Through the years of covering tech, one of the things I noticed that people fret about the most is the battery health of their phones, and it is a big deal for iPhone users. The majority of people are obsessed with keeping the battery health of their iPhones as close to 100% as possible and tend to be mad if they lose around 5% of their battery health after a year of use.

While Android users don’t have the same issue (save for a few that let you check battery health), it’s an issue among iPhone users that I think is just blown out of proportion. Here are some things you have to consider with battery health as an iPhone user:

Batteries on average are good for 5 years. With the current design of lithium-ion batteries and the usual charge-discharge cycles, your phone’s battery is good for at least 5 years with regular use. It can be longer or shorter depending on several factors, and chances are you’re most likely changing your phone after 5 years.

While the thought of iOS updates lasting six or seven years is appealing, you do need to acknowledge that batteries are a consumable item, and their performance degrades over time–which is one of the reasons Apple got caught in the crossfire with the infamous Batterygate issue back in 2017.

Charging habits play a big factor. You can hate Apple for not pushing charging speeds higher than 30w for wired (15w for wireless), and they have a good reason: with how small phone batteries are, fast charging can be bad in the long run–just as leaving your phone plugged overnight is also bad.

You can scour through various guides on prolonging battery life, and the best suggestions include using fast charging and wireless charging only when needed and going for partial charges instead of full charge cycles (0-100%). Pushing your battery to 0% will degrade your battery in the long run, and going for fast charging in warm conditions will have the same side effect.

Going below 80% battery health is not necessarily a big deal. Let’s be honest iPhone users: going below 80% battery health should not get you worried, even if iOS warns you about it. Realistically speaking, batteries with below 80% health are still useful–the compromise you’ll need to deal with is charging more often than usual.

Do note that going below 80% will get you advised that you MIGHT consider replacing it–NOT to replace it soon, which usually occurs when battery health hits the 70% mark. Also, consider your usage habits: If you’re a light user who focuses primarily on social media browsing, emails, and navigation, you should not worry. My mom has a 5-year-old iPhone 11 that has 75% battery health, but since she’s a light user my mom manages to charge her phone only once a day.

Heat is the real killer. One of the tips you’ll often hear about preserving battery life is to avoid using your phone while charging, as this can generate additional heat and further stress your battery. That’s why phones would throttle their performance when they reach a particular temperature threshold–and iPhones do something similar, which became evident with the overheating issue on the 15 Pro: keeping the battery at high temperatures for prolonged periods will degrade it faster.

That brings us back to the Batterygate issue: as much as consumers are pissed off at Apple throttling the performance of iPhones intentionally for preserving battery health, Apple does have a valid point in doing so–even if it ended up with a $113 million settlement.

It’s not that expensive to replace it. The nice thing about official Apple resellers like Beyond the Box is that they offer battery replacement repairs that are reasonably priced. Based on their pricelist last November 2024, replacing the battery of an iPhone X and up to the iPhone 13 series will cost you Php 5,235, while battery replacements for the iPhone 14 series will cost you Php 5,670. 

Beyond the Box holds battery replacement promos once in a while, and that amount you’re paying is worth it especially if you’re at least an iPhone XS user that can still benefit from iOS updates. Considering how expensive iPhones are in general, a battery replacement means that you can still use them for more years to come.