In an effort to produce environmentally friendly products, Apple is adding Clean Energy Charging to iOS 16 later this year, which will reduce the carbon footprint of iPhone by optimizing charging times for when the grid uses cleaner energy sources. This feature will be available for all users in the United States, later this year.
Clean Energy Charging on iPhone
Apple did not mention this feature on its iOS 16 webpage, or during WWDC when the software update was announced. However, in today’s press release announcing the rollout of iOS 16 to all users, Apple mentioned this feature in the availability section, alongside other iOS 16 features that have been delayed.
In an update later this year, Apple will introduce iCloud Shared Photo Library to give families a new way to share photos seamlessly with a separate iCloud library that up to six users can collaborate on, contribute to, and enjoy. Live Activities will make it even easier to stay on top of things happening in real time, right from the Lock Screen, such as a sports game, ride-share, or food delivery order, and Clean Energy Charging aims to decrease the carbon footprint of the iPhone by optimizing charging times for when the grid is using cleaner energy sources. The update will also bring support for the Matter smart home connectivity standard once it becomes available later this fall.
The footnotes further explain that this feature will be available to all users in the United States, likely due to the fact that Apple would be able to get grid data and its usage of clean energy sources.
This would be a great feature to roll out globally and to more Apple devices, but we imagine it would take a while. It will also be interesting to see if and when Apple shares the impact of this feature in reducing iPhone’s carbon footprint in the United States.
iOS 16 is available to all users today. Check out our coverage below:
