What Is Clean Energy Charging on iPhone and How Does It Work?
To help people make climate-smart choices, Apple introduced Clean Energy Charging in iOS 16.1, an optional feature that restricts iPhone charging to cleaner energy sources.
With it toggled on, iOS will only permit the iPhone’s battery to charge up when the local electrical grid provides clean power. This helps lower your electricity bill and carbon footprint.
Follow along as we show you how to manage Clean Energy Charging, turn it off altogether, or disable it temporarily when lower carbon emission electricity is unavailable.
What Is Apple’s Clean Energy Charging Feature?
When you plug your iPhone into power, Clean Energy Charging finds the nearby energy grid and downloads a carbon emission forecast from the local load balancing authority.
Armed with this knowledge, iOS selectively charges when electricity from clean sources like solar or wind is available. The iPhone stops charging when lower carbon emission electricity is unavailable, resuming automatically when clean electricity becomes available again.
How Clean Energy Charging in iOS 16 Works
Clean Energy Charging kicks into action at places you frequent the most, like your work. A support document onApple’s websiteexplains that Clean Energy Charging won’t engage “if your charging habits are variable or you’re in a new location,” such as while traveling.
Clean Energy Charging may also engage in other places where you “spend the most time and regularly charge your iPhone for long periods of time.” To determine what those places are, however, Clean Energy Charging requires three location settings to be toggled on.
3 Settings Required for Clean Energy Charging
The following iOS location settings must be turned on to enable Clean Energy Charging to determine whether your iPhone is being charged at a supported location or not:
You may be able to turn Clean Energy Charging on even with some of the above settings disabled, although the feature probably won’t function as expected or work at all. People concerned about privacy can rest assured that Clean Energy Charging will never share their locations with Apple or third parties.
How to Turn Clean Energy Charging Off
If you live in a supported country, Clean Energy Charging will be turned on by default in iOS 16.1 and later. To turn the feature off at any time, perform the following steps:
With the feature turned off, your iPhone will continue charging even if cleaner energy is unavailable or demand on the power grid is high. Don’t feel guilty for turning Clean Energy Charging off—only 15% of the lifetime emissions for the iPhone 14 Pro come from actually using the phone, according toApple’s product environmental report.
How to Override Clean Energy Charging
With Clean Energy Charging working in the background, you’ll receive a notification when iOS suspends charging until cleaner electricity is available. To override the prompt and resume the charging process, expand the notification and select theCharge Nowoption.
Optimized Battery Charging vs. Clean Energy Charging: What’s the Difference?
Don’t confuse Clean Energy Charging with Optimized Battery Charging, which prevents over-stressing iPhone batteries by learning from your daily routine to charge past the 80% mark. It’s one of theways iOS maintains iPhone battery healthand prolongs the device’s lifespan.
If your iPhone iswaiting to charge past 80%, that’s Optimized Battery Charging in action. To learn more about this feature, peruse our dedicated tutorial, which dives deep intowhat Optimized Battery Charging isand how it works.
Where Is Clean Energy Charging Available?
As of this writing, Clean Energy Charging is only available in the United States. If the Clean Energy Charging option doesn’t even show up in the Battery settings, that’s how you know the feature is currently unavailable in your country. Watch this space, as we’ll update the article if and when Clean Energy Charging expands to other countries.
Greener iPhone Charging Now a Reality
Anything that helps reduce one’s carbon footprint is good for the planet and the human species. But like with all iPhone features, you’ll need to determine whether turning on Clean Energy Charging makes sense, given your specific usage habits.
The power of software can help us avoid charging our iPhones outside of times of cleaner energy production. Apple has designed Clean Energy Charging with a clear goal in mind—to attempt to reduce the customer’s carbon footprint—and that’s why it’s turned on by default!
Here’s the secret to making your iPhone last as long as possible.
It saves me hours and keeps my sanity intact.
you may block out the constant surveillance and restore your privacy with a few quick changes.
These films will leave you questioning humanity, but also wanting more.
Quality apps that don’t cost anything.
Flagship price, mid-range phone.
