Helmsley
macrumors 6502a
5G is hit-and-miss in my area, so I have 4G enabled only. I do notice a slight battery hit if I leave 5G on, but that's probably because of the patchy coverage.
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iOS 26 battery life thread.
- Thread starter goldmac2006
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5G is hit-and-miss in my area, so I have 4G enabled only. I do notice a slight battery hit if I leave 5G on, but that's probably because of the patchy coverage.
The_Smarti
macrumors regular
I’ve always had poor battery life—even after a complete "from scratch" reinstall and across various iPhone models; I’ve just gotten used to getting between 4 and 6 hours of use on a full charge. I spent ages trying to track down the culprit—suspecting something like iCloud syncing—but never found it (I tried everything: disabling certain features, deleting specific iCloud data... I even suspected HomeKit at one point, though wiping that out is difficult, even just for testing purposes).
Continuous use doesn't seem to drain the battery much—if I leave YouTube running, the drop is minimal—but sporadic use throughout the day seems to have an impact. Is my iPhone doing something power-intensive every time it wakes up? It’s hard to investigate. If you have any ideas...
iPhone 16
iOS 26.6.1
Battery 450 cycles and 94M health
Continuous use doesn't seem to drain the battery much—if I leave YouTube running, the drop is minimal—but sporadic use throughout the day seems to have an impact. Is my iPhone doing something power-intensive every time it wakes up? It’s hard to investigate. If you have any ideas...
iPhone 16
iOS 26.6.1
Battery 450 cycles and 94M health
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James6s
macrumors 68030
What device are you using? Wifi & mobile data 4/5G usage have a significant impact on battery life, also depends on what apps are being used the most, camera etc.
iPhone Air on a normal days use.
All day WiFi with mobile data turned off, 7-8hrs of active screen time.
50/50 WiFi & 4/5G, around 6hrs of active screen time.
All day 4/5G usage, around 5hrs of active screen time, so at least 2-3hrs less than being on WiFi all day.
iPhone Air on a normal days use.
All day WiFi with mobile data turned off, 7-8hrs of active screen time.
50/50 WiFi & 4/5G, around 6hrs of active screen time.
All day 4/5G usage, around 5hrs of active screen time, so at least 2-3hrs less than being on WiFi all day.
The_Smarti
macrumors regular
Oh, I missed the information, I have edited the post:
iPhone 16
iOS 26.6.1
Battery 485 cycles and 94% health
For yesterday, I was on Wifi until 6 PM and after in 5G.
So:
90% at 7:30 AM
50% at 6:00 PM and 3h SOT
1% at 23:30 PM and 5h SOT
But I can use 20% battery in 1 hour in 5G with mix usage, it's a lot !
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FeliApple
macrumors 603
I recall you were on the XS threads IIRC back in the day!
Honestly if every iPhone you’ve had has had this battery life, it has to be something you are doing.
One iPhone can be explained by bad luck. All of them? Not really.
Your usage, your settings, a corrupted long-term backup, something.
If you’ve been struggling with 5h of SOT since 2018 with multiple iPhones, there’s something wrong with your configuration, your backup, or your usage is too heavy.
Reverend Benny
macrumors 68000
20% usage on 5G can be normal depending on what you are using. If its a case of that you have been using Instagram with reels, videos that autoplay and so on over 5G then 20% quite normal, especially if you were outside and the display have to compensate for sunlight and to on.
But, if its a case you just browsing the web and reading webpages and not doing anything else then I'd say something is wrong.
The_Smarti
macrumors regular
Sometimes I give up, and other times I pick up my investigation again...
Before 2019, I used to complain about my iPad's battery life in standby mode—I even created a new Apple account!
It can't be related to a backup, since I start from scratch every time.
I’ve already completely wiped:
-the photo library
-reminders
-notes
-...
I still find it hard to believe it’s just down to my usage—admittedly sometimes a bit frantic, opening several apps in the span of 10 minutes. Everyone says my power consumption is abnormal.
I suspect HomeKit and iCloud Keychain might be the culprits, though I’ve already disabled them without seeing much of a difference. Resetting them is more complicated, so I haven't dared to try that yet.
When I disable iCloud, the battery life seems to improve a bit.
Reverend Benny
macrumors 68000
Could be a number of improvements that could be done.
Do you have your storage maxed out so that the phone has to do a lot of maintenance and shuffle data?
Background app refresh turned off?
Maxed out brightness?
A lot of BT peripherals connected along with things on your home network that communicate with your iphone?
You using VPN services?
FeliApple
macrumors 603
If not backup then it is usage. If you set up as new with every iPhone throughout multiple iOS versions and you’ve optimised settings then your usage is too heavy to get more battery life.
There’s no alternative, IMO.
(All original iOS versions). I got 7-8 hours on a 6s; 11-12 on a 7+; 16 on an iPhone Xʀ; and 27 on my current 16 Plus.
There’s no way you keep getting 5 every time, your usage is the only possible culprit (imo).
You can’t compare your stats with 99% of users here. You have everything disabled and LPM enabled 100% of the time. It works for you and squeezes out the maximum possible battery out of any device. Most users have a lot of those settings on default or turned on and each one of them albeit insignificant per se can and will add up.
So throwing raw numbers isn’t helping others and will only make people think there’s something wrong with their device as they’re not aware of your specific config. And it’s not practical either for them to check which settings you have disabled or for you to list them out in every post.
FeliApple
macrumors 603
I agree completely. But under no circumstances can an iPhone XS (widely considered mediocre, with worse battery than a plus model and only marginally better than a regular 4.7-inch iPhone) have the same battery life than an iPhone 16.
If that is true and that pattern has been repeated throughout the OP’s post, something’s wrong.
I’m not asking for the 22 hours of SOT I’d probably get (on iOS 18). I’m saying that it should be better than a Xs with their own usage pattern.
The_Smarti
macrumors regular
Maybe I’m wrong, but I always had in mind "1 hour = 10%" and I am far from that today with my iPhone. This morning I left Instagram running for more 2h40 (50% brightness) and I lost 20% of my battery, this is pretty good. And since that test, I’ve lost 20% again, but with just 1 hour of screen time interspersed with moments of sleep. Basically, I am frustrated to see that prolonged use of an application consumes as much or less than split use. Is this really normal, or is there an energy-intensive process that I wake up each time by unplugging my iPhone, which would explain this feeling that the battery is gradually draining with brief uses.
What is surprising is that if I do not touch my phone for a long time, it does not lose its battery abnormally, which rules out a permanent problem.
I’m really annoyed by the fact that Apple removed the graph that shows when we used the iPhone to mirror it with the battery usage !
Here my usage today:
What is surprising is that if I do not touch my phone for a long time, it does not lose its battery abnormally, which rules out a permanent problem.
I’m really annoyed by the fact that Apple removed the graph that shows when we used the iPhone to mirror it with the battery usage !
Here my usage today:
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Reverend Benny
macrumors 68000
It looks like you have set a charge limit to 85% or 90% and are down to around 35-40% charge left when taking the pic. So roughly 4.5 screen on time on a 50% charge isn't that bad. Especially if you've been using CPU/GPU intensive apps such as Instagram. If this over 5G i'd say it isn't bad at all.
I suggested a few things to look at above.
Do you have your storage maxed out so that the phone has to do a lot of maintenance and shuffle data?
Background app refresh turned off?
Maxed out brightness? (You answered this one, 50%)
A lot of BT peripherals connected along with things on your home network that communicate with your iphone?
You using VPN services?
The_Smarti
macrumors regular
I was on WiFi all the day.
Only my Apple Watch on Bluetooth, and 2 AirTags (I have already tried to disable Bluetooth, it does not change anything)
No VPN.
My storage is good because I don’t store my pictures on my phone but on my NAS. So less than 50% is used.
We can see that I lose just as much in the morning with continuous use as I do in the afternoon with brief, intermittent use (on,y with instagram, safari and WhatsApp…).
Here is my battery today with very small use (5G between 15h00 and by 18h00)
You can see that in the morning with no use > no anormal battery drain. But in the afternoon, with small use > excessive battery consumption.
Even if I was outside and in 5G a part of the afternoon, I don’t consider this consumption as normal.
Another example from today….
Only my Apple Watch on Bluetooth, and 2 AirTags (I have already tried to disable Bluetooth, it does not change anything)
No VPN.
My storage is good because I don’t store my pictures on my phone but on my NAS. So less than 50% is used.
We can see that I lose just as much in the morning with continuous use as I do in the afternoon with brief, intermittent use (on,y with instagram, safari and WhatsApp…).
Here is my battery today with very small use (5G between 15h00 and by 18h00)
You can see that in the morning with no use > no anormal battery drain. But in the afternoon, with small use > excessive battery consumption.
Even if I was outside and in 5G a part of the afternoon, I don’t consider this consumption as normal.
Another example from today….
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