Do You Need to Charge a New iPhone to 100% When You First Get It?
Reading Time: 3 minutes Some users have heard that you should charge your new iPhone to 100% when you first get it. In general, there is still quite a bit of confusion surrounding how much you should charge devices, such as iPhones, iPads and MacBooks. In this article, we’ll talk about whether it matters if you charge your new device to full and how to take care of your device’s battery to keep it in good shape for years to come.
Charging your new iPhone, iPad or MacBook
Back in the day, the advice was to charge your new phone to 100% or to leave it charging for 8-12 hours (overnight). For modern devices powered by lithium-ion batteries, it doesn’t matter. The only concern you may have with a brand-new device is that you will want to make sure it has sufficient power to complete the setup process.
How to take care of your device’s battery
One of the main concerns users may have about their devices is the battery life. I would say some even obsess over their iPhone’s battery health, posting questions to Reddit if their battery health has dropped by even one percent.
Fortunately, both the (physical) batteries in iPhones, iPads and MacBooks and the software that controls the charging have advanced in recent years:
- Starting with iOS 13 (2019), iPhones have had the Optimized Charging option, which stops the battery from charging above 80%.
- Starting with Big Sur (2020), macOS includes an Optimized Charging feature that learns your routine and prevents your MacBook from charging past 80% (when it predicts you won’t be unplugging your MacBook soon).
Checking your device’s battery health
You can check the battery health on your iPhone:
- On iPhone: Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging. Look at the Maximum Capacity.
For now, there are no built-in tools to easily check the battery health for iPad; however, iPad batteries should last much longer than iPhone batteries.
For MacBooks, you can check the condition of the battery by going to System Settings > Battery and looking at Battery Health. You’ll see either Normal or Service Recommended.
Taking care of your device’s battery
For the most part, you can charge your device in the way that is most convenient for you. There are a few things, though, you may want to keep in mind:
- The one thing you can do to damage your battery is letting your device run out of charge and then not charging it for some time. It is best not to let your device run down to zero charge.
- Make sure to use a quality charging cable. You can use an Apple cable or one from a reputable brand. Poor quality cables could cause damage.
- Using Optimized Charging is good for your battery.
- If you are not using Optimized Charging on your device, you may not want to keep it plugged in all the time (i.e., charged up to 100%).
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