Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
69,101
40,128


Apple made several battery-related changes in iOS 26, introducing features that make it easier to tell which apps are draining battery and new ways to extend battery life.

iOS-26-Battery-Glass-Feature.jpg

Battery Design Changes

Apple updated the Battery section of the Settings app in iOS 26, and the new design provides a more in-depth look at how iPhone usage impacts battery and how much battery apps are draining.

ios-26-battery-overhaul-1.jpg

The top of the Battery interface features an overview of your current battery and the time that you last charged. If your iPhone is charging, it also lets you know how much time you have left until the battery is full.

Rather than showing battery usage over 24 hours and 10 days, Apple now displays a weekly view of average battery use along with a comparison of how much battery you're currently using compared to your typical average.

The new comparison feature lets you know if you're using more, the same, or less battery life than you do on most days. It shows which apps used more battery and by how much, which makes it easier to tell what's draining your battery. You can opt in to notifications that will let you know if your usage is above normal.

The App battery section includes specific details on what caused battery drain, letting you know if an app ran in the background longer, was on your screen longer, or sent more notifications than normal. Apps that are draining a lot of battery are shown in orange so they stand out.

You can tap back through the previous 7 days to see how much battery you used on a given day, with a breakdown for active use and screen idle use. It also shows when you charged and for how long.

ios-26-battery-overhaul-2.jpg

There's still a Battery Health section where you can see charge cycles and maximum capacity and a Charge Limit section where you can limit charging to 80 percent. Apple also added a new Power Mode option where you can toggle on Low Power Mode or the new Adaptive Power Mode.

Adaptive Power Mode

Adaptive Power Mode is a new setting that joins Low Power Mode for power management. It is designed to make small performance adjustments that will improve your battery life when your usage is higher than normal.

iOS-26-Adaptive-Power-Notifications.jpg

On days when you need your iPhone to last longer, you can turn on Adaptive Power. Apple says that it will intelligently make tweaks like lowering display brightness, allowing some activities to take longer, or by automatically turning on Low Power Mode at 20 percent.

Adaptive Power is an opt-in feature that can be found in the Battery section of the Settings app. If you turn it on, it will work automatically when your iPhone detects that you're using an abnormal amount of battery life.

Because Adaptive Power uses Apple Intelligence, it requires an iPhone 15 Pro or newer.

Adaptive Power Notifications

There is an option to turn on Adaptive Power Notifications, so you can be alerted when your iPhone detects higher usage and enables the Adaptive Power features. If you don't turn on notifications, Adaptive Power works quietly behind the scenes without letting you know.

Charging Time

When your iPhone is connected to a charger, you can now tap the display to wake it up and it will provide a readout of how much time you need to wait until your device is fully charged or charged to the limit that you've set.

iphone-battery-time-to-charge.jpg

To get it to work, plug your iPhone in (or put it on a wireless charger). With the display off, tap to wake the iPhone and the time remaining will show up above the clock.

You can also open up the Settings app and go to the Battery section to see the time remaining until a full charge.

Low Power Mode Popup

When your battery level dips to 20 percent, you'll see a low battery warning in the Dynamic Island. If you tap it, you can turn on Low Power Mode.

ios-26-beta-5-battery-icon.jpg


More Descriptive Icons

If charging is on hold because of optimized charging settings or temperature reasons, the battery icon at the top right of the iPhone will be gray instead of green.

Read More

There are a lot of other new features in iOS 26, and we've got a dedicated iOS 26 roundup that lists them all.

Article Link: Five Ways iOS 26 Improves Your iPhone's Battery
 
  • Like
Reactions: Reverend Benny
Looking forward to adaptive power mode.

Unless you’re a gamer or using it to take videos and photos, you’re probably not doing anything too taxing.

(ok, you might be loading a badly optimised web page).
 
The only way to improve your battery is to put a new one in. Now, the best way of improving your battery life is a different matter!
 
I’m just hoping the iPhone 17 has a better battery than the 14 or 15 cus these things degrade faster than I’ve ever seen. My 15pm was amazing when I got it and is now dead by afternoon
 
  • Haha
Reactions: _Mitchan1999
They should let you decide to always enable low power after 20%, never, or ask. Defaulting to ask is maximally annoying. I guess you can use a shortcut to automate this. But it’s the small things that lead to less friction
 
They should let you decide to always enable low power after 20%, never, or ask. Defaulting to ask is maximally annoying. I guess you can use a shortcut to automate this. But it’s the small things that lead to less friction
You can set up a Shortcut automation that does that.
 
Battery life on my phone I don’t really care as when I get down around 20-25% I pop it in a charger and let it recharge. All the stuff about battery this or battery that should be common sense for anyone that is paying attention.
 
Could just...put in a bigger batter. I hear silicon carbon batteries are a thing which could help with Apple's obsession with thin.
 
There is no way in holy hell that "Adaptive Power Mode" should require any "Apple Intelligence"-capable device to function. iPhones older than the iPhone 15 track usage and power drain - there is literally no reason not to offer this to these older devices other than to provide any sort of "real differences in features" on the newer models. What a load of hogwash.
 
  • Sad
Reactions: _Mitchan1999
Running the beta on iPhone 15 pro max. Can’t say I see one iota of a difference between adaptive and non adaptive mode. Both mean I have to recharge mid - day ish.
 
They still don’t break out Apple impact on the battery like the modem, indexing and photo analysis.
 
That won't help the phone hold a longer charge. What ever happened to all those tech geniuses who claimed to have invented batteries that can last for months? That would be way more useful than pressing on a few switches, which have absolutely not effect on battery life.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.