MILLIONS of iPhones have a clever setting that can extend the lifespan of your handset.
It’s hidden inside the Settings app and slows down the ageing of your iPhone’s battery.
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All iPhones use rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.
As these batteries chemically age, the amount of charge they can hold shrinks.
That means you end up with a reduced peak performance and battery life.
Thankfully there’s a button in your iPhone settings that can slow this natural process down – so you should consider leaving the toggle switched on forever.
It’s called Optimised Battery Charging, and it can be found in Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging.
The setting limits the amount of time that your iPhone spends fully charged.
Often this means pausing charging in the night while you sleep, and then getting you to 100% for when you wake up.
“A battery’s chemical age results from a complex combination of several factors, including temperature history and charging pattern,” Apple explained.
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“Optimised Battery Charging is designed to reduce the wear on your battery and improve its lifespan by reducing the time your iPhone spends fully charged.
“Your iPhone uses on-device machine learning to learn your daily charging routine so that Optimised Battery Charging will only activate when your iPhone predicts it will be connected to a charger for an extended period of time.
“The algorithm aims to ensure that your iPhone is still fully charged when unplugged.”
You can turn Optimised Battery Charging on or off at any time.
When you’ve got it switched on and it’s active, you’ll see a notification on the Lock Screen telling you when the iPhone will be fully charged.
If you need a full charge more quickly, simply touch and hold the notification then tap Charge Now.
For Optimised Battery Charging to work, you need the following settings enabled:
- Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Location Services
- Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services > System Customisation
- Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services > Signification Locations > Significant Locations
You’ll need to make sure you’re running iOS 13 or later too – check your version in Settings > General > Software Update.
The feature won’t work immediately, either.
“Optimised Battery Charging needs at least 14 days to learn your charging habits, so it won’t engage before then,” Apple warned.
“Also, your iPhone needs to experience at least nine charges of five hours or more in a given location for Optimised Battery Charging to engage.”
But it’s worth making sure that it’s on, because it can improve the overall health of your battery.
That means you won’t have to fork out for an expensive upgrade or battery replacement as soon, because your battery will stay healthy for longer.
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