Google Pixel battery charge limit was never coming in the first Android 15 update

Ben Schoon | Oct 16 2024 - 7:45 am PT

Google Pixel phones are set to get a new feature that allows users to limit battery charging to 80%, but the feature was never coming in this week’s first Android 15 update.

The batteries in our smartphones are technically the most efficient when not charging to their maximum potential. 80% is typically the point where charging slows down, and where storing that charge takes the biggest toll on your battery’s health. That’s why many smartphones offer the ability to limit charging at that point.

Google is also adding this feature to Pixel phones, but it’s not available just yet.

As Google has finally started rolling out Android 15 to Pixel phones this week, there’s been some confusion over why this battery charging limit is not available. That’s in part due to long-term expectations, as well as some coverage of new features in Android 15 mentioning this feature as if it is in this week’s Android 15 release.

But the battery charging limit was never coming to Pixel devices in the first Android 15 release.

This feature was first spotted back in July as strings of code within the last Android 15 beta update. It was not a fully functioning feature, but just the foundation of what was to come in the future. The feature actually went live for the first time in Android 15 QPR1 Beta 2 in September.

When features go live in beta, that’s the version they’re generally going to be tied to. Code is rarely, if ever, a good indicator of when a feature will become available.

So when will Pixel phones get a battery charging limit? As the feature is tied to QPR1, the first quarterly release, it’s currently expected to launch in December of this year, but it’s entirely possible (though very unlikely) it ends up delayed.

For an in-depth breakdown of everything new in this current Android 15 release, go check out Damien Wilde’s latest video on the 9to5Google YouTube channel.