Apple iPhone users were stirred up on Sunday as they became aware of a somewhat new feature intended to reduce the carbon footprint by charging only when lower carbon-emission electricity is available.
Apple introduced Clean Energy Charging with the release of iOS 16.1 on Oct. 24, 2022. The company claims that when the mode is enabled and a phone is connected to a charger, the iPhone gets a report of carbon emissions generated by the local energy grid and uses that information to determine when to charge the phone.
One Twitter user raised the red flag to other users that if they notice their iPhone was charging a little slower, it could be because of Clean Energy Charging.
Some of the users who tweeted about the new feature wanted to find a way to turn it off.
One user claimed he wanted to turn the feature off to leave the biggest footprint possible, while another wanted to know if there was a way to select whether to use coal or diesel generated electricity to charge their phone.
Other users used the issue as a eureka moment, as battery charging times on iPhones, for some users, has been slow recently.
Still, other users said when they finally turned the feature off, Apple shamed them by saying the feature helps reduce the carbon footprint or the battery chemically ages when deactivated.
One user in the United Kingdom even said the feature was not available on their phone.
Currently, Apple says the mode is available in the US and set to the on position by default.
To turn the mode off, users need to go into their iPhone settings, click “Battery,” “Battery Health & Charging,” then turn off “Clean Energy Charging.”
The mode also works in conjunction with Optimized Battery Charging, which Apple says learns a user’s charging habits.
Habits, the tech giant says, are based on where a user spends most of their time and regularly charges their phone for extended periods of time.
Apple said the feature does not engage when charging habits vary or if you travel.