Knowing the battery health of your iPhone is important to understand its current performance and determine when it may need to be replaced. Checking this info is easy with just a few taps in the Settings app.
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Access Battery Health Information
To view battery health statistics:
- Open the Settings app
- Scroll down and tap “Battery”
- Tap “Battery Health & Charging”
Here you will find key stats like:
Maximum Capacity
This shows what percentage of the original capacity your battery can still hold. When new, it will show 100%. Lower percentages indicate more battery wear.
Apple recommends replacing the battery when it falls below 80% maximum capacity to restore full performance.
Peak Performance Capability
iPhones with iOS 11.3 and later will show if the phone is throttling performance to prevent unexpected shutdowns from a worn battery. This can be toggled on or off.
Battery Status
This section will indicate if the battery is functioning normally or if it needs to be serviced due to issues.
What Impacts Battery Health?
Many factors can cause an iPhone battery to wear out faster:
- Heat – Exposing your iPhone to high temperatures from direct sunlight, hot cars, etc. accelerates chemical changes in the battery. Keep it as cool as possible.
- Overcharging – Continuing to charge an already full battery adds stress. Use Optimized Battery Charging if available to avoid this.
- Extreme battery levels – Fully draining to 0% or keeping it at 100% shortens battery lifespan. Keep the level between 20-80% when possible.
- Charge cycles – Each full discharge and recharge counts as one cycle. The battery is chemically rated for a certain number before wearing out.
- Old age – Just using any lithium-ion battery will wear it out over a few years regardless. Higher capacity batteries may last longer.
Maximize Your Battery Health
You can take proactive steps to reduce battery wear:
- Turn on Optimized Battery Charging in Settings to limit overnight charging stress.
- Avoid exposing your iPhone to temperature extremes when possible.
- Disable background app refresh and reduce screen brightness to conserve power when not needed.
- Use Low Power Mode during periods of heavy usage to reduce system strain.
- When storing an iPhone long-term, maintain a 50% charge level.
Determine When To Replace An iPhone Battery
Apple offers discounted battery replacements at $69 or less for iPhones out of warranty once they hit 500+ charge cycles or 80% capacity. With AppleCare+, a replacement is just $29.
Third party services may offer cheaper iPhone battery replacements, but won’t match Apple’s quality and integration with iOS reporting.
Check your battery health stats periodically and replace the battery when significantly degraded to restore your iPhone’s performance and usage time per charge.
Conclusion
Monitoring the maximum capacity, peak performance capability, charge cycles, and overall status of your iPhone battery can indicate when replacement is needed.
Limiting heat, overcharging, extreme battery levels, and excessive cycling can help extend its lifespan. Optimized Battery Charging, Low Power Mode, and proper storage are also useful iPhone battery health tips.
Replacing a degraded battery restores iPhone performance and usage time between charges. Apple offers replacements at reasonable prices both in and out of warranty.
Checking battery health stats periodically and taking steps to maximize battery lifespan allows you to keep your iPhone operating at its best for years to come.
