Morac
macrumors 68030
Not impressed so far as battery dropped 25% in an hour this morning, but 26.6 appears to be re-indexing everything for Spotlight so I’ll give it a few days.
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iOS 26 battery life thread.
- Thread starter goldmac2006
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FeliApple
macrumors 603
Wow. That is appalling. On a Pro Max? Any iPhone I’ve used since the 7+ would be at 100% after 55 minutes of SOT, not even full camera use with cellular and outdoor brightness would be that awful.
I’ll ask anyway: how are you using it? For what? Brightness? Cellular? (I see that Wi-Fi is connected).
Wow. 24% in 55 minutes is the worst battery life for a good battery iPhone (iPhone Xʀ onwards, including Plus models since the 6) I have ever seen, and it’s not even close.
Alpha Centauri
macrumors 68000
I've in preparation for iOS 27 only recently installed iOS 26 on my 13 Mini. I was hoping that 26.6 would improve the battery drain..it didn't. I can literally watch the charge rate drop akin to a timer, sometimes in 2% increments.
My battery health ist't great (78%) but it held charge with same use case much better on iOS 18. I'll be replacing the battery once on iOS 27.
Has anyone found that things markedly improved after a factory reset and then reinstall from backup? As it is, I do all my software updates via Finder on the MBP and backups this way also. IF I do go that route of the factory reset, how can one verify that such backups have all my data?
My battery health ist't great (78%) but it held charge with same use case much better on iOS 18. I'll be replacing the battery once on iOS 27.
Has anyone found that things markedly improved after a factory reset and then reinstall from backup? As it is, I do all my software updates via Finder on the MBP and backups this way also. IF I do go that route of the factory reset, how can one verify that such backups have all my data?
James6s
macrumors 68020
Your battery is dropping faster than my Air with its measly 3149mAh cell lol what device? I updated to 26.6 RC last week (same build as the public release)
I’d give it a few days to settle down, increased battery drain is to be expected in the days following a new software release.
Battery is still kinda meh for me on 26.6 after a week using it on my 17 Pro.
1h SOT = 20% battery used
1h SOT = 20% battery used
FeliApple
macrumors 603
Wow, I just saw your screenshots of the earlier 26 versions.
That’s why I’m also scared of point updates. Still, the difference looks too large. You went from 11-12 hours on 26.2/26.3 to… whatever the hell this is.
Frankly the difference makes it look like you updated to iOS 32, it’s unbelievable.
Was your usage now similar to those earlier screenshots you posted in terms of cellular, brightness, and apps used?
James6s
macrumors 68020
So 1hr of screen active time and 5hrs screen idle. Looks like you charge overnight? So you can’t see how much drains whilst your asleep and the phone idle.
Have you been active and connecting to different mobile data masts?
Yes, my usage and apps are mostly similar, sometimes it's more Safari, sometimes messages, sometimes instagram, but not a huge difference. Brightness is 90% of time below 50%. It only goes up when I'm in the car and it's sunny but I use CarPlay so I barely use my phone in my car. Also I use CarPlay 20-25 minutes a day as I have quite a short distance to my office.
Yes, I do charge my phone overnight. The screen idle usage is quite interesting to me as it's mostly Sleep Cycle app running in the background when I sleep and when my phone is connected to the charger so it's not using any battery. And sometimes it even shows screen idle as idk 50 minutes let's say and sometimes like above 5h or more, depends how long I sleep.
The phone is connecting to different masts only when I drive to work, it's a short distance, 20-25 minutes a day.
I know its only Day 1, but I am cautiously optimistic that 26.6 fixed my issues. We're mid-afternoon and on light to moderate use, and my battery is still at 84%. By this point in 26.5.2, I'd be hovering around 50-60% with an adaptive battery notification. 26.6 also seems to have resolved the lag and stutter I was having around the UI. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Morac
macrumors 68030
I was on cellular for about 30 minutes in the morning while commuting. I was on WiFi the rest of the day, but am back on 5G again. I lost about 25% battery with about 30 more minutes of use.
My battery is at 84% health with 699 cycles. I used to get great battery but one of the 26.x updates basically killed it.
FeliApple
macrumors 603
Wow. I have… no words. This is probably the worst battery life I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been looking at battery life threads and testing my own battery life since like iOS 4.
I got better numbers than this on an updated iPhone 6s with 84% health.
I can’t even explain that. 1.5 hours of SOT to 50% on a Pro Max. Just when I thought I had seen everything.
I can’t even suggest anything worth trying if it was due to an update. Honestly I’d just recommend you to keep updating, even to 27 if necessary.
What are those updates gonna do? Destroy your battery life? It’s already dead.
Unbelievable. I’m truly hoping that some version of 26, or worse case scenario, 27, improves this for you.
How about maybe a restore and set up as new? Too cumbersome? It’s possibly worth trying at this point. I’d consider that battery life simply unusable.
I also imagine that this isn’t gaming with full brightness, right?
I7guy
macrumors Westmere
Wow. My battery life in my 15PM is pretty stellar. Standby is also excellent. Obviously can’t guess at the cause. But I do notice the battery gets warm when in cellular, watching YouTube videos in bright sunlight.
jonhoy
macrumors regular
Only day 1 with 26.6 but I was very surprised at how good my battery was today. Sunday was a true outlier and my phone was basically charging all day. But the steady drain today has already been noticeably better than in recent weeks and months. 17 Pro btw, 98% bat health
FeliApple
macrumors 603
2 hours of SOT with 45% used is good?
Unless you’re the heaviest user ever, that’s appalling battery life.
Standards can be different though, I’ll give you that.
James6s
macrumors 68020
That’s currently worse battery usage than my Air, I’d give a few days whilst it finishes indexing etc after the install, then check your battery life.
Battery drain was a bit erratic at least during the first 2-3 days for me.
chubbycable
macrumors newbie
One thing I've noticed after major iOS updates is that Spotlight indexing and Photos analysis can keep the phone busy for a day or two. I usually wait a couple of days before judging battery life.
Reverend Benny
macrumors 68000
It's to early to tell but the initial impression is that my device are a bit more energy efficient on 26.6 than 26.5.2.
But I normally only charge to 90% and forced a 100% charge after the update so I can't really compare to what I am used to. Have also used the phone a bit less.
58% left after a days usage (16P). Will be interesting to see if it stays this way after a week and couple of charges along with using the mobile without WiFi, but so far it looks good.
But I normally only charge to 90% and forced a 100% charge after the update so I can't really compare to what I am used to. Have also used the phone a bit less.
58% left after a days usage (16P). Will be interesting to see if it stays this way after a week and couple of charges along with using the mobile without WiFi, but so far it looks good.
Alpha Centauri
macrumors 68000
I notice no change between 26.6 and the previous iteration. I’m comparing to iOS 18 and in this regard it’s streaming, FB reels for example are killing the battery, dropping 2% battery at a time.
But also 5G is making the phone quite warm, even on phone calls. I’ve no metrics really as I plug into CarPlay in between nightly charging at home.
All I see is the battery percentage dropping like a timer.
But also 5G is making the phone quite warm, even on phone calls. I’ve no metrics really as I plug into CarPlay in between nightly charging at home.
All I see is the battery percentage dropping like a timer.
Morac
macrumors 68030
I have brightness set to auto. I do sometimes game on the commute, but nothing with 3D graphics or the like. As I’ve mentioned previously if I don’t use my phone the battery drains pretty slowly, but the moment I pick it up it drops pretty quickly. Safari especially drains the battery a lot. I’m lucky if I can get 3 hours of active time. I ran the support battery check and it said it’s “good” at 84%. I’ll probably get the 18 PM when it comes out. I feel that the 15 PM wasn’t designed for local AI even though it supports it.
Here’s last Wednesday on 26.5.2.
I found a post from back when I was on 26.2 and it was better back then.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ios-26-battery-life-thread.2458618/post-34366893
Last edited:
FeliApple
macrumors 603
Safari? Yeah, there’s something really, really wrong. Either with your iPhone or with 26 or with 26.5.2.
Safari, for me, has always been one of the most power-efficient apps, since I started using iOS back in iOS 4.
Safari killing your iPhone in 2.5 hours (not even with full brightness should it be that awful) is very uncommon, and I’ve never experienced something like that on any original-version device.
The 15 Pro Max is too new to have those numbers, imo. Like I said, something is very off.
And that battery life probably directs affects your usability, it would affect mine, were I to get 3 hours of SOT out of a full charge with Safari as the main battery drain.
Here is a screenshot of Safari as the main app used on my 16 Plus on iOS 18.
About 4 hours of SOT with 85% remaining.
Like I said, something is really wrong with your device.
James6s
macrumors 68020
Do you always have low power mode enabled @FeliApple? You really do restrict your device to try and get the most out of the battery!
FeliApple
macrumors 603
Most functions that Low Power Mode disables are already disabled, and I don’t have a device with 120 Hz. Were I to have one, I wouldn’t enable it.
To be honest, I do it out of habit. Occasional regular mode tests have shown no battery life difference with LPM disabled and my regular suite of settings optimisation.
James6s
macrumors 68020
Ok, yeah you won’t notice the drop In performance and smoothness as your device doesn’t have a 120hz display.
It really is noticeable once you enable low power mode on a 120hz device.