Wow 🤯 you keep it at 100 💯 all the time? No wonder I usually charge my iPhone when it hits below 45%-30%.
Do you do this to minimise charge cycles?
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iOS 26 battery life thread.
- Thread starter goldmac2006
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Do you do this to minimise charge cycles?
The 16 plus consumes more juice on the same use pattern and runs a bit hotter than usual, the price of first adopters of beta 1. Fingers crossed for the early stage life saver beta 2.
All eyes are on the second beta. My Apple-loving friend has experienced the same issue on his iPad Pro M4, running iPadOS 26 beta 1.
Of all first betas , battery drain is extremely uncomfortable, uncontrollable, and unpredictable, regardless of the age of our iPhones and iPads, the frequency of battery replacements, or the measures and safeguards we’ve taken to maintain battery health.
Functionally beta1 has been very solid on my 16pm. Apps work, performance is good
I’m seeing good low battery drain whilst idle/overnight. However when using.. for example browsing social media on a train trip currently, the phone gets far too warm and battery drops off rapidly.
20 mins podcasts (Bluetooth, screen off) then 25 mins pixelfed/bluesky etc has caused battery to drop from 90 to 78 which is crazy bad
Phone is hot… to the point where I will stop to avoid overheating. Ambient temp in the train is around 21C
With a holiday coming up in a week it will be a case of seeing how beta 2 is but probably back off
I do have the adaptive power option set so will turn that off in case it’s buggy. It does seem as if cpu power management may be the issue here
I’m seeing good low battery drain whilst idle/overnight. However when using.. for example browsing social media on a train trip currently, the phone gets far too warm and battery drops off rapidly.
20 mins podcasts (Bluetooth, screen off) then 25 mins pixelfed/bluesky etc has caused battery to drop from 90 to 78 which is crazy bad
Phone is hot… to the point where I will stop to avoid overheating. Ambient temp in the train is around 21C
With a holiday coming up in a week it will be a case of seeing how beta 2 is but probably back off
I do have the adaptive power option set so will turn that off in case it’s buggy. It does seem as if cpu power management may be the issue here
Got a massive battery drain with iOS 26. iPhone 15 pro here. So have gone back to the previous version for now. But!
I did like what I experienced. I had no complaints at all really.. other than it felt slightly sluggish to iOS 18 which is to be expected, and the battery drain issue.
I did like what I experienced. I had no complaints at all really.. other than it felt slightly sluggish to iOS 18 which is to be expected, and the battery drain issue.
One question regarding your iPhone 15 Pro. Either on iOS 18 or 26 have you noticed, by any chance, that your current device gets hotter than previous iPhone models?
I’m interested in getting one some day, but I’m not sure wether it gets too hot or has battery issues (due to this higher temperatures).
Good morning everyone! 🌅
I wanted to share some thoughts about the battery life and heat issues we’ve been experiencing with the beta versions of our iPhones. It’s true that many of our 15 pro beta testers are seeing more battery drain and heat than our 16 pro and iPhone 16 beta testers.
I noticed that most of us who own the same iPhone as me and the iPhone 15PM beta testers have been experiencing heat issues quite often when we don’t use MagSafe. I’ve even seen my iPhone drop to 20% more often than usual, and I always carry a MagSafe power bank with me when I go out for a long time.
It’s definitely uncomfortable when our iPhones experience this kind of heat with beta iOS versions, especially in the initial builds.
But what about older iPhone models (before the iPhone 13)?
iPhone 11 to 12 users- How does it feel like on your iPhone if you’re using this beta version? Is the heat even worse, especially when the processor is throttled? I’ll also try to find out if there’s any underlying reason why the processors are playing a role in this situation.
Cellular networks can indeed accelerate battery drain and demand significantly more power, which generates more heat. You’re right; power management from the CPU and the A18 chip plays a crucial role alongside the modem itself. I’ll bring this up to my friend, an ex-Apple employee and Marines vet who can provide insider insights.
If I plan to use my iPhone frequently, I might try adaptive power management, but it could slow down the device, so I’ll probably skip it.
15PM iOS 26.0 (23A5260u) excellent battery life + no heat problem.
Even when using cellular data, you don’t experience any heat issues, right?
I’ve encountered the heat problem frequently when using MagSafe, but it’s the only time my iPhone 15 Pro gets a hot flash. Occasionally, it happens without MagSafe on this build, but it only occurs when using cellular data.
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iPhone 15 Pro here and experiencing a frequently hot phone and rapid battery drain. The screen of my phone becomes hot to touch while using. I’m going to Japan in 4 weeks where the temperature will be very high, so not sure if I should drop off the beta.
Similar dilemma here (though Scandanavia). But on 16 pm. Probably should, though I'll see what this week brings, though I don't think my heating is as extreme (Unless you are sat in the sun).
I had the new 'adaptive' battery setting enabled. A have a slight feeling that possibly that made things worse (the opposite of intended effect). I also tried reducing animation (assistive settings) but I don't think that's a factor. Need to experiment more with low power mode.
Just 'using' the device screen-on (web browser, social media -- nothing heavy/too much video) seemed to be causing more heating, whilst idle usage was ok
Okay, time to revert back to iOS 18.5 for now. Will jump back into iOS26 further into the Beta phase. While battery drain is to be expected, my phone is still heating up a week after installing and draining the battery so quickly I am having to carry a charger around with me. It's been worse than previous betas for me and it will become a big problem if it happens when travelling. Its also battered my battery health from 93% to 90%.
Yep - not having many software issues and the new UI has kinda of grown on me, but considering downgrading due to the battery/heat.
Will probably just hold out for B2 and hope it fixes this. As others have said, price for running betas.
Will probably just hold out for B2 and hope it fixes this. As others have said, price for running betas.
Agree, aside from battery and heat everything else has been pretty good. Only other thing that was a bit rough was the wallpaper creation screen where you add the widgets, etc. That would be quite choppy and again the phone would heat up quite a bit. All standard beta stuff though, looking forward to the finished result.
I concur with others here - iPhone 16 Pro Max - Significant increase in battery drain and heat. Appears to especially increase when utilizing any camera functions in the Camera App or Third Party Apps with camera access.
I don't understand how anyone can run the beta version during summer. Even on the stable 18.5 release, my phone overheats in warm weather, causing the screen to dim and the CPU to down clock / throttle to manage the temperature.
Running betas as well as the logging software for devs that are going on in the background will kill my battery. But my hats are always off for the brave!
Running betas as well as the logging software for devs that are going on in the background will kill my battery. But my hats are always off for the brave!
No real reason, really. I guess I just want a full charge if I end up being unable to charge while I'm out or something.
Does the battery drain and choppiness (I assume due to the heat) get better after a few days? Not sure how much truth is in spotlight indexing causing most of it until it’s done.
Usually fine by the next morning. I recommend a reboot the day after an install and full charge.
Dang I feel the same way. That would normally not take so much effort for the iPhone if it wasn’t a beta.
Ngl, the Dynamic Island cuts into the buttons where y’all set the wallpapers and widgets. And the photo gallery takes long to pull up when y’all set a photo to the wallpaper. Anyone noticed that?
Got it, I used to set a 95% charge limit b/c I keep my iPhone off the charger when school was still in session, but since a little before summer break I held it back since I tend to keep my iPhone on the charger a lot on the dock as I’m home more often
Light day for phone use, but got 70% still in the tank with 13 hours off charger and 3 hrs of SoT on a 16PM. Db2. That’s perfectly respectable.
Optimistic to hear that! Once my iPhone stabilizes over the next 24-48 hours lets see if I can get more time off the charger w/o dropping to 20% a lot...
So far did not have to throw a MagSafe power bank, haha!
