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New iPad Air and iPad Pro Feature Battery Health Menu Including Cycle Count and 80% Charging Limit Option

Apple's latest iPad Air and iPad Pro models feature a new Battery Health menu in the Settings app that is not available on older iPads, and which includes options that were once limited to iPhone 15 models.

M4 iPad Pro and Air Feature
As confirmed by iCulture, visiting Settings ➝ Battery on the new iPads shows a new Battery Health menu that lists Battery Health (with a readout such as "Normal"), Maximum Capacity, Cycle Count, and a 80% Limit charging optimization option. Users can also see details about when the battery was produced and when it was first used.

Code previously found in iPadOS 17.5 beta software referenced the Battery Health menu, and it was indeed suggested that it may be limited to Apple's new iPads. Notably, the Cycle Count readout and the option to more strictly prevent charging beyond 80% were up until now exclusive features of the iPhone 15 series, and cannot be found on older iPhones either.

iculture ipad 2024 battery health menu

Image credit: iCulture

The 80% Limit is separate from the Optimized Battery Charging feature on earlier iPhones, which intelligently delays charging past 80% until a more appropriate time by learning the device's daily charging routine. When the 80% hard limit is enabled, the iPad will never charge beyond that percentage, except on rare occasions to "maintain accurate battery state-of-charge estimates." Apple says reducing the time that a battery is fully charged can reduce the wear on the battery and improve its lifespan.

Related Roundups: iPad Air , iPad Pro
Related Forum: iPad

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Top Rated Comments

MathersMahmood Avatar
31 months ago
Why not on older devices? Seems pretty simple to install over an update.
Score: 39 Votes (Like | Disagree)
31 months ago
It would be nice if iOS/iPadOS 18 allowed some of these features on older devices as well.
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
31 months ago
They clearly needed the powerful M4 and M2 chips to compute that.

Shame
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)
F23 Avatar
31 months ago
biggest iPad software update of all time
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
goobot Avatar
31 months ago
Literally no reason for the older ones not to have it
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
aevan Avatar
31 months ago
Great, was hoping for that. Don't know why this is a thing only on latest iPhones and iPads, though.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)