iOS 14.5 Will Recalibrate iPhone 11 Batteries to Fix Battery Health Bug

Apple's iOS 14.5 beta that's currently in testing introduces a new process for recalibrating the battery health reporting on the iPhone 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max.

battery health recalibration
As outlined in a support document, Apple says that the update will recalibrate the maximum battery capacity and peak performance capacity on the ‌iPhone‌ 11 models to address inaccurate estimates of battery health reporting that some users have encountered.

Symptoms of this bug include unexpected battery drain behavior or in some cases, reduced peak performance capability. Apple says that the inaccurate battery health reporting does not reflect an issue with actual battery health.

Once the update is installed, ‌iPhone‌ 11 users will see a message in Settings > Battery > Battery Health about the recalibration process, which Apple says might take a few weeks.

Recalibration of maximum capacity and peak performance capability happens during regular charge cycles, and this process might take a few weeks. The displayed maximum capacity percentage will not change during recalibration. Peak performance capability might be updated, but this might not be noticeable by most users. If a previous degraded battery message was displayed, this message will be removed after updating to iOS 14.5.

When the recalibration is complete, the maximum capacity percentage and peak performance capability information will be updated. If the recalibration indicates that battery health has indeed significantly declined, users will see a battery service message.

In some cases, recalibration may not be successful and a battery service message will pop up. Apple says that it will replace these affected batteries free of charge to restore full performance and capacity.

Related Forum: iOS 14

Top Rated Comments

ApfelKuchen Avatar
28 months ago

So this is only for iPhone 11 and not 11 Pro models?
Skip the headline and read the first sentence of the article.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
now i see it Avatar
28 months ago
So that's why there's 10,000 "my battery health just dropped 5% in a day" threads in the iPhone forum
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
subi257 Avatar
28 months ago
I am hoping this will be a good thing....can't make it worse...can it?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JPack Avatar
28 months ago

I thought I had a bad battery with my XS as it was down to 84% capacity after 2.5 years, but then I checked cycle count and it was 850. Batteries are rated to 80% after 1000 cycles so it seems fairly close. I wish Apple would just show cycle count in the settings instead of having to find some debug tool on the computer. Apparently, though, iPhone 11 batteries should be better than that being a year newer. iPhone 12 is not supported with this, it seems, but they shouldn't have battery issues yet.
It's 500 cycles, not 1,000.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
thejadedmonkey Avatar
28 months ago
Is there a way to force this process to happen for non-iPhone 11 devices? At around 50% battery, my SE can drop 5% a minute, and then hang out at 13%-26% for hours.

But it still has 86% overall health.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Ikertxo40 Avatar
28 months ago

My 11 Pro is down to 88% after a year and a half, which is shocking to me because I've never gotten below 95% on any previous phone after two years. I haven't changed my use or charging habits at all. Maybe this explains it.
Same here! My iPhone 11 pro, bought day 1, is at 88%. It was 92% before a couple of last updates, and dropped 4% in one shot!

My iphone x has 3 years and is at 86% using it the same way as the current 11 pro. I have warranty until september so if this continues dropping I hope I am at 80% before warranty is over, to ask for a free battery replacement!

I checked the cycles and the iphone x duplicates the 11 pro more or less, so i think my battery is deffective or so. Both iphones charged wirelessly at night with mophie 7,5w charger, sold by Apple.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)