One of the chief reasons to buy an iPad is its superior battery life over an iPhone. Apple understandably downplays that comparison, but it’s true — the devices share many of the same apps, yet you can handle several hours of email, browsing, and streaming on an iPad without worrying about whether you’ll have enough juice to make it through the end of the day. A topped-off iPad can comfortably sit on standby for several days, whereas an iPhone will end up running on fumes well before then.

Unfortunately, the slow degradation of an iPad’s battery is inevitable. No matter how well you treat it, it will at some point become unusable, whether practically or in absolute terms. I’m going to fill you in on both scenarios, and offer some basic tips on stretching battery health as much as possible.

How long can an iPad battery last?

You can’t beat the laws of chemistry

All iPads rely on lithium-ion batteries, which are only able to sustain so many 0-to-100% charge cycles. Over time, peak capacity is gradually reduced, until one day your iPad simply won’t charge at all. You can also kill a battery by letting it drain to 0%, then failing to recharge it for several months — but if you care that little, longevity probably isn’t on your radar.

On the number of charge cycles an iPad can handle, Apple has official specs. The company states that all iPad batteries are designed to hold 80% of their original capacity (a.k.a. health) at 1,000 charge cycles, with the caveat that Apple’s definition of a cycle is “normalized between 80 percent and 100 percent of original capacity to account for expected diminishing battery capacity over time.” Your mileage will vary, in other words. You can check battery health at any time via Settings -> Battery.

Doing quick math, you might extrapolate that the absolute limit of an iPad is 5,000 cycles, but that’s not quite right. Realistically, degradation accelerates under 80% capacity, and problems like voltage sag may prevent any usage beyond a late-game threshold.

That brings me to practicality. Around the 80 to 90% mark, people tend to notice their iPad doesn’t last as long as it used to. This is livable, as long as you adjust your habits and expectations. When taking your iPad on vacation, for example, you might need to use that layover time to top it off instead of crossing your fingers that you can make it through The Return of the King on the next flight.

Below 80%, expect frustrations to mount, but you may still have a usable tablet. Some people only ever use an iPad in short bursts, or are content to leave it plugged in most of the time. I’m in the latter camp — I prefer to use my 2020 Pro as a second screen for my laptop. Some people turn to an iPad to replace a desktop workstation, in which case there’s really little incentive to take it off the adapter.

I’d suggest that most people should be shopping for a replacement iPad by the time it reaches 70% battery health, and definitely by 50%. Apple rates the 2025 Pro for “up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi‑Fi or watching video” when it’s fully charged and fresh out of the box. At 50% health, you’re already down to 5 hours or less per day, and browsing and streaming are hardly the most intense tasks an iPad can handle. Throw a 3D game or 4K video edit into the mix, and you might be lucky to get 2 hours of mobile use. That’s a fraction of what a healthy iPhone Air can handle.

How can you prolong iPad battery health?

A few tips and tricks

One secret stems from the way health is rated. If you can avoid letting an iPad run dry, you’ll need fewer full charge cycles. Partial charges do count towards your ultimate limit — but you’re not working the battery nearly as hard to reach a level you can use. For chemical reasons, the optimum charge percentage is between 20 and 80%. It is okay to power up to 100% when you need the runtime you paid for, though, as it won’t inflict any serious harm.

If you’re going to leave your iPad plugged in most of the day, I’d recommend going to Settings -> Battery -> Battery Health and turning on 80% Limit. When you do need maximum runtime, you can return to this screen and either disable the limit or select a temporary override.

You can also reduce charge cycles by using less power in the first place. Turn off the screen before walking away, even if Auto-Lock is on. Disable Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and/or cellular when you don’t need them, since those consume power with background sync or scanning for available connections. Likewise, keep screen brightness as low as you can get away with while still making text and images comfortably legible.

Be mindful of temperatures, too. If ambient heat rises over 95F (35C), using or charging your iPad can permanently shrink capacity. Cold weather can also shrink capacity, but only temporarily — your iPad will bounce back when it returns to room temperature.