iPhone 15 Pro charging limit - one year experiment comparison

Juli Clover from MacRumors talks about her one-year long experiment keeping the iPhone 15 Pro Max at an 80% charging limit:

My ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro Max battery level is currently at 94 percent with 299 cycles. For a lot of 2024, my battery level stayed above 97 percent, but it started dropping more rapidly over the last couple of months.

I left my ‌iPhone‌ at that 80 percent limit and at no point turned the setting off or tweaked it. There were some days when I ran out of battery because I was without a charger for most of the day, and there were other times that I had to bring a battery along to make sure I didn't run out of power. It wasn't always convenient to keep it at 80 percent, but there were days when it didn't have too much of an impact.

She used a 70/30 split between wired charging and MagSafe, and I used a 10/90 split between wired charging and MagSafe.

I went all MagSafe once the iPhones 12 were released.

Let’s compare her results to her other colleagues who did not use any charging limit:

1. Juli - Current capacity: 94%. Cycles: 299

2. Person 2 - Current capacity: 87%. Cycles: 329

3. Person 3 - Current capacity: 90%. Cycles: 271

There isn’t a huge difference in battery health, but here’s another crucial point that she brings up…

It's possible that the real gains from an 80 percent limit will come in two or three years rather than a single year, and I'll keep it limited to 80 percent to see the longer term impact.

I think this is where limiting the charging limit will really shine. Most people aren’t serial upgraders like ourselves who get the new phone every year or max every 2 years, but they will use their phone for 4 or 5 years.

These normal people will be able to maximize the performance of their iPhones, and they are the type of people who aren’t power users and won’t mind an 80% charge limit.

More power to them, literally.

As for my battery health? My first use date is October 9, 2023, and so far I have 285 cycles with a drumroll…

99% battery health as of today.

I’m not sure why mine is still at 99% especially when I predominantly use MagSafe charging, but I think Apple’s wireless charging protocols are very sophisticated. I’m sure that if I had just used a regular Qi charger, I would have closer to 90% in battery health due to the extra heat.

One thing to note. Many sites advertise their battery health when reselling iPhones, and many buyers ask about battery health as well. It is something that more people are becoming aware of (as they should because who wants to buy a dud iPhone that shuts off after a few hours?)

iFixit hot-wires the iPhone 16 battery (updated).

Great write-up and explanation of how the battery gets replaced in the new iPhone 16 lineup. Love the microscope images.

I recently replaced the battery in my original iPhone SE, and it was a pain to get those pull tabs out. I had to significantly bend the battery just to dislodge it at one point since the pull tabs were so fragile, and I had to tell my curious kids to back away since I didn’t know if the battery would explode.

The new method on the iPhone 16 lineup would have saved me at least an hour, plus the anxiety of potentially damaging my phone. Be careful though because if you reverse the polarity, then all the residue stays on the phone instead of the battery:

The reverse polarity did have an effect: when we reverse-zapped a new phone, the zap released the battery, but the adhesive residue stuck to the frame instead of the battery. Before that, a positive zap consistently left the residue on the battery. If you’re trying this at home, be sure to get the polarity right so you have less residue to clean up on the frame!

Update: The new electrode method is only for the regular 16 models, not the Pro models.

Jet Black Apple Watch with link bracelet hands on: Luxury at a discount.

I really was not planning on buying a Series 10, as I already own a Series 9 in stainless steel. The color was a surprise announcement at the Apple event, and I couldn’t help myself and just had to get one. A bonus at work hit at the right time as well, so I took the plunge.

If you remember the original Apple Watch that came in Space Black, this has the same looks, without the heft. It looks more luxurious than it is, which is good considering it is $300 cheaper than its titanium counterpart. Almost the price of another watch itself.

It also pairs really well with the link bracelet, both the regular and the black color. I have the older regular stainless steel and space black link bracelets, but I’m sure they will look very similar to the new natural and slate colors. The slate color though is a lighter shade than the old space black. The watch does smudge as any glossy material would, but it smudges a lot less than the old space black 1st gen watch that I had.

I didn’t think I would notice the thinness of the new watch, but it definitely does sit flatter on my wrist and it nestles in there quite well, versus sitting on top of my wrist like the Series 9. The thinness does make a difference and I think people will notice it immediately.

As you can see from the photo gallery below, this cheaper aluminum watch does exude luxury with the right band, and it is an actual black, unlike the Series 2 Ultra, which is more of a slate. The stealth look it provides reminds me of the Matrix, and something fit for Agent Smith as he tries to keep humans subdued in their ignorance.

Note: 42mm Jet Black on a 160mm wrist.

How to swipe between watch faces on Apple Watch.

I can’t believe Apple doesn’t make this ON by default, but there is a simple way to swipe left and right between Apple Watch faces. On your watch:

Go to Settings, Clock, and Toggle “Swipe to Switch Watch Face,” ON.

I restored my Apple Watch from a backup that already had that feature enabled, but it didn’t transfer onto my Series 10.

Got a new iPhone? Here is the one battery setting you need to fix now.

Your iPhone battery is a consumable item, just like any other battery. The more you take care of it, the longer it will last, and the better your performance will be. 

What is the most effective thing you can do to improve your battery health?

The best thing to do is to limit the charge on your iPhone’s battery. Starting with the iPhone 15, you can limit the charge of your iPhone to 80%, so it does not charge beyond that setting.

When you charge beyond 80%, you will start to generate more heat while charging, which will degrade the battery’s health. You will get more battery life in the short term, but at the cost of battery health in the long run. 

I have been using an iPhone 15 Pro Max everyday since October 2023, and I have 99% battery health on my iPhone. I have my charging limit set to 80%, and that is why it has stayed in excellent condition. 

The real kicker? I have been using MagSafe wireless charging 99.9% of the time. 

I have lost 1% battery health in 11 months of daily use while charging wirelessly.

Wireless charging is less efficient than directly plugging in your phone to charge, but MagSafe is more efficient and smart compared to just a standard Qi wireless charger, and overall generates less heat if you go wireless.

If you are a regular user like me who uses their phone for social media, Youtube, email, and everything non-game related, you should achieve similar results by setting your limit to 80%.

Here’s how to do it:

Go to Settings → Battery → Charging.

Under charging, you can set your charge limit from 80% to 100% in 5% intervals.

The lower your charge limit, the longer your battery will last since it will generate less heat.

This is critical for most people who keep their iPhones for years. If your battery ages prematurely, you will have performance issues, and might not even be able to complete certain tasks that require significant battery power. 

Here is Apple’s more thorough explanation of battery health:

For a phone to function properly, the electronics must be able to draw upon instantaneous power from the battery. One attribute that affects this instantaneous power delivery is the battery’s impedance. A battery with a high impedance might be unable to provide sufficient power to the system that needs it. A battery's impedance can increase if a battery has a higher chemical age. A battery’s impedance will temporarily increase at a low state of charge and in a cold temperature environment. When coupled with a higher chemical age, the impedance increase will be more significant. These are characteristics of battery chemistry that are common to all lithium-ion batteries in the industry.

When power is pulled from a battery with a higher level of impedance, the battery’s voltage will drop to a greater degree. Electronic components require a minimum voltage to properly operate. This includes the device’s internal storage, power circuits, and the battery itself. The power management system determines the capability of the battery to supply this power and manages the loads to maintain operations. When the operations can no longer be supported with the full capabilities of the power management system, the system will perform a shutdown to preserve these electronic components. While this shutdown is intentional from the device perspective, it might be unexpected by the user.

Apple Watch Series 10’s greatest feature is extremely limited.

One of the highlights in Apple’s keynote regarding the Series 10 was its ability to show you the seconds on the watch, even when the display was in its dormant, yet “always on” mode.

After watching Dave2D’s review of the watch, it is sad to see that feature being limited to the two new watch faces, which don’t really have much value since they don’t offer any complications. The reflections watch face also is annoying since you can’t accurately tell the time without the markings.

To make things a bit more sour, the wide angle OLED display doesn’t make a huge difference when compared to the Series 9.

Now these features aren’t deal breakers especially if you are upgrading from an older Apple Watch, but for the nerds out there like myself who upgrade almost every year, these were two of the biggest features, and they don’t seem so big anymore.

I’m confident Apple will update the old watch faces for the Series 10 to update every second, but I can’t recommend anyone buying this watch expecting that to be a guarantee.

Great points made by Dave, but someone should tell him that you can deactivate the always on display simply by slapping your palm on the face of the watch.

How to find your hidden apps in iOS 18.

Hiding your apps in iOS 18 is a new feature that everyone will find useful, for better or for worse. The crazy thing is, when you want to actually find those apps, it can drive you nuts trying to figure out where they actually went.

Scroll all the way to the right on your homescreen until you get to the App Library. Then scroll all the way down and you will see your hidden “folder” completely transparent. Tap the “folder,” and watch as FaceID magically reveals your apps once again.

To unhide the app permanently, simply long press on it and select, “Don’t require Face ID.”

If you want to keep the app hidden but want to adjust it’s settings, go to Settings, scroll all the way down to Apps, and scroll all the way down again to see your hidden apps.

Flappy Bird makes a comeback.

Joe Rossignol from MacRumors:

The iconic side-scrolling game Flappy Bird will apparently be returning to the iPhone soon, according to a website dedicated to the project.

Flappy Bird was released in 2013 and quickly received tens of millions of downloads. However, the game was abruptly removed from the App Store in 2014 after its creator Dong Nguyen decided that the game was too addictive. Nguyen also disliked the excessive fame and attention that he started to receive as a result of the game's popularity.

Flappy Bird was a simple game in which players tapped on the screen to navigate a small bird through columns of green pipes without hitting them, in an attempt to set a new high score. The website for the upcoming reboot of the game promises new characters and game modes, such as shooting the bird through basketball hoops.

I remember this game getting discontinued, and the iPhones that still had it installed were selling for a premium on eBay.

A little digging on the internet though, and you will find another perspective on how the game got popular in the first place, and why it was taken down. It’s interesting to see what tactics developers used in order to promote their apps, but we will never know the real story.

Jet Black Apple Watch - will it scratch like the iPhone 7 Jet Black?

Apple’s disclaimer when the Jet Black iPhone 7 came out:

The high-gloss finish of the jet black iPhone 7 is achieved through a precision nine-step anodization and polishing process. Its surface is equally as hard as other anodized Apple products; however, its high shine may show fine micro-abrasions with use. If you are concerned about this, we suggest you use one of the many cases available to protect your iPhone.

I tried looking through Apple’s website, but I did not see any disclaimers regarding the Series 10 Jet Black. 

Having owned 2 different Jet Black iPhone 7s, I am fully expecting “micro-abrasions” to be there on the Series 10 Jet Black watch. This shouldn’t be a deal breaker though.

The micro-abrasions will be similar to the scratches on the stainless steel Apple Watch, which I think will give it a nice patina. You won’t notice them until you look under harsh light under the right angle, but what you will notice, in any light or angle, is the nice glossy shine.

Your high tech car is probably spying on you.

If you’re buying a modern vehicle, there is a very high chance that your driving is being monitored. You might now know it, but all your driving metrics such as speed, location, and how fast and what angle you’re turning are all being recorded by your vehicle. All this data is then being saved into the car’s computer, and sent wirelessly to the manufacturer. 

The manufacturer could then use these driving metrics to do investigations for warranty claims, and they can deny your warranty since they think you might be a dangerous driver. 

Could they also be working with insurance companies and furnishing them with this information, to determine if the customer violated their insurance policies by driving dangerously? 

It wouldn’t surprise me. 

Take this GR Corolla for example, where 2 of them caught on fire and one person was denied a warranty claim because they were driving “dangerously.” 

How did Toyota know that?

They said at some point in the car’s life it sent out a data packet that included the car’s speed. They won’t tell me when or where so I don’t know how relevant it is, but they said the car had gone 114 mph and that is abuse of the vehicle. They don’t care that the car comes with a track day, it’s abused as soon as it’s over a certain speed, apparently.

The point of this article isn’t to determine who is at fault with the claim, but to let you know that your modern high tech vehicle knows what you’re doing, and that data can and will be used against you.

The GR Corolla is almost like a track car disguised as a street car, and even comes with a complimentary free track day where you will easily go over 114 mph, but somehow that data was used against this person whose hot hatch (pun intended) burned down to the ground. 

Check out this video that explains more in depth about these metrics being collected by your car, specifically Toyota.

iPhone 16 Pro: new camera button means a new Pro camera app?

Saw this video from AppleTrack and I think this is a clever new feature. The only problem is that it needs to do more than just launch controls and zooming features for the camera app of your choice. What Apple really needs to do is make a new camera app.

A Pro camera app.

I wouldn’t be surprised if that was part of the feature set for this button, because the current camera system is lacking in some basic features that pros should have. I mean for God sake, we can’t even actually pick the camera lens that we want to use to take a photo. Currently Apple selects which camera to use based on the lighting conditions and other factors.

I will want a dark, sharp 5x telephoto shot with my iPhone 15 Pro Max, but instead I get a brighter, blurry photo because the “Neural Engine” decided that it was better to select the standard 1x lens and digitally zoom in to 5x since the 1x lens has a lower aperture.

I posted a sample of this annoyance a while back, but if they’re adding a dedicated camera button with the 16 Pro, we need more control over our cameras.

Give me white balance selection, ISO selection, shutter speed, and all the features pros want in their cameras.

A pro iPhone should have a pro camera app.