iOS 16 Will Support Clean Energy Charging

Apple also officially announced the iOS 16 system at the launch event of the iPhone 14 series. Apple claims to care about the protection of the environment. Although the company sells the charger and other accessories separately, it's out of the box. Apple is among the top manufacturing companies that are advocates of environmental protection. Since iPhone 12, Apple will no longer provide charging heads in the name of environmental protection. It has also announced a carbon peak target and continues to reduce its carbon emissions. After the release of iOS 16, the company announced that iOS 16 will support the clean energy charging function. However, this feature is not currently available, it will come in the future.

Apple confirmed this new feature in the release of iOS 16. And he said iOS 16 will support clean energy charging in future upgrades. The purpose of this feature is to reduce iPhone's carbon emissions by optimizing the charging time of the grid using clean energy. Apple did not specifically disclose the technical principle of this clean energy charging. According to speculation, it will differ according to the power supply of the electrical grid in different regions. This information is collected by the power grid in the United States.

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Apple Takes Important Steps in Sustainability

There is also practical value in this feature of Apple. Texas and California have recently experienced power outage crises. Power generation from traditional energy sources has been affected, but there will be fewer restrictions with cleaner energy sources. However, Apple still has not made any progress on fast charging. The iPhone 14 series supports charging power up to 29W (14.5V/2A), which is nominally consistent with the iPhone 13 series.

In an update to iOS 16 this year, Apple plans to add a new "Clean Energy Charging" option in the United States. The information was shared in Apple's iOS 16 press release, which says clean energy charging will optimize charging times for when the grid is using cleaner energy sources.

With Clean Energy Charging, Apple aims to reduce the iPhone's carbon footprint. This is the first we've heard of clean energy charging, and it's not a feature Apple has highlighted before.

There are a few more features not available in iOS 16 that will come in a later update, including iCloud Shared Photo Library, Live Events, and support for the Matter smart home standard. Apple has also not implemented Game Center SharePlay support and Contacts integration, the Freeform app, key sharing, or easy Shortcut setup.

How Does Clean Energy Charging Work?

According to 9To5Mac, iOS 16 has a new daemon (a process running in the background) that collects carbon emissions data from local load balancers such as the US EIA. The company collects this information along with the location of the device. iOS then also downloads the carbon emission estimate from the server. Combining all this data, the system can control when clean energy charging starts.

So iOS 16 will wait to charge the iPhone at a time when the grid is less constrained and more clean energy capacity is available. With the recent pressure on the grid in places like Texas and California, this feature seems to have come just in time.

There are also other features that are not yet available in Apple iOS 16. Just like clean energy charging, they will be available in future updates. Features like iCloud shared photo library, real-time activity, and support for the Matter smart home standard.