Apple secretly added a new feature called Clean Energy Charging in iOS 16.1 and turned it on by default. Here’s what you should know about this environmentally-friendly feature.
Apple was vocal regarding Clean Energy Charging when it introduced iOS 16 in September 2022. It didn’t launch for the public on the 24th of October. This was the day that Apple released iOS 16.1 It seemed that the update was an unnoticed change without users even being aware until a story was posted on social media.
Sunday, the 26th of February, saw a multitude of posts that gained attention on Twitter regarding the issue of clean Energy Charging. People were angry and vocal in their posts, saying that they did not want Apple to dictate what energy they would use for them.
If you prefer not to use Clean Energy Charging, the feature can be easily disabled with a simple switch in your iPhone’s settings.
Before turning it off entirely, however, it’s worthwhile to understand how this feature works and the environmental benefits of keeping it enabled.
What is Clean Energy Charging?
Clean Energy Charging is a function which reduces the carbon footprint, based on specific charging patterns or local forecasts of carbon emissions. The feature is only available when charging for long periods that last for a long time, such as overnight, or at frequent certain locations, such as at work or at home.
Contrary to claims in social media, the feature will hinder the efficiency in charging speed or efficiency each time the device is connected. It is instead specific based on the circumstances that were mentioned earlier.
Articles and stories that claim users were required to turn off Clean Energy Charging because they noticed the slowness iPhone charged during the upgrade to iOS 16.1 aren’t true. The reason for this is an incorrect understanding regarding the functionality.
Users shouldn’t observe any change in the way their iPhone normally charges when Clean Energy Charging is enabled.
In the event that Clean Energy Charging activates at an untimely moment, users can turn it off and charge as normal. In the event that this feature becomes activated it will display a message accessible that can be pressed for a long time to shut it off during the charging session.
Clean Energy Charging cannot be activated unless it is notified to the user. If the feature stops charging the notification will inform users when the device is at 100%, which is like its Optimized Battery Charging feature.
What exactly does “carbon emission forecast” mean, and what if my region doesn’t have any clean energy?
The articles and social media posts suggest Apple might be penalizing people who reside in areas that are prone to high carbon emissions. The issue is that there’s a misinterpretation about the function and how it functions.
Carbon emission forecasts aren’t searching for renewable energy sources or determining whether your electricity grid has been declared “bad.” It’s seeking an overall average for carbon emissions across a period and then determines the time when the lowest carbon emissions are generated on a particular net-cleaner. The main thing the phone is measuring is peak and non-peak times for electrical power usage.
Its iPhone feature will search for those times when carbon emissions are low in the average region and will then wait to charge the iPhone fully until that time. But, there are additional calculations that are taking place, which will be covered in the following section.
Achieving a lower carbon footprint for a user doesn’t mean they have to contact their electric company to switch to alternative energy sources to charge their iPhone more quickly. It does mean that to the millions of iPhones that are in use throughout the United States, the collective users can contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions by charging their devices more regularly in certain situations to help reduce carbon emissions.
Also read: How Tech is Supporting Eco-friendly Automotives
How to enable Clean Energy Charging on iPhone
Multiple elements are required before the iPhone stops charging after Clean Energy Charging is enabled. A machine-learning algorithm manages the function.
We’ll refer something to as a Significant Location in this list. This is a specific location that can be identified by using a device’s position data over time. This allows us to know the location where users spend the majority of the day.
Clean Energy Charging will be activated when:
- The user is located in an important location where long durations of time are used, at work, home, or school.
- A carbon emission forecast informs the iPhone that the heavy emission is likely to occur when the device is connected to.
- Based on user behavior, Based on the behavior of users, according to user behavior, iPhone recognizes that it’s on the charger for a long time. i.e., during the time that the user is sleeping or is seated at the desk.
- The device will rest and await cleaner energy when it is plugged in and will be unplugged when it is scheduled to be disconnected, which means it could still be at 100 percent.
These conditions make it possible for Clean Energy Charging to only be enabled at night, when people are sleeping. It’s part of the optimized Battery Charging in order to make sure that the battery’s health is maintained and reduce carbon emissions.
Clean Energy Charging won’t activate during travel or when you visit a new location that isn’t in the Important Locations. Location information isn’t shared with Apple and is used only for the algorithm.
Following this function to activate Clean Energy Charging
- Go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging and ensure you have Clean Energy Charging is on.
- Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services and make sure Location Services are on.
- Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services and ensure that System Customization is enabled.
- Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services > Significant Locations and ensure you have Significant Locations on.
As we’ve mentioned before, Clean Energy Charging will inform the user when charging has been stopped. It does not operate in the background and doesn’t hinder a user’s charging speed.
How to turn off Clean Energy Charging
- Open the Settings app
- Select Battery
- Select Battery Health & Charging
- Toggle off Clean Energy Charging
Conclusion
Apple’s Clean Energy Charging can help lower your carbon footprint by charging during times of lower-emission electricity, creating an eco-friendly charging solution without impacting performance, making greener charging simple for all iPhone users!
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