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Hamza 58

Q: My iPhone 6s turns off on 5 percent left battery is this fine?

MY iPhone 6s turns off on 5 percent left battery is this fine??

iPhone 6, iOS 9.2

Posted on Dec 21, 2015 8:03 AM

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Q: My iPhone 6s turns off on 5 percent left battery is this fine?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Meg St._Clair,Solvedanswer

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair Dec 21, 2015 8:16 AM in response to Hamza 58
    Level 9 (58,855 points)
    iPhone
    Dec 21, 2015 8:16 AM in response to Hamza 58

    As you should never run the device down to zero, it's fine. When you get the 10% warning you should be plugging it in.

  • by EvilKittyInSpace,

    EvilKittyInSpace EvilKittyInSpace Dec 21, 2015 8:29 AM in response to Hamza 58
    Level 1 (29 points)
    Dec 21, 2015 8:29 AM in response to Hamza 58

    I don't know if that's normal. I've run mine down to 1% and it's never shut off. I've never had a problem with running down any phone or tablet or computer to single digits regardless of what others warn about. Many claim it will harm the battery and I've never ever seen that happen. I've done that with well over twenty phones and at least six Macs.

  • by Meg St._Clair,

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair Dec 21, 2015 8:32 AM in response to EvilKittyInSpace
    Level 9 (58,855 points)
    iPhone
    Dec 21, 2015 8:32 AM in response to EvilKittyInSpace

    EvilKittyInSpace wrote:

    Many claim it will harm the battery and I've never ever seen that happen. I've done that with well over twenty phones and at least six Macs.

    And I've crossed the street without looking and didn't get hit by a bus. That doesn't make it a good idea.

  • by EvilKittyInSpace,

    EvilKittyInSpace EvilKittyInSpace Dec 21, 2015 8:33 AM in response to Meg St._Clair
    Level 1 (29 points)
    Dec 21, 2015 8:33 AM in response to Meg St._Clair

    I always just tell people to use the phone till they think they should charge it. I've seen no bad effects from doing so. That's it plain and simple.

  • by Meg St._Clair,

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair Dec 21, 2015 8:39 AM in response to EvilKittyInSpace
    Level 9 (58,855 points)
    iPhone
    Dec 21, 2015 8:39 AM in response to EvilKittyInSpace

    EvilKittyInSpace wrote:

     

    I always just tell people to use the phone till they think they should charge it. I've seen no bad effects from doing so. That's it plain and simple.

    But, not necessarily a good idea. You shorten the overall lifespan of an Lithium Ion battery by draining it completely. In the grand scheme of things, possibly not by that much. However, I believe it's not proper to give advice to people without giving them the actual facts.

  • by EvilKittyInSpace,

    EvilKittyInSpace EvilKittyInSpace Dec 21, 2015 8:46 AM in response to Meg St._Clair
    Level 1 (29 points)
    Dec 21, 2015 8:46 AM in response to Meg St._Clair

    Well if it degraded the battery on any recent phones, it has not showed any such effects. My 6+ and 6S+ and my 5S still last at least two days. The 6+ is a year old, the 5S is two years old. I plug them in usually when they get to about 5%.  That's my experience and that's all the proof I need. Many others on other forums go by this as well.

     

    Even my old 3GS still lasts over a day.

  • by Lawrence Finch,

    Lawrence Finch Lawrence Finch Dec 21, 2015 9:06 AM in response to EvilKittyInSpace
    Level 8 (37,982 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 21, 2015 9:06 AM in response to EvilKittyInSpace

    EvilKittyInSpace wrote:

     

    I always just tell people to use the phone till they think they should charge it. I've seen no bad effects from doing so. That's it plain and simple.

    What has saved you is that Apple knows that people do stupid things. When the battery gauge reads 0% the battery is not fully discharged. There's a small reserve left. If there weren't the first time it reached zero the battery would be permanently damaged. The problem is that the battery gauge is not all that accurate. Some random day when it reads zero the battery will really be flat.

     

    There is absolutely no valid reason to deliberately drain the battery to zero. It offers no benefit, and may have negative consequences. So why take a chance?

     

    The best practice with any iOS device is to charge it overnight, every night, with iCloud backup enabled. That way you will always have a backup no older than one day, and you will have a fully charged battery when you get up.

  • by TooDarkPark,

    TooDarkPark TooDarkPark Dec 21, 2015 9:09 AM in response to Lawrence Finch
    Level 4 (1,590 points)
    Dec 21, 2015 9:09 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

    Where's the proof that Apple has manipulated the battery percentage as you say? I think that's just plain silly.

  • by Lawrence Finch,

    Lawrence Finch Lawrence Finch Dec 21, 2015 10:09 AM in response to TooDarkPark
    Level 8 (37,982 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 21, 2015 10:09 AM in response to TooDarkPark
    • The fact that it displays a low battery warning after it has shut off. If there was no charge left in the battery how would it do that?
    • The fact that the above display can be seen for a week or more if the phone is left uncharged, meaning it has enough reserve for at least a week.
    • The fact that Lithium chemistry batteries die and don't recover if they are ever fully discharged.
    • The fact that if you leave an iOS device uncharged after it has shut off for a month it never recovers, and much longer than that the battery expands and destroys the phone (as evidenced by many posts about this phenomenon).

     

    This is not something that Apple thought up. All quality devices using Lithium batteries work similarly.

  • by Meg St._Clair,

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair Dec 21, 2015 10:52 AM in response to EvilKittyInSpace
    Level 9 (58,855 points)
    iPhone
    Dec 21, 2015 10:52 AM in response to EvilKittyInSpace

    EvilKittyInSpace wrote:

     

    Well if it degraded the battery on any recent phones, it has not showed any such effects. My 6+ and 6S+ and my 5S still last at least two days. The 6+ is a year old, the 5S is two years old. I plug them in usually when they get to about 5%.  That's my experience and that's all the proof I need. Many others on other forums go by this as well.

    Down to 5% is not draining them completely. What both Lawrence and I are advising against is letting them go to 0%.

  • by EvilKittyInSpace,

    EvilKittyInSpace EvilKittyInSpace Dec 21, 2015 10:54 AM in response to Meg St._Clair
    Level 1 (29 points)
    Dec 21, 2015 10:54 AM in response to Meg St._Clair

    I understand now. I hope you and everyone here  has a nice holiday.

  • by Meg St._Clair,

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair Dec 21, 2015 10:58 AM in response to EvilKittyInSpace
    Level 9 (58,855 points)
    iPhone
    Dec 21, 2015 10:58 AM in response to EvilKittyInSpace

    Same to you!