Imagine waking up in the middle of the night and rolling over in a daze to see the time on your iPhone. However, instead of seeing a battery indicator that’s already full, you see something else: a banner ad at the bottom of the screen saying that your phone is “scheduled to finish charging” some time later.
It’s not the stuff of dreams, it’s something iPhones in the United States do now, thanks to a clean power charging feature built into recent versions of Apple’s iOS 16 software.
While it barely drew attention when it was first released in an update in October, the feature, which attempts to charge iPhones using electricity generated through supposedly cleaner methods, has had Apple customers and critics alike on social media. .
Some, like popular YouTuber Marques Brownlee, have called it a win for the environment. Others have criticized the feature as “woke up” and a tool for “globalists.” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said on one of his twitter accounts that it had chosen to disable the feature to increase its carbon footprint.
“I believe in feeding the trees,” he added.
Chances are high that this eco-friendly feature is running on your phone right now. Here’s what you need to know.
5 things to try in iOS 16
How does the feature work?
Generally speaking, it’s meant to reduce your carbon footprint, if only, by charging your iPhone at specific times of the day.
A support page on Apple’s website explains how the feature is supposed to work, at least a little: When clean power charging is enabled and your iPhone is plugged in, you’ll access a “forecast of carbon emissions on your network.” of local energy”.
Using that forecast, your device will attempt to fully charge when “lower carbon electricity” is most available from the power grid. Apple also says that your iPhone “learns from your daily charging routine,” so this more selective approach to charging should, but not always, result in a full battery when you need it.
“Clean Power Charging kicks in only where you spend the most time and regularly charges your iPhone for long periods of time, like your home and workplace,” says Apple’s support page. “The feature doesn’t kick in if your charging habits are variable or if you’re in a new location.”
There are a few other things to note about this feature. If you’ve installed Apple’s iOS 16.1 update or newer on your iPhone, Clean Power charging is already on unless you’ve specifically turned it off.
The feature is also only available on US iPhones, and there’s a good chance you’ll know when it’s running: You’ll see a clean power charging notification on your lock screen when it’s active.
You’re not the only one who accidentally turns on the flashlight on your iPhone
Well, there are a few reasons.
One of the biggest concerns people have is that the feature is turned on by default. That is, Apple automatically turned on the feature once it installed the update, rather than letting device owners make that decision themselves.
“I’m glad Apple is working on dynamic charging to move to low-carbon hours,” said Tim Latimer, chief executive of a geothermal power company called Fervo Energy. On twitter. “But the way they’ve implemented it isn’t great: limited awareness, default position is enabled.”
“We should demand more transparency and choice of clean energy solutions, or it will be counterproductive,” he added.
When asked why the company turned on the feature automatically instead of allowing people to opt-in, an Apple spokesperson declined to comment.
For better or worse, this isn’t exactly new territory for Apple: when it released a feature to “optimize” iPhone charging in a way that would reduce battery drain, that too was turned on by default.
Other people are usually worried that due to this feature, their iPhone is not fully charged when they need it. Some users have reported that their iPhones are also chargingmore slowly than expected and suspects clean power charging may be to blame, although we haven’t experienced behavior like this on any of our test phones.
I’m glad Apple is working on dynamic charging to move to low carbon hours… BUT the way they implemented it isn’t great. Limited awareness, default position is chosen. We should demand more transparency and choice of clean energy solutions or it will backfire. pic.twitter.com/jJHUkBDIn9
If you’re concerned about how this feature works, or if you just want to see what life is like without it for a while, you can manually turn it off.
Open the Settings app, scroll down and tap Battery, then tapBattery status and charge. The clean power charging option will be at the bottom of the screen – when you tap the green “switch” to turn it off, you’ll have the option to turn the feature off until the next day or turn it off indefinitely.
Alternatively, if you see a message on your phone’s screen saying it’s scheduled to finish charging later, you can long press the notification to make the phone charge immediately.
However, if you haven’t noticed anything unusual about the way your phone has been charging, it might be worth leaving the feature on. An untold number of iPhones in the United States are also trying to prioritize charging when more sustainably generated electricity is available; It wouldn’t hurt to see if the feature manages to make something of a dent in carbon emissions.
What other devices try to use clean energy?
Apple isn’t the only company working on how to make its devices more carbon conscious. When the right kind of carbon “intensity” data is available, computers running Microsoft’s Windows 11 software can install updates when they believe electricity generated through cleaner methods is available.
The same goes for the popular Xbox game consoles from Microsoft. As of a February software update, they can also be set to download game and system updates at times when cleaner power is expected to be available.
