The iPhone 13 may include an ingenious software feature that will allow you to charge your iPhone before you notice a power shortage.

If you're using one of the best iPhones, you've no doubt already noticed that the phone gives a battery warning when it drops below 20% of its full capacity. However, a new patent designed by Apple seeks to avoid such moments of low battery altogether by instead warning when it should be recharged.

Dubbed "Smart Advice to Charging Notification," the patent (via AppleInsider) aims to tell you to charge your phone at the point when you think you might actually be able to. It is based on your recent charging and usage habits throughout the day and takes into account how often and how much you charge or drain your phone's battery.

The system suggests that you leave the nearby electrical outlet and plug in your iPhone before you notice that the battery is running low, whether due to normal battery drain or because you are determined to be using more charge for power-hungry activities. to the iPhone. If necessary, the system can also notify one device to charge a second device. This would be helpful if the second machine is not currently in use but is slowly draining in the background.

This system would not even need to be dedicated to the iPhone. Since the patent only covers "computing devices," the best MacBooks, the best Apple Watches, and even things like the iPad Air 2020 would benefit. The text of the patent mentions how location information can be used to further optimize the system, albeit anonymized to prevent privacy issues.

The iPhone can already track your charging habits to enable optimized battery charging. This feature prevents the unnecessary strain caused by keeping the iPhone battery at 100% for extended periods of time, simply charging the iPhone to 80% or more just before the system predicts that you will unplug the iPhone. The same goes for Siri predictions and smart widgets in iOS, which recommend the apps you need at that moment.

Usually, when we hear about patents, we emphasize that product development is full of dead ends and that it takes a long time for the first idea to get out into the world. In this case, however, it seems as if Apple already has all the pieces needed to make this happen.

Apple is currently beta testing iOS 14.5, the latest version of its iPhone software, which introduces neat new features such as the new Siri voice and the option to unlock the iPhone with the Apple Watch. In an ideal world, Apple would have smart charging warnings ready for the next beta and roll them out to iPhone users in a matter of months.

However, if this concept is only currently patented, it will probably debut with iOS 15 at WWDC 21 in June, followed by the iPhone 13 in September. Of course, it is also possible that Apple will continue to develop smart charging advice for some time yet.