Understanding Battery Health vs. Battery Life
Battery Health reflects the long-term capacity and chemical aging of your iPad's battery relative to its original state. Battery Life refers to how long a single charge lasts under current usage conditions before needing a recharge. Optimized settings extend life; degradation affects health.
Checking iPad Battery Health (Capacity)
Unlike iPhone, iPadOS doesn't natively display a battery health percentage. Use these methods:
- Settings > Battery > Battery Health: Find insights like "Maximum Capacity" indicating current capacity vs. new (e.g., "Designed for up to 10 hours of use"). Significant performance management suggests degraded health.
- CoconutBattery (Mac): Connect iPad to a Mac. Install and launch CoconutBattery. Select your iPad under iOS Device. View "Battery Health" percentage. Values near 100% indicate good health; below 80% often signifies notable degradation.
- Third-Party Apps: iOS utilities can estimate cycle count and health, but their accuracy is less consistent than direct diagnostics or CoconutBattery. Apple support diagnostics also offer health data.
Key Metric: Battery health is generally considered "worn" when maximum capacity drops below 80%.
Simple Battery Life Test (Runtime)
This estimates real-world usage per charge:
- Charge to 100%: Ensure your iPad starts fully charged.
- Reset Statistics: Go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health. Tap "Turn Off" under Optimized Battery Charging temporarily (turn it back on later). Use your iPad normally for a full cycle.
- Normal Usage Tracking: After a full discharge-recharge cycle, revisit Settings > Battery. The chart shows "Activity" since last charge and "Screen On" time. Compare total runtime against Apple's original claims for similar activities.
- Controlled Stress Test (Optional): For consistency, charge to 100%, disable Auto-Brightness (set to ~50%), enable Wi-Fi, and start streaming HD video continuously. Note time taken to reach 10-20% charge. Compare results to expected runtime under standard settings or previous tests on the same iPad.
Key Differences Summarized
- Health Check: Measures battery degradation/capacity (CoconutBattery is best).
- Life Test: Measures runtime under current usage/conditions (Settings Battery Data or stress test).
Poor health often leads to reduced battery life. Consistently short runtime despite good health points to demanding usage settings or software issues.
