You may be irreparably harming your iPhone’s battery. Here are the best iPhone 14 battery tips to help prolong your battery’s health.
Nestled within each iPhone, among a litany of silicon, capacitors, and diminutive solder points is a battery. This battery is a consumable resource and eventually will be depleted and need replacing to continue having acceptable battery life on your phone.
Ideally, you’ll have quite some time before it’s necessary to replace your battery. To ensure you get as long a life as possible, here are the best iPhone 14 battery tips to prolong your battery.
iPhone 14 battery tips
Avoid excessive heat
The first iPhone 14 battery tip is to avoid exposing your device to high heat. Heat is a battery’s enemy. Cold is no friend to batteries either, resulting in a shorter use time, but that is only temporary until your battery warms back up again.
Apple says your iPhone can safely run in temperatures of up to 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Beyond that, irreversible damage can occur to the battery.
You can inadvertently heat your iPhone too high in numerous ways. Placing it screen-side up in the sun, charging it while in the sun, or clipping it in front of a heating vent in your car while navigating are all frequent actions. Your iPhone does have built-in protection systems to temporarily disable your iPhone in these situations to prevent further damage, but it’s best not to get to that in the first place.
Don’t keep your iPhone in direct sunlight or don’t have the heat full blast when using a car vent mount. Never leave your iPhone in a vehicle in the summer, and definitely keep it off of hot surfaces.
Stay away from zero
Another iPhone 14 battery tip is to avoid dropping your phone’s battery level too far. Years ago, it made sense to occasionally deplete a device’s battery then fully recharge it to help calibrate the internal sensor so that the displayed percentage was accurate. With modern batteries, this is no longer the case.
Dropping your iPhone down to 0% battery is very damaging to your battery and will reduce its overall lifespan.
Keep your iPhone 14 battery from dying completely, but try to avoid unnecessary charging too. If you’re going to leave for a few hours, plugging in your iPhone to a fast charger is a great way to top of the battery while getting ready.
For the best battery health, recharge your iPhone regularly throughout the day so you never fully deplete it.
The golden rule is to keep your battery topped up somewhere between 30% and 80% most of the time. Top it up when it drops below 50%, but unplug it before it hits 100%. For this reason, you might want to reconsider leaving your iPhone plugged in overnight.
Pushing in the last charge from 80-100% causes a lithium-ion battery to age faster.
Maybe it’s better to recharge in the morning instead, at the breakfast table or on your office desk. That way, it is easier to keep an eye on the battery percentage during charging.
iOS users can use the Shortcuts app to set a notification when the battery level reaches a certain percentage. This is done under the tab “Automation” and then “Battery Level”.
Giving your phone a full recharge is not fatal for a phone battery, and it seems almost counter-intuitive not to do so, but giving it a full recharge every time you charge it will shorten its lifespan.
Likewise, at the other end of the scale, avoid allowing your iPhone battery to get below 20%.
Lithium-ion batteries don’t feel good about going too far below the 20% mark. Instead, see the extra 20% “at the bottom” as a buffer for demanding days, but on weekdays start charging when the warning for Low Battery level appears.
In short, lithium-ion batteries thrive best in the middle. Don’t get a low battery percentage, but also not too high.
Long term storage
The next iPhone 14 battery tip is to never leave the battery at 100% if you’re going to store your phone for an extended period Perhaps you are keeping an old iPhone around to use as a backup or saving to give to someone later.
Before storing the iPhone, discharge the battery to between 50% and 80%. Come back to it periodically, and make sure the battery hasn’t discharged to flat, also.
Storing the phone fully charged is harmful to the battery as well. When you return the device to service, you may find out that the battery will no longer hold a charge like it used to.
Conclusion
By applying the above iPhone 14 battery tips, your battery will offer solid usage for 18 months to 24 months before it depletes below 80%. Fortunately, when the time does come to swap out your battery, Apple offers an affordable replacement service.
See also: The Best iPhone 14 charging tips to maximize battery life