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Five Ways iOS 26 Improves Your iPhone's Battery
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It’s been mentioned before but I couldn’t help it:
… because there is no way Apple could code algorithms that could automatically detect high power usage apps on those antiquated iPhones 14 and older. 🙈
This is done deliberately to maintain confusion and make people believe that Apple intelligence accomplishes more.
Get out of here with adding AI that eats more power and other pointless stuff, I don't care what is using the battery all I asked for is a simple button in the control centre "charge to 100% now" so I can be fully charged whenever I need to. Only I know when I need that, no amount of intelligence will guess it.
I don't want more things I have to keep messing with in settings. Supposed UX experts at Apple should understand this.
I don't want a thinner phone, I don't want a glass back I have to cover with a case to protect it so nobody sees how clever Apple are with glass, nor an odd lump on the back for cameras making it not sit flat. Just a larger battery.
I don't want more things I have to keep messing with in settings. Supposed UX experts at Apple should understand this.
I don't want a thinner phone, I don't want a glass back I have to cover with a case to protect it so nobody sees how clever Apple are with glass, nor an odd lump on the back for cameras making it not sit flat. Just a larger battery.
It will improve your experience, not necessarily the actual battery.
I am on 17.7 on my 15pm with battery at 86%. Battery last all day. 20-30 calls , emails, messages. Apple radio in backaround. People should not upgrade unless they want new gimmicks. New updates always destroy batteries…
Tim needs some new reason to get you to upgrade from a perfectly fine 2 year old phone!
I feel like my 15 pro max drains the battery much faster on iOS 26 and it overheats as soon as I use it, especially when taking or editing pictures. I don’t have the case anymore just so it can cool down a bit.
Same. Why would it suddenly get so super hot? They changed something to make us upgrade.
When I use the wifi for any game, my phone gets uncomfortably hot
I still miss motion activated nightstand mode. What was the purpose of turning off that feature? The phone is plugged in… so not a battery issue.
Apple uses recycled batteries in new iPhones?
Please post a credible source supporting that claim.
Apple does not use recycled (ie used) batteries. Apple does use recycled Cobalt for the battery's cathode. That's a good thing and has absolutely no bearing on battery quality or longevity.
My previous iPhone was a 7 Plus, and I only upgraded to the 16 Plus this year. I have to say, I’m very satisfied with the experience so far. My 7 Plus went through two battery replacements, both with official Apple batteries—the same goes for my wife’s iPhone 7 (she upgraded to the iPhone 16 Pro earlier this year, a few months before I did).
Since iOS now has a charging limit feature, and because my friend kept telling me it would significantly affect battery lifespan, I enabled it from the very start. Both my wife and I set the limit to 85%, and we never let the battery drop below 25%. Also, we’ve never been the type to play games on our iPhones. Other than that, we use our phones normally, just like everyone else, except for gaming.
With this setup, our phones usually last almost two days on a single charge. As of now, her phone has 116 battery cycles, and mine has 68. Both are still at 100% battery health. By comparison, the iPhone 7/7 Plus never performed like this—I’m pretty sure the battery health started dropping below 100% within the first month or two. Of course, that may be because those older models didn’t allow you to set a charging limit.
All in all, since there are enough reports and scientific data showing that these practices can greatly extend battery lifespan, I stick to the following rules:
1. Set a charging limit to reduce the time the battery spends at 100% voltage.
2. Avoid letting the battery drain too low to prevent over-discharge.
3.I don’t use fast charging or high-wattage chargers.
4. If I notice charging is too fast and generating heat, I’ll remove the phone case while charging.
Doing these things doesn’t cause me any inconvenience, so I don’t find it troublesome at all.
Since iOS now has a charging limit feature, and because my friend kept telling me it would significantly affect battery lifespan, I enabled it from the very start. Both my wife and I set the limit to 85%, and we never let the battery drop below 25%. Also, we’ve never been the type to play games on our iPhones. Other than that, we use our phones normally, just like everyone else, except for gaming.
With this setup, our phones usually last almost two days on a single charge. As of now, her phone has 116 battery cycles, and mine has 68. Both are still at 100% battery health. By comparison, the iPhone 7/7 Plus never performed like this—I’m pretty sure the battery health started dropping below 100% within the first month or two. Of course, that may be because those older models didn’t allow you to set a charging limit.
All in all, since there are enough reports and scientific data showing that these practices can greatly extend battery lifespan, I stick to the following rules:
1. Set a charging limit to reduce the time the battery spends at 100% voltage.
2. Avoid letting the battery drain too low to prevent over-discharge.
3.I don’t use fast charging or high-wattage chargers.
4. If I notice charging is too fast and generating heat, I’ll remove the phone case while charging.
Doing these things doesn’t cause me any inconvenience, so I don’t find it troublesome at all.
True, although it might be easier to "see" energy use patterns by an AI? But... Apple could just as well offload this analysis to a nearby Apple device that you own (or family member) that has Apple Intelligence. Or to iCloud servers. I mean, battery usage analysis is something is done just once every 12-24 hours?
Since Apple has introduced the optimised charging option in previous iOS versions, I saw the charging adapt to my irregular working schedule. It does look into the calendar app and seems to figure out which one of the calendars is my working schedule. It sometimes even charged to just 80% before I went to work and still by the end of that day I had 10% left without recharge.
Overall it's nice to have a more detailed overview of power usage. Maybe some apps could get an energy efficiency label too? I just remember the most stupid apps draining the battery for no reason... yes... I'm looking at you Meta!!
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Looking at iOS 26's battery page, it is just too much information, too much information I don't need.
What is the point of telling me at the moment I am using more/less of a battery today? Ask me to stop using my phone? Or use more?
And that lengthy information page telling people how to charge an iPhone battery. That's ridiculous. Apple just needs to admit their battery will screw after 2/3 years of usage. Rather than telling people your battery health is 81%, therefore it is fine. They should just tell the customer the truth: you now need to pay for a battery replacement, otherwise you won't get the best performance.
What is the point of telling me at the moment I am using more/less of a battery today? Ask me to stop using my phone? Or use more?
And that lengthy information page telling people how to charge an iPhone battery. That's ridiculous. Apple just needs to admit their battery will screw after 2/3 years of usage. Rather than telling people your battery health is 81%, therefore it is fine. They should just tell the customer the truth: you now need to pay for a battery replacement, otherwise you won't get the best performance.
Then something is wrong with your iPhone.
Because on my iPhone 16 Pro, I easily get two days of use. With Music, Photos, Notifications and walks.
Even my iPhone SE from 2015, which I still use today, only needs 20% battery power per day without any third-party apps.
Do you have a social media app that checks for new messages every three seconds? Or are you using a "radiation protection case"? It's also possible that it's a poorly programmed app. Check the battery statistics.