More secrets of the iOS 18.2 developer beta are being revealed as early adopters try out the new software. The latest of which includes a currently unfinished improvement to charging.
A code-diver at 9to5Mac found a "BatteryIntelligence" framework that could be used to estimate a charge time for your iPhone. Users are apparently able to request a notification with a prediction of how long it'll take the phone to fill up, except this feature is not active within iOS 18.2, and looks to be incomplete.
Offering custom charging notifications by default makes sense because iOS 18 allows users to stop recent iPhones from charging above 80 — 95% in order to lengthen the battery's operating life. If the estimates only worked for a 100% charge, then the system would be next to useless for these users.
An incomplete estimate
Charging time estimation would be a brand new feature for iOS, but Android phones have offered estimated charging times for years already. Some brands even send you a notification to announce the battery's completely full for added utility. It's not even new to Apple, as MacBooks will give you an estimated time to a full charge when you plug in.
With this Battery Intelligence feature seemingly in progress but not finished just yet, hopefully it'll be enabled for a future iOS 18.2 beta, and from there arrive as an update for non-beta users by the end of the year (according to the leaks anyway). Failing that, we may see it arrive in iOS 18.3 or a later version, which would appear at some point in 2025.
If you've got the iOS 18.2 developer beta installed, you can try out new features like Genmoji and Image Playground (once you're off the wait list), plus an update to the Mail app, the new ability to share Find My locations with anyone via a link, and the option to pay for ChatGPT Plus via the Settings menu if you want Apple Intelligence to be even more intelligent. A public iOS 18.2 hasn't been released yet, but will likely be arriving soon if the rumored stable release in December is accurate.
