A feature in iOS 13 allows you to optimize iPhone battery charging, but it can actually create problems. Here’s what to do
The latest update to the Cupertino-based company’s mobile device operating system, iOS 13 has added a new feature designed by Apple engineers to reduce battery wear and tear: “Optimized Charging.” The tool allows the iPhone to learn our daily charging habits so that the battery quickly reaches 80 percent charge, and then slowly builds up to 100 percent.
This feature uses location services to figure out if we’re at home or in the office and tries to learn our usage habits. However, “Optimized Charging” does not work if we have irregular activities, as the iPhone is not able to “take note” of our ever-changing habits. In addition, if we maintain a regular behavior, but for whatever reason we are forced to change them, the iPhone is not able to “compute” this change making in fact the optimized charging useless. This function allows the visualization of charging behavior graphs, showing the battery level, in the last 24 hours and in the last 10 days, the activities, as well as the battery usage by the apps installed on the phone.
iPhone: “Optimized Charging”
What happens if “Optimized Charging” doesn’t work? According to Apple for this to work properly you need to set up location services, but at the same time it confirms that this feature will not work when your usage habits may change, perhaps due to travel.
Restarting the phone can reactivate “Optimized Charging”, alternatively you can disable and reactivate this feature to improve its functioning. Using the original charger may help to improve this feature, while wireless chargers seem to give some problems that are still not well identified. If the “Optimized Charging” is not working as it should then maybe it’s time to reset the iPhone to factory settings, which is a drastic solution but usually leads to many problems.
Continuing to use “Optimized Charging” when the feature is not well “broken in” can create battery problems with sudden drops in battery life. The advice is to use Optimized Charge in the best way to keep your battery healthy.