Phone and Tablet Tips

Make your battery last longer

A power source that can no longer hold its charge quickly becomes frustrating (almost exactly as quickly as it goes flat, coincidentally). Replacing an exhausted battery through official channels costs £49 on an iphone 8 and earlier, and £69 on anything more recent, and can leave you without your phone for between six and eight days (see www. snipca.com/33441). If you’re still covered by the warranty it will be swapped out for free, but that doesn’t get around the issue of not having your phone to hand when you need it.

So, anything you can do to keep it in peak condition is a real money- and frustration-saver, and could put off the day you need to replace the phone.

Recognising this, Apple has introduced Optimised Battery Charging with the roll-out of IOS 13 to iphone 6S and later models (it’s not included in ipados). It’s a feature that learns when you most often leave your phone plugged in for long periods, and uses this information to tailor its charging cycle, taking it to 80 per cent charge until shortly before you’d usually unplug it, at which point it tops it up to the brim. For anyone who charges overnight, this is perfect.

That 80 per cent figure is key: batteries are happiest when between 20 and 80 per cent charged. Sitting at either extreme – totally empty or full – stresses them, which is why leaving a phone, tablet or laptop plugged in once it’s reached 100 per cent is not recommended.

To turn on Optimised Battery Charging, open Settings and tap Battery, followed by Battery Health. Tap the switch beside Optimised Battery Charging so that it slides to the right and takes on a green background (see screenshot left).