If you’re like most of us, then you probably find it more convenient to simply keep your iPad constantly plugged into the charger, preventing it from dropping too low and ensuring that it’s always powered and ready for use.
However, unfortunately, leaving your device plugged in for an extended period of time can have a negative impact on your iPad’s battery health and performance.
Let’s take a look at why this can cause your iPad’s battery to degrade at a faster rate.
We’ll also take a look at a few best practices to help you prolong your iPad’s battery capacity and overall battery health.
Is it Bad to Keep Your iPad Plugged In All The Time?
The answer to the question, unfortunately, is yes, and here’s why.
The first thing you’ll need to know is what actually happens when leaving your iPad plugged in all the time.
The iPad uses a Lithium-ion battery which is known for its higher energy density and its low maintenance (since there is no periodic discharge needed). Because of this, Lithium-ion batteries will automatically stop charging once it reaches 100 percent battery.
However, while this is true, your iPad’s battery will drop to 99% if left on the charger long enough, which in turn will then cause the charger to charge it back to its full capacity. This process will repeat itself for its entire charging duration. This will cause your iPad’s battery to eventually overheat and thus degrade at a faster rate.
Now, if this is only done occasionally, this may not cause much wear and tear to the battery and may not be enough to impact the battery much. However, where this is a problem is when done constantly.
The Best Way to Charge Your iPad For Maintaining Optimal Battery Health
Lithium-ion batteries differ from traditional batteries in the way that they operate and are maintained. Lithium-Ion batteries work in what’s known as “charge cycles”.
A charge cycle is completed when you’ve consumed a battery capacity that equals 100%. This doesn’t necessarily mean all from one charge, nor does it mean that your device would need to be drained from 100% to 0%.
For example, if you use 50% of your iPad’s battery capacity today and recharge it to 100% the next day and use another 50%, that would be one charge cycle.
Traditional batteries degrade over time after a number of recharges. Lithium-Ion battery capacity, however, diminishes slightly with every charge cycle.
For iPads specifically, your iPad will retain 80% of its original capacity after completing 1000 charge cycles.
Good practice for prolonging battery life is to keep your battery charged from 75 to 25% while never topping it up over 75% or dropping below 25%. This is because Lithium-Ion batteries perform better in certain temperatures, and exceeding 80% can cause additional stress to your device, thus increasing its operating temperature.
However, Apple has added a protection system that will trickle charge your iPad when reaching 80% battery in order to help prolong its lifespan. This is done to ease the electrical current and reduce exceeding optimal battery temperatures.
This is also the case when dropping below 25%. A test done by Battery University shows the ideal charge cycle for prolonged optimal battery health, as well as the most practical charge cycle to be 75% to 25%.
The best being a 75% to 65% charge cycle; however, unfortunately, this is not a practical solution as it only allows for 10% of your battery’s capacity.
Extreme Temperatures
As mentioned above, Lithium-ion Batteries don’t perform well when exceeding certain temperatures. Apple states that 16° to 22° C (62° to 72° F) is the ideal temperature comfort zone for your device, with anything over 95° F (35° C) can put your device at risk of permanent damage.
Overheating can be caused by several other reasons, such as:
- Streaming a high-quality video for an extended period of time.
- Using hardware-intensive applications such as a digital audio workstation or video editor.
- Exposing your iPad to direct sunlight for an extended period of time
- Overworking your Ipad by having many Apps and browser tabs open at the same time
What Problems Can iPad Overheating Cause?
- Charging slows down or comes to a complete stop
- Apps window closing immediately or slowing down
- The camera flash can stop working
- Brightness turns extremely low
What to do when your iPad starts to overheat?
The main thing you should be aware of is how to reduce the risk of your iPad overheating.
Let’s take a look at what you should do once your iPad starts to overheat as well as how you can avoid it from overheating in the first place:
- Remove the charger when your iPad starts to overheat: Using your iPad while it’s charging can cause your iPad to overheat. If you notice your iPad begins to overheat, it’s important that you remove the charger to stop it from overheating.
- Keep your iPad away from sunlight: Exposing your iPad to sunlight can cause it to overheat, so keeping it away from direct sunlight is good practice for keeping your iPad from heating up.
- Close down Apps: Having a lot of Apps open can cause your iPad to overwork and use more resources and power in order to run all the apps simultaneously. Close down some apps if you notice your iPad from overheating.
- Turn it off: Sometimes, it’s best to give your iPad a break if you notice it begins to overheat.
- Apple Repair: Overheating can be a sign of internal issues, so if you notice your iPad overheating regularly, it’s best to take it to the apple store in order to ensure there is no damage internally.
Related Questions
Can iPad batteries be replaced?
Yes, if your iPad is under its original warranty, Apple will replace your iPad battery for free. However, it can be quite pricey if you’re warranty has expired it can cost around $99 to replace your IPad’s battery.
How long should the iPad battery last?
There are various factors that can affect how long your battery lasts and can vary from day to day.
This depends on the apps you’re using, the number of apps you have open at once, as well as if you are using hardware-intensive Apps. But according to Apple, the average duration of is around 10 hours.
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