the biggest myths to avoid, and also what you can do to keep your battery health at 100%, or at least close to it, for as long as possible. I'm just over eight months into using my iPhone 16 Pro, and it just fell down to 97% after 306 cycles.
Okay, so let's first get the basics out of the way. Let's talk about how your iPhone battery actually works. So, inside of the iPhone, we have a lithium-ion battery. And you can think of the lithium-ion battery like a rechargeable backpack. Inside that backpack, there's a bunch of tiny little invisible workers called lithium ions that are constantly moving back and forth, and they travel between two different rooms. You have the anode, that's your storage room, and the cathode, that's your power room.
When you plug your iPhone in to charge, those little workers move into the storage room and they're loading up their backpacks with energy. And when you use your phone, whether it's watching YouTube, playing games, or doom scrolling on TikTok, those same workers head to the energy room and unpack everything to power your apps and your screen. But here's where it gets interesting and kind of sad. So, over time, those rooms start to crack. The workers get slower. They can't carry as much. The path between the rooms, which is called the electrolyte, that starts to wear down as well. And that's exactly what the decline of your battery health is. It's not an iOS update. It's not planned obsolescence. It's just chemistry and physics doing their thing over time. So, your job, if you want to keep that battery health as high as possible, is to slow that process down as much as possible.
So, let's talk about how to do that because we need to talk about what actually impacts your battery health. And the first thing you need to understand for that is battery cycles. So, Apple actually shows this number now. Also, if you have an iPhone 15 or newer and you go into your settings, battery, and then into battery health, you will see the cycle count right there. And it says this is the number of times your iPhone has used your battery's capacity. But what exactly is a cycle? So, a battery cycle is one full 100% discharge and recharge, but it does not have to happen all at once. You don't have to go down from 0% to 100% or from 100% to 0% for it to count as a cycle. So, let's say that you use 40% of your battery today. So, you're down to 60% remaining. And then you use the rest of the 60% tomorrow. That adds up to one full cycle because 60 + 40 is 100. Even though you never went from 100% to 0% in one go, you still completed one full cycle by using 60 and 40 to equal 100%. And another example is going from 100% to 50% and then charging your phone back up to 100%. That gives you half of a cycle. So if you do that twice, you will get to one full cycle. So yeah, an iPhone battery cycle is basically just 100% of the battery being used and recharged combined, not just one charge from zero to 100. So iPhones count this internally to track the battery health and longevity. And that's why Apple actually shows you that exact count.
Now, here's the thing. So, your battery is designed to hold 80% of its maximum capacity after 1,000 cycles if you have an iPhone 15 and newer. And based on my calculations, with the help of ChatGPT, my battery health is above average at 97% after 306 cycles. And my battery health is estimated to be at around 90% after 1,000 cycles. So, yes, your battery health, it will drop over time, but it's not really anything to worry about until you get under 80%. Then you might want to consider getting a new battery. But that should not be until years after your purchase.
Okay, so let's move on to the things that impact your battery's health the most in a negative way. And the number one thing is heat because, as I always say, heat is the number one enemy of lithium-ion batteries. So lithium-ion batteries are full of chemistry, and that chemistry is very sensitive to temperature. When your iPhone gets hot, whether it's from charging, gaming, or just being left in the sun while you're on the beach, all of those tiny lithium ions inside of your battery start moving faster than they're supposed to. And when the battery gets too hot, several bad things start happening. Number one, the electrolyte, which is the fluid that lets the ions move, it starts to degrade faster. And also, the anode and the cathode, those rooms we talked about earlier, those start breaking down and wearing out faster. And then the lithium ions inside, they start forming crystals or getting stuck where they're not supposed to be. And that damage from all three of those things is not just temporary, that is permanent. So every time your phone gets too hot, you're basically shaving off a bit of your iPhone's overall battery health and capacity. And you know, over months and years of having your phone get so hot, that adds up fast and that will definitely degrade your battery's health a lot over time. Like there's a reason that Apple throttles performance and slows charging when your phone gets too hot. That's in order to protect the battery inside. And that right there tells you how important the role of heat plays on your battery.
Okay, so heat is bad, but what's actually causing the heat on my iPhone? Because honestly, some people don't realize what's causing so much heat on their iPhone. And the first thing I will tell you is to stop using your phone while you're charging, especially if you're charging while gaming or doing something intensive. That gives you the double whammy of power draw and heat input. So, I would definitely avoid using your phone while it's charging if you can.
Now, here's another big one that I see all the time and it drives me crazy, especially at the beach or somewhere like that. So, if you leave your iPhone just sitting in the sun or just sitting in a hot car, that is terrible for your battery's overall health. And this is kind of self-explanatory. So, if you're out at the beach, for example, if you're just out somewhere outside, just use a blanket to cover your phone at the beach or just keep it in a bag. If you have a bag with you, just put it in there so it's not just directly in the sun. And definitely do not try to use your iPhone while it's burning your hands with that sun beating down on it.
And then here's another one that's really changed over the years, and that is fast charging with third-party bricks that do not regulate power very well. So, this used to be a big issue in the past. It's gotten a lot better over the years, but there are still some chargers out there that I would just not recommend. Just stick to the brands that are popular or just stick to the ones that Apple sells. Also, Qi chargers, you know, to wirelessly charge those, you know, some of those still don't have any type of heat protection, so I'd be careful with those. Like I said, this isn't really as big of an issue these days as it used to be, but it is still something to keep in mind.
Okay, so heat is bad. We get it. So, that's not the only thing that's causing your battery health to go down, though, because there's also different ways in which you use your phone every single day that have a much bigger impact on your battery than you might think. And the first one has to do with letting your iPhone's battery get down to 20% or lower. And lithium-ion batteries, first off, they don't like being at 0% or even anywhere close to it. So, try to keep your battery between 20 and 80% for optimal long-term health. So, the lower you go, the more stress you're putting on those lithium-ion workers, and the more, you know, it'll strain the battery's chemistry and shorten its lifespan. Now, if you occasionally let your iPhone get below 20%, it's not the end of the world. Like, if it happens once a week, even, it's not the end of the world. But this really becomes a problem when it's constant, when you make this a habit to not charge your phone until it gets in the red or in the yellow. So, I would just avoid that. Like I always say, try to charge your phone at any point you can during the day. Anytime you're near a charger, just charge it. It does not hurt it. It hurts a lot more to let your phone get down to 20% or lower.
Now, speaking of those battery percentages, here's another mistake that's really hurting your iPhone's battery health, and that is not setting a charge limit. So, if you go into your iPhone's settings and go to battery, and then into charging right here, you will see that we have a charging limit. I have mine set to 90%. Now, if you have yours set to 100%, if I set that to 100%, you can turn on optimized battery charging. So, I would say that if you're not going to set a charge limit, at least have optimized battery charging turned on. This way, it waits to finish charging your phone past 80% until you're getting close to using it. So, it does learn from your behaviors and it kind of trickle charges from 80% to 100%. So, if you're going to stick to 100%, do that. But I would say for most people, I would recommend setting a charge limit. That way, it does not charge your phone up all the way to 100%. Because once again, iPhone batteries like it best between 20 and 80%. And sometimes it can go a little bit higher. I like 90% just because I don't like ruining, you know, my overall experience. I still like to have a lot of battery throughout the day. So, I do personally set mine to 90, but I would say, you know, 80 to 90 is fine. And if you're going to do 100% again, just at least turn on optimized battery charging so it trickle charges until 100%.
Now, here's another mistake that every single person on planet Earth has made at some point, including myself, and that is overusing your phone a lot. So, if you constantly have like 6 plus hours of screen time a day, there's no battery-saving tip on planet Earth that's going to undo that kind of wear. You're just simply using your phone too much. So, if you want to get better battery life and better battery health, quit the doom scrolling. Get an application that's going to like, you know, get you away from doom scrolling on TikTok and things like that because if you use your phone too much, again, nothing will save you.
Now, here's something else I want to talk about because this is another common kind of misconception and a lot of common uh advice when it comes to battery savings, and that is not using a MagSafe charger or just wireless charging in general. So, you know, this first off, you know, wireless charging, it can produce more heat than charging with a wire. But once again, with today's tech focused on reducing heat, both with the the wireless charger itself and the built-in tech in the iPhone, wireless charging does not heat up your iPhone nearly as much as it used to. So, I feel like this advice, if you ever hear from somebody, is just super outdated. Like I used the new 25-watt MagSafe puck on my iPhone 16 Pro, and my phone stayed about four degrees cooler than wired charging with a 30-watt block. Yes, MagSafe charging was actually, it kept my iPhone cooler than wired charging. So again, anytime you hear someone telling you to stop wireless charging because it's bad for the battery, just know that their knowledge is outdated. That is not the case anymore. So, needless to say, I would not be afraid to charge wirelessly these days, especially if you have a newer device. I do it myself every single day and every single night.
And speaking of charging your phone overnight, we also need to talk about some charging myths that you need to stop believing. And the first one is overcharging your iPhone or, you know, that you shouldn't charge it overnight. Again, that's such outdated advice because I charge my phone every single night. I have done that for years, and I always have the best, you know, battery capacity out of it really any of my friends online or offline. So, you know, don't be afraid to charge your phone overnight. Again, I even charge wirelessly, but I do keep my sleep focus mode on so I'm not getting blown up with notifications overnight. So, that is one thing that you might want to be aware of if you are going to charge overnight. Just make sure you're not getting blown up with notifications and different things going on on your phone that may heat it up.
Now, as for overcharging, Apple's battery management system is smart. So, there's really no such thing as overcharging your iPhone because once your iPhone hits 100%, it stops pulling power. So, the charging basically pauses until the battery drops slightly, then it might top it off again in tiny trickles. And this is called trickle charging. So, it's completely normal on really any lithium-ion battery. It's how your phone stays at 100% overnight without blowing up from the heat. So, you know, or 80 or 90%, whatever you have it set to with your uh charge cycle. If you go in here and have your charge cycle set, it will only get it up to that percentage and it will trickle charge to keep it at that percentage.
Now, here's another one that cracks me up because you see this all the time, especially on TikTok or on YouTube comments. People say that the new iOS updates ruined my battery health. Ever since I updated, it just dropped my battery percentage by 5% in the battery health section. Let me clear this up once and for all. No, iOS did not damage your battery or reduce your battery health. What does happen is that after a software update, iOS sometimes recalibrates how it reports your battery health. So, you know, if you were at 100% and now you're at 98%, it was probably already at 98%, you just didn't see it yet. The update didn't cause it. It just revealed that you were at that percentage. And also, by the way, you do not need an iOS update for your battery health capacity to update. This will update without you updating the software on your device. It's just that sometimes a software update is needed to reveal that percentage and to kind of recalibrate it.
Now, here's another key thing to know, and that is that slow charging is not going to make your iPhone's battery last longer. That is another myth that used to actually be true. I covered this here on the channel. It did used to be true, but not anymore. And I wouldn't really call this a myth because because it did used to be true, but it's just not nearly as important as it was many years ago. So many seem to think that using a 5-watt or a 12-watt charger to slowly charge up your iPhone is good for your battery's health, but there's actually no direct correlation between slow charging speeds and better battery health over time. Now, there is an indirect correlation between slow charging and that is just from the heat output and really the only reason that slow charging could be a good thing for your battery long term is that it does produce less heat on the battery and the iPhone itself. But here's the thing. I tested this theory in a video here on the channel, and there is not much of a difference in the 12-watt charger and the 20-watt charging block. And again, with today's tech, both internally on iPhones and also with GaN charging blocks if you do use a third party. I just do not recommend using slow charging blocks because it's going to be more counterintuitive than it's actually going to like save you. It's going to make you waste more time is what I'm trying to say than actually protecting your battery long term. So, use whatever charging block you want.
Okay, so let's wrap this up. So, if you want to keep your iPhone battery health at 100% for as long as possible, here's what you need to do. Here's kind of just a quick summary of what we talked about without the nitty-gritty details. So, number one, avoid letting your iPhone battery drop below 20% on a regular basis. Again, your iPhone likes staying between 20 and 80%, so try to keep it within that. Also, try not to keep your iPhone battery at 100% all night, every night without optimized battery charging turned on. So, I have mine set to 90% so it does not go up to 100%. But if you do have it set to 100%, again, make sure you have optimized battery charging turned on. That way, it's not sitting at 100% for a very long period of time. Also, minimize heat at all costs, both externally and internally. Heat is the biggest enemy of your battery, so just try to avoid it if you can. And remember to not use your iPhone while charging if you can. Also, don't stress over using a slow charger instead of a quote-unquote fast charger. Just use a regular charger. And don't be worried about using a slow charger to prolong your battery health. And same goes with MagSafe wireless chargers. Don't be afraid to use those. In my experience, they can actually be uh lower temperature. They can actually produce lower temperatures than wired charging. I personally stick to using Apple MagSafe wireless chargers or somebody that's, you know, reputable like Anker. Just stick to using those and you should be fine. And then, of course, stop blaming iOS updates and instead just look at your habits. That's what's really causing your battery health to drop.
So yeah, the iPhone battery is amazing, but it's not magic. It has its limits, and, you know, just take care of it and it's going to take care of you. So if this video helped you out or just cleared up any misconceptions or, you know, dispelled any myths that you might have had, hit that thumbs-up button and also make sure to subscribe if you want to see more iPhone breakdowns just like this one. Oh, and also let me know in the comments down below what your battery health percentage is currently at and how many cycles you currently have. Again, that's what mine is for my test device, but on my main device, I'm sitting at 97% after 306 cycles. Anyways, guys, that'll do it for this video. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you.