Battery

Your iPad protects its battery by limiting charging in hot or cold conditions. Charging your iPad in very hot or cold environments can temporarily affect performance, and when your iPad becomes too warm or too cold, iPadOS may automatically slow down or pause charging. This helps preserve your battery’s long-term health and ensures safe operation.

Charging resumes on its own when the battery is back in a safe temperature range. These protections work automatically and can’t be turned off, and charging works best between 32° and 95° F (0° and 35° C).

You might see a message on the Lock Screen such as “Charging On Hold. Charging will resume when iPad returns to normal temperature.”

What to expect

• If your iPad gets too warm, charging may slow or stop until the temperature lowers.
• In very cold environments, charging may be slower or temporarily disabled until your device warms up.
• Charging resumes automatically when the battery returns to a safe temperature range.

Tips to maintain charging performance in extreme temperatures

Here’s how to help your iPad charge efficiently:

• Charge your iPad in environments between 32° and 95° F (0° and 35° C).
• Avoid placing your iPad in direct sunlight or leaving it in hot spaces (like a car on a sunny day).
• If you’re in a cold climate, try charging indoors or warming your iPad gradually before plugging it in.
• Remove your case if your iPad tends to heat up while charging.

Note: These temperature-based protections work automatically and can’t be turned off. They are available on iPad using iPadOS 18 or later.

See also

• Understand your iPad battery usage and health

On supported models, you can set a maximum battery level of 80% to help reduce battery wear, especially if you charge your iPad frequently or keep it connected for long periods. iPad still charges to 100% now and then to keep the battery percentage accurate, and you can turn the limit off anytime, or override it until tomorrow.

That can happen more often when your iPad isn’t regularly able to complete a full charge. You can also check your battery usage and health, and use Low Power Mode to save battery life.

What to expect

• Your iPad will occasionally charge to 100%—even with the limit set to 80%—to keep the battery percentage display accurate. This may happen more often if your iPad isn’t regularly able to complete a full charge.

Set a Charge Limit

1. Open the Settings app on your iPad.
2. Tap Battery, then tap Battery Health.
3. Turn on 80% Limit. You can remove the limit anytime.

Change the Charge Limit

1. Open the Settings app on your iPad.
2. Tap Battery, then tap Battery Health.
3. Turn off 80% Limit. Then do any of the following:
   • Temporarily override 80% charge limit: Tap Allow Until Tomorrow. The charge limit will return to 80% at 6:00 a.m.
   • Set a new charge limit: Tap Set Limit to 100%. The charge limit will remain at 100% until you change it again.

If you need to temporarily override your charge limit and charge your iPad to full sooner than scheduled, go to the Settings app, tap Battery, then tap “Charge to 100%.”

See also

• Understand your iPad battery usage and health
• Use Low Power Mode to save battery life on iPad

iPad offers useful insights into your battery life to help you identify ways to improve your experience, as well as important information about your battery’s overall health.

Daily Usage compares your battery usage today with previous days, and iPad highlights the top three apps or system activities. You can also explore more information about your app and system activity usage, and see whether an app was on screen, in the background, or used in a low signal environment.

View daily usage information

The Daily Usage section sums up your battery usage today compared to previous days, and iPad displays the following battery usage information:

• Similar or lower usage: Shows when your battery use is about the same as usual or less than usual by this time of day (in blue). When usage is similar, iPad highlights the top three apps or system activities contributing to today’s usage (in blue).
• Higher usage: Appears when you’ve used more battery than usual by this time of day (in orange). iPad highlights the top three apps or system activities that may explain the increase.

To view daily usage information:

1. Start the Settings app on your iPad.
2. Tap Battery.

View additional Battery Usage information

More information about your app and system activity usage is there to explore, both for today and the previous week.

1. Start the Settings app on your iPad.
2. Tap Battery, tap View All Battery Usage, and tap a day.

View App and System Activity information

The App and System Activity section lists the percentage of battery used by each app and system task, which helps you understand what’s using your battery.

You might see the following information under an app or system activity, or when you tap an app to view more details. Here’s what they mean:

• On screen: The app or system activity was open and visible on your screen. A long duration of onscreen time can explain higher battery usage compared to previous days.
• Background: A long duration of background time can explain higher battery usage compared to previous days. Background activities include directions, playing music, syncing photos, fetching mail, and more.
• Cellular coverage: The app was used in a low signal environment, which used more battery.
• Notifications: The app or system activity woke your device and used battery to check for new information. You can manage an app’s notification settings to reduce how often this happens.

To view app and system activity information:

1. Start the Settings app on your iPad.
2. Do any of the following:
   • View today: Tap Battery, then scroll down.
   • View the last eight days: Tap Battery, tap View All Battery Usage and tap a day. Then scroll down.
3. Tap an app to view more details, including its battery usage and activity for each day.

See when your iPad was last charged

iPad shows when its battery was last fully charged, plus when it was disconnected from the charger.

1. Start the Settings app on your iPad.
2. Tap Battery.

Review your iPad battery health

Supported iPad models also display cycle count, battery health, your battery’s capacity, first use date, and manufacture date.

Note: Battery Health won’t appear in Battery settings if your iPad model doesn’t support this feature.

1. Start the Settings app on your iPad.
2. Tap Battery, then tap Battery Health.

Battery life and charge cycles vary with use and settings. The iPad battery should be serviced or recycled by Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider.

See also

• Charge the iPad battery
• Use Low Power Mode to save battery life on iPad

You can connect iPad to a power outlet and charge the battery using the included USB-C power adapter and charge cable, and the adapter and cable depend on your iPad model and region. You can also use the charge cable to connect iPad to your computer for charging, transferring files, and more.

The type of charge cable depends on your iPad model, too, and the cable also lets you use iPad as a second display for your Mac. A third-party power adapter should meet the recommended specifications, like a minimum power output of 15 W.

USB-C Power Adapter

A third-party power adapter should meet these recommended specifications:

• Frequency: 50 to 60 Hz, single phase
• Line Voltage: 100 to 240 VAC
• Output Voltage/Current: 5 to 15 V / 3 A
• Minimum Power Output: 15 W
• Output Port: USB-C

USB-C Charge Cable

Lightning to USB-C Cable

iPad has an internal, lithium-ion rechargeable battery. Compared with traditional battery technology, lithium-ion batteries are lighter, charge faster, last longer, and have a higher power density for more battery life.

The battery icon in the status bar shows the battery level or charging status. If iPad is very low on power, you’ll see an image of a nearly depleted battery, and it may need to charge for up to 10 minutes before you’re able to use it. You can improve charging speed and learn how charging behaves, too.

About charging the battery

To see the battery level or charging status, look at the battery icon at the top right of the status bar. It can take longer to charge while you’re syncing or using iPad.

When iPad is very low on power, it may show an image of a nearly depleted battery. That means iPad needs up to 10 minutes of charging before you can use it. And if it’s extremely low on power when you start charging, the display may stay blank for as long as 2 minutes before the low-battery image appears.

Charge the battery

There’s more than one way to charge your iPad battery:

• Connect iPad to a power outlet using the included cable and power adapter. See Power adapter and charge cable.

  

• Connect iPad and your computer with a cable.

  Make sure your computer is turned on—if iPad is connected to a computer that’s turned off, the battery may drain instead of charge. Look for the charging icon on the battery icon to make sure iPad is charging.

  If your Mac or Windows device doesn’t provide enough power to charge iPad, a Not Charging message appears in the status bar.

  Note: Don’t try to charge your iPad by connecting it to your keyboard, unless your keyboard has a high-power USB port.

• When iPad is connected to a Magic Keyboard with USB-C, the keyboard can pass through power from an attached USB-C cable and power adapter.

An iCloud backup can start when you connect iPad to a power outlet. Read our guide, Back up iPad.

WARNING: If you suspect there may be liquid in the charging port of iPad, don’t plug the charging cable into it. For information about exposure to liquid, and other important safety information about the battery and charging iPad, see Important safety information for iPad.

Improve charging speed

If your iPad is charging slowly, you’ll see a Slow Charger message in the Settings app, then tap Battery. This message appears when your iPad supports fast charging but the connected charger isn’t capable of delivering optimal power.

With a wired charger that provides 7.5 watts or less, charging might take longer than expected.

Understand charging behavior

To help preserve long-term battery health, iPad manages how it charges. This is what happens when you charge:

• Fast charging up to 80%: iPad charges quickly until the battery reaches about 80%.
• Trickle charging after 80%: Charging slows to reduce battery stress and limit heat. This final stage helps maintain battery lifespan.
• Temperature: Charging may pause temporarily while in extreme temperature conditions, and will resume once the battery’s temperature returns to its normal operating range.

These protections happen automatically and don’t require any changes to your settings.

About charge cycles and battery lifespan

The capacity of any type of battery will diminish after a certain amount of recharging. With lithium-ion batteries, the capacity diminishes slightly with each complete charge cycle. Apple lithium-ion batteries work in charge cycles and retain about 80% of its original capacity for a high number of charge cycles, depending on the product.

A charge cycle happens when you use a total of 100% of your battery’s capacity,* even if it’s not all at once. For example, you might use 75% of your battery’s capacity one day, then recharge it fully overnight. If you use 25% the next day, you will have discharged a total of 100%, and the two days will add up to one charge cycle.

Battery life and charge cycles vary with use and settings. The iPad battery should be serviced or recycled by Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider.

*A complete charge cycle is normalized between 80% and 100% of original capacity to account for expected diminishing battery capacity over time.

See also

• Show the iPad battery percentage
• Use Low Power Mode to save battery life on iPad

You can see how much charge remains in your iPad battery in the status bar. You can also add a widget to the Home Screen to monitor the battery levels of your iPad and connected accessories, including AirPods and Apple Pencil.

By default, iPad shows a battery icon without a percentage, though you can display the number alongside the icon. Control Center shows the current percentage, too, even if that setting is off.

Show the iPad battery percentage in the status bar

iPad shows a battery icon without a percentage by default, but turning on Battery Percentage displays the number alongside the icon.

1. Start the Settings app on your iPad.
2. Tap Battery and then turn on Battery Percentage.

Check the battery percentage in Control Center

Even with Battery Percentage turned off in Settings, Control Center shows the current battery percentage.

Add a Batteries widget to your Home Screen

See Add a widget to your Home Screen and Create a custom Lock Screen.

See also

• Charge the iPad battery
• Use Low Power Mode to save battery life on iPad

Low Power Mode reduces the amount of power that your iPad uses when the battery gets low. It optimizes performance for essential tasks like making and receiving calls, sending and receiving email and messages, accessing the internet, and more. On iPad models with ProMotion display technology, Low Power Mode limits the display refresh rate to 60 frames per second.

It turns off on its own when your iPad charges to 80 percent or higher, so you don’t need to switch it off yourself.

Note: When iPad is in Low Power Mode, it might perform some tasks more slowly.

Turn Low Power Mode on or off

To turn Low Power Mode on or off, use any of these methods:

• In Settings: Go to the Settings app, tap Battery, then tap Low Power Mode.
• In Control Center: Add the Low Power Mode button to Control Center, then tap the Low Power Mode button.

Low Power Mode turns off automatically when iPad charges to 80 percent or higher.

See also

• Charge the iPad battery