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iPhone User Guide

Charge the iPhone battery

iPhone has an internal lithium-ion rechargeable battery, which currently provides the best performance for your device. Compared with traditional battery technology, lithium-ion batteries are lighter, charge faster, last longer, and have a higher power density for more battery life.

To understand how your battery works so you can get the most out of it, see the Apple Lithium-ion Batteries website.

About charging the battery

👁 Battery icon with a lightning bolt indicates that the battery is charging.

The battery icon in the top-right corner shows the battery level or charging status. When you’re syncing or using iPhone, it may take longer to charge the battery.

If iPhone is very low on power, it may display an image of a nearly depleted battery, indicating that it needs to charge for up to 10 minutes before you can use it. If iPhone is extremely low on power when you begin charging it, the display may be blank for up to 2 minutes before the low-battery image appears. See the Apple Support article If your iPhone won’t charge.

Charge the battery

To charge iPhone, do any of the following:

  • Connect iPhone to a power outlet using the charging cable (included) and an Apple USB power adapter or other compatible power adapter (sold separately). See Power adapters.

    👁 iPhone connected to the power adapter plugged into a power outlet.

  • Place iPhone face up on MagSafe Charger (connected to Apple 20W USB-C power adapter or other compatible power adapter) or on a Qi-certified charger. (MagSafe Charger, power adapters, and Qi-certified chargers are sold separately.) See MagSafe chargers and battery packs and Qi-certified wireless chargers.

    Note: You can also use third-party power adapters and Qi-certified chargers that are compliant with applicable country regulations and international and regional safety standards. See “Charging” in Important safety information for iPhone.

  • Connect iPhone and your computer with a cable.

    Make sure your computer is turned on—if iPhone is connected to a computer that’s turned off, the battery may drain instead of charge. Look for 👁 the Charging icon
    on the battery icon to make sure your iPhone is charging.

    Note: Don’t try to charge your iPhone by connecting it to your keyboard, unless your keyboard has a high-power USB port.

Connecting iPhone to a power outlet or placing it on a wireless charger can start an iCloud backup. See Back up iPhone.

WARNING: If you suspect there may be liquid in the charging port of iPhone, don’t plug the charging cable into it. For information about exposure to liquid, and other important safety information about the battery and charging iPhone, see Important safety information for iPhone.

Improve charging speed

If your iPhone is charging slowly, you’ll see a Slow Charger message in Settings 👁 Image
> Battery. This message appears when your iPhone supports fast charging but the connected charger isn’t capable of delivering optimal power.

👁 The charging information card in iPhone Battery settings. The card shows the battery at 80% and indicates it’s connected to a “Slow Charger.” A progress bar estimates it will take 52 minutes to reach 100%.

Charging might take longer than expected if you’re using:

  • A wired charger that provides 7.5 watts or less

  • A wireless charger that provides less than 10 watts, such as a Qi-certified charger

Understand charging behavior

iPhone manages how it charges to help preserve long-term battery health. Here’s what happens when you charge:

  • Fast charging up to 80%: iPhone charges quickly until the battery reaches about 80%.

  • Trickle charging after 80%: Charging slows to reduce battery stress and limit heat. This final stage helps maintain battery lifespan.

  • Temperature: Charging may pause temporarily while in extreme temperature conditions, and resumes once the battery’s temperature returns to its normal operating range.

These protections happen automatically and don’t require any changes to your settings.

About charge cycles and battery lifespan

The capacity of any type of battery will diminish after a certain amount of recharging. With lithium-ion batteries, the capacity diminishes slightly with each complete charge cycle. Apple lithium-ion batteries work in charge cycles and retain about 80% of its original capacity for a high number of charge cycles, depending on the product.

A charge cycle happens when you use a total of 100% of your battery’s capacity,* even if it’s not all at once. For example, you might use 75% of your battery’s capacity one day, then recharge it fully overnight. If you use 25% the next day, you will have discharged a total of 100%, and the two days will add up to one charge cycle.

Tip: Partial charging throughout the day won’t harm the battery, and using features like Optimized Battery Charging or Charge Limit can help extend its life even further.

Battery life and charge cycles vary with use and settings. To learn how to maximize your battery’s performance and lifespan, see the Apple Support article iPhone Battery and Performance.

The iPhone battery should be serviced or recycled by Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider. See the Battery Service and Recycling website.

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