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What happens when iOS 14.5 finishes recalibrating your iPhone's battery?

It took two weeks, but it's now done.
Written by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Senior Contributing Editor

One of the features baked into iOS 14.5 was a battery recalibration procedure for the iPhone 11 family. After installing the update, the iPhone would run a recalibration procedure on the battery, a process that, according to Apple, could take weeks.

Two weeks on, mine has finished. So, what's the outcome?

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It seems like there are three possible outcomes; your battery is more worn than you expect, less worn than iOS had previously led you to believe, or exactly as worn as iOS was telling you it was.

Seems I dodged the bullet on my battery being more worn, but I also didn't get a pleasant surprise of a battery that was less worn.

Mine went into battery recalibration at 88% and came out exactly the same.

Apple offers a link to this support page for iPhone 11 owners that explains the process.

This page also describes some of the symptoms of a worn battery:

While performance impacts are reduced as much as possible, battery aging might still eventually lead to noticeable, possibly temporary, effects. Depending on the battery state and the tasks that your iPhone is handling, examples might include longer app launch times, lower frame rates, reduced wireless-data throughput, backlight dimming, or lower speaker volume.

To find out about your battery, go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health. Remember that battery recalibration only applied to iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and the iPhone 11 Pro Max.

If your battery is worn, it's a good idea to get it replaced, either by Apple, an Apple authorized repair center, or someone competent that isn't going to trash your iPhone.

Anyone else had the battery recalibration process complete? What was your outcome? Let me know in the comments below!


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