On iPhone 15 models, iOS 18 will recommend that users set a particular charging limit for their device based on their recent usage habits, with the aim of potentially improving their iPhone battery's lifespan by reducing the time that the battery is fully charged.
All four iPhone 15 models feature a setting that prevents the devices from charging beyond 80% while toggled on, and iOS 18 expands the feature by adding new 85%, 90%, and 95% charging limit options. With the new limit options, iOS 18 now takes a proactive approach to improving battery longevity by recommending a specific charging limit to users via a notification.
The recommendation also appears in the Settings app under Battery → Charging. The charging limit feature remains exclusive to the iPhone 15 lineup on the first iOS 18 beta, with the option not found on the iPhone 14 Pro or older.
In a related change, anecdotal reports suggest that iOS 18 could be recalibrating some devices' maximum battery capacity percentage. In Settings ➝ Battery ➝ Battery Health, "Maximum Capacity" is a measure of battery capacity relative to when the device was new. Lower capacity can result in fewer hours of usage between charges.
The first iOS 18 beta is available for Apple Developer Program members, and a public beta will follow in July. After beta testing is complete, the update should be widely released to all users with an iPhone XS or newer in September.
Wednesday February 26, 2025 7:15 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 18.4 will be released in April.
From the Apple News+ Food announcement:Coming with iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 in April, Apple News+ subscribers will have access to Apple News+ Food, a new section that will feature tens of thousands of recipes — as well as stories about restaurants, healthy eating, kitchen essentials, and more — from the...
Friday February 28, 2025 2:51 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is expected to embrace a new camera system design for some models in its upcoming iPhone 17 series, and the latest purported CAD images don't deviate from what we have been hearing lately about Apple's new lineup. If you do not like the sound of an iPhone with a Google Pixel-style camera bar, look away now.
Seasoned leaker Sonny Dickson shared the following images in a post on X...
Friday February 28, 2025 4:39 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple has offered a reason why the iPhone 16e doesn't include MagSafe, one of the more notable omissions from its latest entry-level smartphone.
According to Apple representatives who spoke to Daring Fireball's John Gruber, MagSafe is not included in the iPhone 16e because "most people in the iPhone 16e's target audience exclusively charge their phones by plugging them into a charging...
Friday February 28, 2025 3:17 pm PST by Juli Clover
iOS 18.4 was supposed to bring new Apple Intelligence Siri features, but Apple ended up needing to pull those capabilities from the update to continue testing. There are fewer new Apple Intelligence additions now, but there are still some new features that will make the update worth installing when it comes out in April.
Priority Notifications
Apple introduced Priority Notifications back at ...
Saturday March 1, 2025 11:00 am PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 19 is still around three months away from being unveiled, but there are plenty of rumors about the upcoming update.
Below, we recap iOS 19 rumors so far.
Redesigned Camera App
A leak earlier this year allegedly revealed a redesigned Camera app coming with iOS 19.
On his YouTube channel Front Page Tech in January, Jon Prosser shared a video showing what the new Camera app will...
Wednesday February 26, 2025 6:32 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In an all-caps post on Truth Social today, U.S. President Donald Trump said Apple should fully end its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies.
Tim Cook meeting with President Trump in 2017
"APPLE SHOULD GET RID OF DEI RULES, NOT JUST MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO THEM," he wrote.
Trump's post comes one day after Apple held its annual shareholders meeting, during which a majority of...
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to launch later this year, arriving two years after the previous model with a series of improvements.
While no noticeable design changes are expected for the third generation since the company tends to stick with the same Apple Watch design through three generations before changing it, there are a series of internal upgrades on the way.
By the time the ...
Monday February 24, 2025 9:14 am PST by Joe Rossignol
According to a post on X today from a leaker known as Kosutami, Apple plans to launch AirPods Pro 3 in May or June this year.
The leaker also claimed that an AirTag 2 will launch around the same time.
Kosutami is best known as a collector of prototype Apple hardware, but they have occasionally shared accurate information about Apple's future product plans. For example, they accurately...
Friday February 28, 2025 10:08 am PST by Joe Rossignol
iPhone 16e reviews are now out, and Apple's custom-designed C1 modem has been put to the test. The results so far are quite surprising, as the C1's speeds are not as slow compared to Qualcomm modems as originally expected.
While the C1 does not support ultra-fast mmWave 5G in the U.S., it appears to offer comparable 5G performance to Qualcomm's Snapdragon X71 modem found in the iPhone 16,...
They’re getting to a point where people can hold onto their iPhones for 10 years. If I’m a shareholder, I’m asking what Tim is doing to replace the lost revenue from iPhone users who aren’t upgrading?
I charge my phone overnight, to 100%, every day ... don't care about battery health/lifespan. Its a consumable, when it doesn't meet my needs anymore it gets replaced
You're reducing the accumulation/creation of dendrites.
Dendrites are crystal-like formations in the cell that grow through the electrolyte, little by little, with each charge and discharge cycle. They cause short-circuit in a cell when they grow all the way through. This is the main way a li-ion cell dies.
Dendrites are formed primarily during deep charging and deep discharging. E.g., when you discharge the battery down to 0%, and when you charge the battery up to 100%. If you stay within the 20%-80% charge range all the time, a modern lithium ion cell can last probably 10x as many cycles compared to a battery that is cycled between 0% and 100%. But staying in that narrow range sacrifices 40% of the battery capacity, so it's pretty undesirable. Indeed, everything about battery design is balancing competing interests and picking 2 of 3 options.
Most battery controllers don't let you go to 0% anyway. When your phone is reporting 0%, it likely really means the battery has 1-3% left but for self-preservation it's not going to let the device turn on in that state. And most folks don't discharge their phone all the way daily anyway - it's a rare occurrence to be plugging in a totally dead phone. But most battery controllers let the battery charge to 100%. So dendrites slowly form.
By limiting the charging to 80%, you're greatly reducing/slowing the formation of dendrites.
But 80% is a bit aggressive in my opinion. Dendrite formation becomes a real problem at the extremes. 90-95% charge limit would be fine I think.
This is looking more and more like something in the hardware of the iPhone 15 models that allows the charging limits as well as this new feature. Maybe something controlling the USB C port or the battery controller itself?
All existing devices since iPhone 6S can do Optimized Battery Charging, which delays charging past 80%. All iPhones can pause charging when high temps are experienced. So we already know existing hardware is capable. This is confirmed by the fact jailbreaking can re-enable this artificially locked feature on iPhone 14 and older. This is a case of pure feature rationing.
