Recently, Apple unveiled a charging feature that’s enabled by default on iOS 15 to extend battery life by minimizing wear-and-tear caused by charging, but has received mixed responses. Here we discuss what this feature entails and how you can switch it off if it becomes inconvenient for you.
What is “Optimized Battery Charging?”
Available on iOS 13 and later versions, “Optimized Battery Charging” aims to minimize how often an iPhone needs to be fully charged – something which could potentially cause battery wear-and-tear. Instead, this feature learns from your daily charging patterns, waiting until 80% charging has finished before commencing full charge again unless needed by you first.
How Does Optimized Battery Charging Work? Optimized Battery Charging utilizes machine learning algorithms to learn your daily charging habits. For instance, if you typically charge your phone overnight before sleeping it off and using it upon awakening. Therefore, Optimized Battery Charging uses its machine learning algorithm to wait to charge past 80% until after use reduces how long a phone spends at full capacity; which in turn reduces wear-and-tear on its battery.
Why disable this feature?
While designed to prolong battery life, some may find this feature inconvenient or unnecessary if they need their phone charging at specific times or may not notice significant improvement in their battery life from using this feature. Ultimately, some may prefer having their device always fully charged up at all times instead.
How to Disable Optimized Battery Charging
If the new charging feature has become inconvenient for you, simply follow these steps to disable it:
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Tap on Battery.
- Tap on Battery Health.
- Toggle off Optimized Battery Charging.
Tips to Extend Battery Life
Aside from using Apple’s new charging feature, there are other steps you can take to extend the battery life of your iPhone. Here are a few helpful hints:
Stop unnecessary features such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi from draining battery when not needed, reduce screen brightness with auto-brightness on, use low power mode when your battery drops low, and set your phone with a dark background for best performance.
Steer clear of extreme temperatures by charging your phone in direct sunlight.
Conclusion
iOS 15’s charging feature was intended to extend battery life by decreasing how often your phone charges at full. If this feature proves annoying, however, simply disable it or follow these tips for maximum battery longevity on iPhone devices.
