You know your phone’s battery performance degrades the older it gets. That’s just how lithium-ion batteries work, unfortunately. With each charging cycle, they wear down a bit. Eventually, it becomes too big a problem to ignore and it’s time to replace it.
Apple makes it easy to check
- Open Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging.
At the top, you’ll see your battery’s maximum capacity. Don’t panic if it’s below 100%. It’s designed to maintain 80% of its original capacity by 500 charges, so that percentage will tick down over time.
Under Peak Performance Capability, you’ll see whether your battery is operating normally. If it’s seriously degraded, you’ll see a message here.
It’s a little trickier on an Android
Most manufacturers have different steps. Here are a few to try:
- Open the Phone app, dial *#*#4636#*#* and look for an option to check your battery health. If you don’t see it, try another option.
- On Samsung, open the built-in Samsung Members app. Tap Get Help > Check Android battery health.
- Apps like AccuBattery can provide a good estimate if all else fails.