Do you leave your iPhone charging for long periods throughout the day? Adjust this setting.

When Apple rolled out iOS 18 earlier this fall, your current iPhone gained many great features and more. Customizable home screen and control centera redesigned, new Flashlight application iMessaging features, Wi-Fi sharing capabilities and the ability to hide and lock apps.

(And that’s not even touching on Apple Intelligence features that Finally launched on newer iPhones this week.)

Additionally, iOS 18 added a lesser-known feature – called “Charge Limit” – that gives you better control over how much your iPhone charges when it’s connected to power. This is intended to prevent your iPhone from fully charging and, thus, extend its lifespan in the long run.

The trap? The new feature only works on iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models.

Protect the health of your iPhone battery

You probably know that your iPhone’s lithium-ion battery degrades over time. This is why it doesn’t last as long as when it was new. But you probably didn’t know that it’s also not good for the battery to be constantly charged to 100%. This causes its battery to degrade more quickly.

In an ideal world, according to Isidor Buchmann, CEO and Founder of Cadex ElectronicsIt’s best to keep your iPhone always above 20 percent or above 80 percent. And these new battery controls offered by iOS 18 aim to help with that.

Previously, you only had the option to limit your iPhone’s charge to 80%. With the new control options, you can also set your iPhone’s charge cap to 85, 90, or 95%.

According to Apple, these new charging options will more benefit people who keep their iPhone connected to power throughout the day – or who don’t have consistent charging patterns – because they will charge their iPhone to closer to 100 % (instead of 80% when “Optimized loading” is activated).

How to use charge limit on your iPhone

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.

2. Select Battery.

3. Select Loading.

4. Choose your charge limit: 80%, 85%, 90% or 95%.

Once selected, Apple says your iPhone will charge within a few percentage points of this chosen limit and then stop charging. It will then maintain a charge within 5% of this limit when connected to power.

Additionally, your iPhone will learn your habits and may recommend a different charging limit. According to Apple, you might see a message like: “Depending on your iPhone’s habits, a charge limit of 95% is recommended to help preserve your battery. »

By default, no charging limit is selected… but “Optimized battery charging” is enabled. This setting charges your iPhone to 80% when connected to power and, after learning your habits, will only charge it to 100% just before removing the iPhone from the charger.

To learn more about the new charging features in iOS 18, visit Apple Support Page.