Apple’s iOS 16 Offers Clean Energy Charging

If you have an Apple iPhone and haven’t updated your iOS in a while, you might want to do so now to take advantage of a new clean energy charging feature. 

Announced by Apple in October this year for phones with iOS 16.1 or greater (iOS is currently available up to version 16.2), the clean energy charging option is a setting that will automatically draw energy from cleaner energy sources while the phone charges, when available. It does so by tracking your long-term charging habits and analyzing the local grid.

The feature, available under “Battery” then “Battery Health & Charging” in an iPhone’s settings, should automatically be turned on with the purchase of a new iPhone or after updating a new or existing phone to iOS 16.1 or above.

With this feature enabled, your phone will track carbon emissions forecasts for your local energy grid when the phone is plugged in to charge. But this feature does require some additional settings to be enabled on the phone for it to work properly.

In addition to turning on the Clean Energy Charging feature, iPhone users will need to turn on Location Services, System Customization and Significant Locations — all of which are within the “Privacy & Security” settings — for the phone to tap into lower carbon sources of energy for phone charging.

“Clean Energy Charging works together with Optimized Battery Charging to learn your charging habits,” Apple explained on its website. “Clean Energy Charging engages only where you spend the most time and regularly charge your iPhone for long periods of time, such as your home and place of work. The feature doesn’t engage if your charging habits are variable or you’re in a new location, such as when you travel.”

The feature is part of Apple’s partnership with the University of California-Berkeley’s CoolClimate Network, as CleanTechnica reported, and plays a role in the company’s larger decarbonization efforts for the future. Apple plans to make its own supply chain carbon-neutral by 2030 and says it sources renewable energy sources for the entirety of its retail locations, corporate offices and data centers. The Clean Energy Charging iPhone feature is meant to further reduce iPhone-related emissions on the consumer side.

“The new feature looks at the sources of the electricity during expected charge times and optimizes for when the grid is using cleaner energy sources like solar or wind,” Apple said in a statement.

Clean Energy Charging is currently only available in the U.S. for iPhones upgraded to at least iOS 16.1.