iOS 26’s redesign of the battery section of settings utterly useless?

[FeliApple]

In my opinion, the relevant battery statistic is one and one only: screen-on time since last full charge. That’s what most care about.


Okay, so, Settings’ battery section has seen two significant changes: iOS 12, when it changed “usage time since last full charge” to “screen-on time in last 24 hours”.

The issue before iOS 12 was that usage time included everything: screen-on time, screen-off time like music, and system activations on standby. That meant that the usage time that appeared was oftentimes inflated: a heavy music listener could have, on an iPhone 6s, 8 hours of “usage time” with 50% remaining, and getting 8 hours of SOT on an iPhone 6s is impossible.

iOS 12 fixed that, adding screen-on time. But it has one large flaw: to obtain the relevant number, you have to add the individual bars after unplugging, because the “screen-on” number shows the last 24 hours’ SOT. Which brings about an issue: if your cycle lasts more than 24 hours, you have to manually track the SOT before it disappears.

iOS 26 obliterates everything. This is iOS 12 on my iPhone Xʀ:

Obtaining SOT is very easy: unplug time: 16:00. Add individual bars from 16:00 to the point when the screenshot was taken. You can estimate remaining battery from the upper segment (because iOS 12 doesn’t have a battery percentage). The result is 2h 45 minutes of Screen-on time from 100% to the current 91% remaining. Note that SOT of the current cycle is NOT the 3h 34 min that appears below, as that includes SOT from the previous cycle.


iOS 26 destroys everything. These are MacRumors’ screenshots:

As you can clearly see, now the upper section of the screen shows battery consumption since 00:00. The bottom segment of the screen shows... battery level (so, remaining battery percentage, NOT screen-on time) per hour. The SOT number is now presumably the SOT accumulated over the present day since 00:00.

But there is NO indication of partial screen-on time. The only SOT indicator is the full 00:00-current time, so we can no longer determine screen-on time since last full charge. Before we had to add it manually, but now we can’t even do that.

A hypothetical: I plug my phone in after using it until 2am. I unplug it at 7 am. I plug it back in at 8 pm after using it. The SOT number 00:00-23:59 would show SOT from THREE different cycles: the end of the first cycle (00:00-02:00), the whole-day cycle (07:00-20:00), and the usage that I add while charging (20:00-23:59), with NO possibility to ascertain SOT per cycle.

How is this change useful? It destroys battery statistics for no reason!

 

[HouseLannister]

In my opinion, the relevant battery statistic is one and one only: screen-on time since last full charge. That’s what most care about.

Most just care that their phone lasts through the day.

Outside of these beta forums, most never even look at this screen.

 

[Ic3Ang3l]

Outside of these beta forums, most never even look at this screen.

Do you ever looked at reddit? SOT and Battery are one of the most discussed topics when it comes to the Iphone lol

 

[HouseLannister]

Do you ever looked at reddit? SOT and Battery are one of the most discussed topics when it comes to the Iphone lol

I do my best not to participate in that AI Slop-producing machine. But I don’t think redditors are average users either. Stand by my original statement. If the phone lasts all day, good enough for 98% of people.

 

[FeliApple]

Most just care that their phone lasts through the day.

Outside of these beta forums, most never even look at this screen.

I get that, but it isn’t the point of the thread.

This is change for the sake of change and the only result is completely negative. This is MacRumors, where people discuss whether the True Tone tab in settings is in display and brightness or in accessibility.

We can trivialise everything, and again, it wasn’t the point.

 

[nickdalzell1]

Most just care that their phone lasts through the day.

Outside of these beta forums, most never even look at this screen.

I have never even cared for the 'battery health' "feature" because it means nothing in the long run. People with 6s's with 65% "health" still get a full day of use. It's just there to scare folks into buying a new iPhone or a new battery they never needed. It was better when it wasn't even there and people didn't know.

 

[SoYoung]

I have never even cared for the 'battery health' "feature" because it means nothing in the long run. People with 6s's with 65% "health" still get a full day of use. It's just there to scare folks into buying a new iPhone or a new battery they never needed. It was better when it wasn't even there and people didn't know.

Battery under 80% can really make your device unusable. It happened 2 times where I had like ~70% battery health and both time the battery indicator was completely messed up and my phone could turn off at any time below 50% and after that it was constantly shutting down after a short time if I didn't plug it again. It definitively didn't last a day with that condition so it's hard to believe a phone with 65% battery health is functional for a day without any charge.

 

[nickdalzell1]

My boss's iPhone XS Max is at 78% and goes a full day, and my stepdad's SE is at 68% and works fine. The 'battery health' is there to make users panic. Apple should never had added it. Boss's XS Max is spending most of its time in the hot sun playing music through a JBL Bluetooth speaker.

I've also seen the rating go UP on a Mac. It seemed dependent on how hot it ran at the time (Intel 2019 MBP). We seemed to be doing just fine prior to this gimmick being added.

 

[FeliApple]

My boss's iPhone XS Max is at 78% and goes a full day, and my stepdad's SE is at 68% and works fine. The 'battery health' is there to make users panic. Apple should never had added it. Boss's XS Max is spending most of its time in the hot sun playing music through a JBL Bluetooth speaker.

I've also seen the rating go UP on a Mac. It seemed dependent on how hot it ran at the time (Intel 2019 MBP). We seemed to be doing just fine prior to this gimmick being added.

I’m not talking about battery health here.

iOS 26 makes it impossible to determine battery life, screen-on time since last full charge.

This has been possible since iOS 5. With its drawbacks and imperfections, but it’s been possible.

This change breaks that. Again, I’m not talking about battery health here.

 

[HouseLannister]

I'd rather have the 10-day average back than the 24 hr SoT. Much more useful to look at trends and creates less anxiety.

 

[FeliApple]

I'd rather have the 10-day average back than the 24 hr SoT. Much more useful to look at trends and creates less anxiety.

But the 10-day average is useless because usage is variable.

Today, my day is a low-brightness, full Wi-Fi day with light use.

Tomorrow, my day is a GPS-navigating, 5G, high-brightness and signal-variable day with 60% the battery life.

The following day, it’s a regular outdoor use, with higher brightness but not too high, and light apps.

All wildly different usage patterns with wildly different consumption rates.

Any average pulled from here is completely useless. That’s why I need SOT since last full charge.

 

[HouseLannister]

That’s why I need SOT since last full charge.

I don't get it. For what purpose? Do you change your usage habits mid-day because your SoT lower than normal? Do you engage Low Power mode early when you see you are less than optimal? How are you reacting to the data you were previously getting?

 

[TgeekB]

For me I don't care at all. My phone lasts through a full day. No further information necessary.

 

[FeliApple]

I don't get it. For what purpose? Do you change your usage habits mid-day because your SoT lower than normal? Do you engage Low Power mode early when you see you are less than optimal? How are you reacting to the data you were previously getting?

There’s no purpose. There’s just information.

But my counter-argument is…

I understand if you don’t care. But the information was there!!!!!! It’s not that I’m asking Apple to develop something to cater to my need for information. You might not care, I do, and I’m not asking you to. I’m not asking Apple to care. All Apple had to do was to leave it untouched.


You change things for a reason. Why did Apple change this? What is this change accomplishing? It’s removing information for no reason at all. In fact, it feels like they’re changing it just to change something, because the goal of the battery page is now broken: the iOS 26 settings-battery page provides no information. The screen-on time number is now useless.

Apple could remove the screen time panel, because all it does it give information that is useless.

It’s a ridiculous discussion. I don’t intend to discuss whether you care or not about this battery section. You can just not care at all. And it’s fine. But why did Apple change this?

 

[HouseLannister]

Sorry. Not trying to anger you. Just trying to understand. It's a valid rant, but I think it applies to a very small group of users. But I do agree that if the metrics are there, there should be a way to access them. My assumption is that Apple was just trying to simplify/dumb-down the information here so they don't get as many support requests for batteries that are perfectly fine. Hopefully you put in a feedback and they re-evaluate if they should resurface that info in a future release.

 

[FeliApple]

Sorry. Not trying to anger you. Just trying to understand. It's a valid rant, but I think it applies to a very small group of users. But I do agree that if the metrics are there, there should be a way to access them. My assumption is that Apple was just trying to simplify/dumb-down the information here so they don't get as many support requests for batteries that are perfectly fine. Hopefully you put in a feedback and they re-evaluate if they should resurface that info in a future release.

It’s interesting because the part that makes people obsessed is battery health (especially after they added cycles). It’s just another piece of information. Apple removing that is a relatively popular request because of the sheer amount of threads that are posted about it everywhere, but all that would accomplish is just to be another inconvenience for me: I like these stats, and I’d just plug my devices into Coconut like I’ve been doing since my first iPhone to get them anyway.

I’m not angry, I was just saying that it’s okay if many people don’t care, but my issue was that this change isn’t accomplishing anything. It’s removing (for some people, interesting) information for no reason at all.

I reckon they’d be receiving a LOT more tickets over the ratio between cycles and battery health rather than this.

And it’s funny that they’re not even removing the section in settings, they tweaked it in a way that makes it useless.

 

[ignatius345]

I’m not talking about battery health here.

iOS 26 makes it impossible to determine battery life, screen-on time since last full charge.

This has been possible since iOS 5. With its drawbacks and imperfections, but it’s been possible.

This change breaks that. Again, I’m not talking about battery health here.

Nobody here has any power to change anything.

Your time would be better spent opening the Feedback app on the iOS Beta and submitting your commentary there. If they get enough similar feedback maybe it will be changed.

 

[JanetTheGreat]

It is always good to have more information about the battery. I check it now and then but its not some major deal to me or anything. IOS 26 adds a lot more information than the previous IOS versions and its quite helpful. I have Optimized and Clean energy charging off, since I consider those two features utterly useless.

 

[FeliApple]

It is always good to have more information about the battery. I check it now and then but its not some major deal to me or anything. IOS 26 adds a lot more information than the previous IOS versions and its quite helpful. I have Optimized and Clean energy charging off, since I consider those two features utterly useless.

What information is iOS 26 adding?

 

[JanetTheGreat]

What information is iOS 26 adding?

Charge time, etc, last I remember - the previous versions didn't have that.

 

[FeliApple]

Charge time, etc, last I remember - the previous versions didn't have that.

Ah yes, they did add charge time.

 

[fgengineer]

I have never even cared for the 'battery health' "feature" because it means nothing in the long run. People with 6s's with 65% "health" still get a full day of use. It's just there to scare folks into buying a new iPhone or a new battery they never needed. It was better when it wasn't even there and people didn't know.

Having additional data is usually good. You might not use it, but other people might.

I use it sparingly to track how long my phone lasts on a charge. For me, iPhones have lasted longer than a day for a while and I only charge every few days. I actually want an IPhone that lasts a week now. You might be happy with a days worth of charge, but I like not having to charge every night like I used to.

Before it was there, I would manually track this so this is simpler and more accurate.

 

[TgeekB]

It is always good to have more information about the battery. I check it now and then but its not some major deal to me or anything. IOS 26 adds a lot more information than the previous IOS versions and its quite helpful. I have Optimized and Clean energy charging off, since I consider those two features utterly useless.

I think that the information on our devices can often become clutter: see Android. Throw as much useless information on a phone as you can so a few people can rave about it and say “we had it first”. If it’s not useful for most owners, why not have a cleaner look? None of us will 100% agree about every spec of information but, overall, I prefer keeping it to the most useful and necessary. JMHO.

 

[FeliApple]

I think that the information on our devices can often become clutter: see Android. Throw as much useless information on a phone as you can so a few people can rave about it and say “we had it first”. If it’s not useful for most owners, why not have a cleaner look? None of us will 100% agree about every spec of information but, overall, I prefer keeping it to the most useful and necessary. JMHO.

What cleaner look? It’s the same look. The only difference is that the bottom part of the graph shows remaining battery percentage instead of screen-on time. And that, also in an absolutely useless way, the graph starts at 00:00 rather than encompassing the last 24 hours.

I’m seeing a lot of focus on how “everyone obsesses about the battery” but this change makes no sense at all.

 

[drak22]

It's understandable that the information may or may not seem useful, but the new display method is so inefficient that it leads to displaying data as realistic as "I used 105% of my energy today," haha.
Aside from going against Apple's own tutorials for detecting battery drain, they themselves recommend tapping on the hourly bars where we've detected the drain to see if any app is responsible. This is impossible today, and I think they'll end up adding some more features to filter information, because the current one seems more designed to inflate screen time than to show actual device usage statistics. You know, to say that the iPhone gives you 20 hours of screen time with less battery than any Android. And I can almost say they'll do it for sure, because otherwise they risk any user who detects an unexpected drain contacting Apple support because they have no effective way of seeing what's happening on their phone themselves. And believe me, this is more common than many people think, so they run the risk of overwhelming support with trivial problems that the user themselves could solve with a little information.