iOS 26 battery life thread.

[goldmac2006]

Hey iPhone and iPad users! WWDC week is here! As we get our hands on iOS 26 and iPadOS 26, we’ve seen Adaptive Charging and some battery health highlights and trends in the Settings app (like the Health trends and highlights we all know since iOS 13) and now the rough breakdown of how long your iPhones will take to charge to 80% then to full/charge limit!

I heard we had some bad experiences with some builds of iOS 18 in last year’s thread, where our iPhones’ battery health was quickly depleting especially iOS 18.5. But now it’s time to hear about some stories about iOS 26 battery life and your strategies for battery preservation here on this thread.

To help us understand why it’s happening, I recommend you to note the iPhone or iPad model you’re using and the iOS version/build so that I can make recommendations or measures that you can help prolong the battery’s life.

 

[HouseLannister]

I heard we had some bad experiences with some builds of iOS 18 in last year’s thread, where our iPhones’ battery health was quickly depleting especially iOS 18.5. But now it’s time to hear about some stories about iOS 26 battery life and your strategies for battery preservation here on this thread.

Just to help avoid confusion about Life vs. Health:

Battery life is primarily about how much SoT (screen on time) you get, what apps are draining your battery unusually quickly, what little things impact your day the most (widgets and Safari extensions are often overlooked), how the battery performs on Wi-Fi vs LTE vs 5G, etc.

Battery health is about the lifespan of the battery (and that's how the two terms get confused). This is more about how many cycles you have on your phone and the condition of the big bag of chemicals inside your device. If you are seeing battery health going down while running a beta, the most common cause is likely heat from the beta's unoptimized code negatively impacting the longterm lifespan of the battery. This will not get better with an update, but it may cease progressing as the code improves and there are less runaway processes going amok on your phone.

Always reboot the phone if it is running warm. If the problem persists, power down and wait for the phone to cool off. Do not run your phone hot. If you can't get the device under control, roll back to 18.5 and wait

As you put more cycles on your phone, it is normal for battery health to go down. Depending on the model of your phone, you should be able to get between 500-1000 cycles before you are under 80% health remaining, which is when Apple recommends a replacement.

The weirdness is that sometimes battery health goes down very rapidly. One thing to keep in mind is that it is not a smooth decline and often has big drops. Another thing to keep in mind is that batteries recalibrate the information they display to the OS regularly and sometimes a new install will make the number move because a calibration was run. Nothing actually happened to your battery, it is just getting more accurate reporting to the OS. The beta didn't take 5% of your battery health, heat and usage did. Strangely, this also means that sometimes battery health even goes back up, because the reporting to the OS just got refreshed accuracy and it had been underestimating the health prior.

Optimized charging and limiting your charge may make the health go down slower. Batteries do not like being fully charged all the time and they do not like being fully discharged ever. Also, using slower adapters that sip power rather than flood it into the battery may help. And remember that MagSafe can leak power, generating excess heat, which is bad. But your mileage may vary. (For example, I solely use MagSafe, charge my phone to 100% without optimization, run betas, and have traded in my last 3 phones at 1-year with 100% health remaining.)

As always, I remind you that a battery is a consumable item and it is meant to be consumed and replaced. Don't worry too much. If your battery is not getting you through the day, you do not have to wait for a "free" AppleCare replacement. Go pay for a new battery. It's the best investment in your phone you can make.

 

[goldmac2006]

Just to help avoid confusion about Life vs. Health:

Battery life is primarily about how much SoT (screen on time) you get, what apps are draining your battery unusually quickly, what little things impact your day the most (widgets and Safari extensions are often overlooked), how the battery performs on Wi-Fi vs LTE vs 5G, etc.

Battery health is about the lifespan of the battery (and that's how the two terms get confused). This is more about how many cycles you have on your phone and the condition of the big bag of chemicals inside your device. If you are seeing battery health going down while running a beta, the most common cause is likely heat from the beta's unoptimized code negatively impacting the longterm lifespan of the battery. This will not get better with an update, but it may cease progressing as the code improves and there are less runaway processes going amok on your phone.

Always reboot the phone if it is running warm. If the problem persists, power down and wait for the phone to cool off. Do not run your phone hot. If you can't get the device under control, roll back to 18.5 and wait

As you put more cycles on your phone, it is normal for battery health to go down. Depending on the model of your phone, you should be able to get between 500-1000 cycles before you are under 80% health remaining, which is when Apple recommends a replacement.

The weirdness is that sometimes battery health goes down very rapidly. One thing to keep in mind is that it is not a smooth decline and often has big drops. Another thing to keep in mind is that batteries recalibrate the information they display to the OS regularly and sometimes a new install will make the number move because a calibration was run. Nothing actually happened to your battery, it is just getting more accurate reporting to the OS. The beta didn't take 5% of your battery health, heat and usage did. Strangely, this also means that sometimes battery health even goes back up, because the reporting to the OS just got refreshed accuracy and it had been underestimating the health prior.

Optimized charging and limiting your charge may make the health go down slower. Batteries do not like being fully charged all the time and they do not like being fully discharged ever. Also, using slower adapters that sip power rather than flood it into the battery may help. And remember that MagSafe can leak power, generating excess heat, which is bad. But your mileage may vary. (For example, I solely use MagSafe, charge my phone to 100% without optimization, run betas, and have traded in my last 3 phones at 1-year with 100% health remaining.)

As always, I remind you that a battery is a consumable item and it is meant to be consumed and replaced. Don't worry too much. If your battery is not getting you through the day, you do not have to wait for a "free" AppleCare replacement. Go pay for a new battery. It's the best investment in your phone you can make.

OK bro thanks for the info. It is all on usage when it comes to battery life and battery health is dependent on the condition of the iPhone.

another great explanation bro; I feel more understanding why a few 15 Pro users like me have this issue since 18.5 with the 5% drop in battery health. I am a MagSafe user too, but I do not typically upgrade every year. I upgrade my iPhones every 4-6 years, minimum 3 years. Only time I upgraded within a year was a hand me down iPhone XR that I had to a 15 Pro.

 

[C7 POWER]

So far more battery drain BUT typical of a beta 1, the second one usually improves more to normal

 

[goldmac2006]

So far more battery drain BUT typical of a beta 1, the second one usually improves more to normal

Same here. It should stabilise later on.

 

[Simon89]

 

[HouseLannister]

Day 1 was rough. 100% to 34% in 12 hours with about 4 hrs SoT using Adaptive Power mode. Not sure it actually did anything to help. Definitely had some battery anxiety all day.

Day 2: Running in Low Power mode from 100% at the start of day to see what “best” looks like. Animations are very laggy, but the phone doesn’t feel slow. Similar 4-ish hours SoT in the first 12 hours of the day and 73% still in the tank. Might leave it like this for a little while.

I Force My Old iPhone to Stay in Low Power Mode Permanently. Here's How I Do It

It's quick and easy to set up your iPhone to always be in low power mode.

www.cnet.com

 

[Dr McKay]

For me it’s noticeably reduced battery life on my phone on this beta, funnily though my Apple Watch battery life has actually improved, my watch was draining far faster on the last stable version.

 

[krspkbl]

Battery life on my 15 Pro Max is awful. I am at 97% overall health on my battery and I've had it since launch day. Using the phone for 2 seconds and it gets really hot. Charged to 84% this morning and has already drained to 56% in the last 4 hours and I've hardly used it. Also takes much longer to charge. took about an hour and a half to go from 18% to 53% lol. Had to plug it into my car to charge on the way to work.

 

[goldmac2006]

Day 1 was rough. 100% to 34% in 12 hours with about 4 hrs SoT using Adaptive Power mode. Not sure it actually did anything to help. Definitely had some battery anxiety all day.

Day 2: Running in Low Power mode from 100% at the start of day to see what “best” looks like. Animations are very laggy, but the phone doesn’t feel slow. Similar 4-ish hours SoT in the first 12 hours of the day and 73% still in the tank. Might leave it like this for a little while.

I Force My Old iPhone to Stay in Low Power Mode Permanently. Here's How I Do It

It's quick and easy to set up your iPhone to always be in low power mode.

www.cnet.com

Battery life on my 15 Pro Max is awful. I am at 97% overall health on my battery and I've had it since launch day. Using the phone for 2 seconds and it gets really hot. Charged to 84% this morning and has already drained to 56% in the last 4 hours and I've hardly used it. Also takes much longer to charge. took about an hour and a half to go from 18% to 53% lol. Had to plug it into my car to charge on the way to work.

My 15 pro got duked like that too. First two days y’all I never witnessed heat issues other than MagSafe for so long lol 😂.

Barely even 4 hours usage earlier this morning and doing a Time to Walk on Fitness + 40min and I’m down like this already. I would typically be at 60-70% this time not this low!

 

[goldmac2006]

For me it’s noticeably reduced battery life on my phone on this beta, funnily though my Apple Watch battery life has actually improved, my watch was draining far faster on the last stable version.

Don’t you have an iPhone 15 Pro like me, or what iPhone you have that you run the beta on? Battery health capacity?

 

[Delolia]

16 Pro Max. Far reduced compare to iOS 18.5. Also iPhone become very hot when you stay too long on the homescreen or in some specifics settings (wallaper, message background,..)

Tuesday was the worst but I suppose it's normal : 128% usage for 6h01 of active screen.
Today was 80% usage for 4h33 of active screen.

In the stats homescreen and lockscreen is 12% alone, more than my most used app (Safari)

 

[goldmac2006]

16 Pro Max. Far reduced compare to iOS 18.5. Also iPhone become very hot when you stay too long on the homescreen or in some specifics settings (wallaper, message background,..)

Tuesday was the worst but I suppose it's normal : 128% usage for 6h01 of active screen.
Today was 80% usage for 4h33 of active screen.

In the stats homescreen and lockscreen is 12% alone, more than my most used app (Safari)

I share your concerns about your experience with my iPhone 15 Pro running this beta. My iPhone suddenly overheats when I don’t use MagSafe. I don’t play games frequently, and this issue occurred on both the Home Screen and Lock Screen, even while watching YouTube.

Additionally, my 85 Degrees app stopped functioning in this beta. I hope that beta 2 will address these issues soon. While iOS 18.5 did slightly affect battery life, this beta has been even more detrimental. I had to charge my iPhone to the 90% limit during lunch due to the terrible battery life.

 

[Dr McKay]

Don’t you have an iPhone 15 Pro like me, or what iPhone you have that you run the beta on? Battery health capacity?

15 Pro, 94% battery health

 

[oMc]

My first full day with the beta was rough, but that’s pretty normal. Ended the day at 35% while usually my typical day ends around 60% (iPhone 15 Plus is a battery tank). But to be fair, I had to use cellular a lot at work because the WiFi was wonky, so that didn’t help either.

 

[goldmac2006]

15 Pro, 94% battery health

My first full day with the beta was rough, but that’s pretty normal. Ended the day at 35% while usually my typical day ends around 60% (iPhone 15 Plus is a battery tank). But to be fair, I had to use cellular a lot at work because the WiFi was wonky, so that didn’t help either.

Hey there! I’m in the same boat as you. My battery health is also at 95%, and I noticed a sudden drop from 100% to 95% in early May. That was probably due to the public release of iOS 18.5, and I still had decent battery life before that.

Just like the beta testers mentioned in last year’s threads about watchOS 11 and iOS 18, it’s completely normal for our batteries to drain faster than before. The background processes for Feedback assistant Sysdiagnoses and analytics add to the load, which affects the power draw.

By the way, if you’re new to these types of posts, I also shared in an earlier thread some insider info from my ex Apple employee friend. He worked on iPhone and Apple silicon for iOS devices (before the ARM Mac era) and knows the ins and outs of iPhones and iPads. He gave me some tips and insider information that can help us improve our iPhone battery life beyond Apple’s suggestions and resources:

- Don’t keep the auto lock too long more than 3 minutes. Never set it to never lock it at all, the display being on so long drains it a lot . Even if your iPhone is locked, the AOD doesn’t affect most of the power consumption. Especially if your iPhone is self-regulating by turning off the display completely when you put it in your pocket or if it’s in a shaded area.

- Check all your email accounts in Settings > Apps > Mail. Set all of them to get data from push instead of fetch. Fetch draws a lot of battery because it constantly checks for new emails in the background. Push only does it once in a while when your iPhone is on the internet.

Even so, if our iPhones still have good battery health despite their age, not all batteries are made equal. My friend found that since the iPhone 12 battery health was optimised better for usage time, but its maximum capacity drops significantly at some points more than the iPhones of the past.

The number of charge cycles matters more in terms of how the battery is developed and how it retains maximum capacity and power draw/consumption. It’s also related to the more in-house Apple modems like the C1 we’ve seen in the iPhone 16e and the newer silicon chips that have power efficiency in general.

 

[HouseLannister]

Installed the refreshed beta 1 yesterday. This morning I went from 100% to 90% in one hour on a 16PM… in low power mode. I was listening to a podcast via Bluetooth, so there may be some issues with the the Bluetooth stack. Not the first time.

 

[goldmac2006]

Installed the refreshed beta 1 yesterday. This morning I went from 100% to 90% in one hour on a 16PM… in low power mode. I was listening to a podcast via Bluetooth, so there may be some issues with the the Bluetooth stack. Not the first time.

Drainy day yesterday iPhone dropped all the way to 20% in less than 4 hours and before the graduation ceremony I installed the updated beta for the Apple Intelligence enabled iPhone models.

I had a MagSafe power bank on for the second half of the ceremony but my iPhone battery still dropped while using it b/c it was hot out in the field

 

[theerimatheia]

Do you think installing iOS Beta could accelerate battery degradation?

 

[HouseLannister]

Do you think installing iOS Beta could accelerate battery degradation?

Yes, but also No.

If you get less battery life on the beta, you will put more cycles in your phone.

And a beta can always have a bug that runs amok and generates extra heat. If you don’t reboot to stop the heat, the heat can damage the battery.

If you can’t manage the heat or don’t like the battery life you are getting, roll it back. The act of installing a beta itself does nothing to the battery and can be undone at any time.

If you can’t afford a new battery or don’t know how to rollback the install, maybe stay away from betas?

 

[goldmac2006]

Yes, but also No.

If you get less battery life on the beta, you will put more cycles in your phone.

And a beta can always have a bug that runs amok and generates extra heat. If you don’t reboot to stop the heat, the heat can damage the battery.

If you can’t manage the heat or don’t like the battery life you are getting, roll it back. The act of installing a beta itself does nothing to the battery and can be undone at any time.

If you can’t afford a new battery or don’t know how to rollback the install, maybe stay away from betas?

I mostly use betas to get features early, like Apple Intelligence.

After updating your iPhone, it’s a good idea to restart it and let it stabilize for at least 24-48 hours. This helps it adjust back to its normal usage time.

It’s totally normal to see your iPhone battery drain quickly at the start of the iOS beta cycle, especially when we get builds from the WWDC announcement days But later betas post-public release of the initial iOS version that comes out in September don’t show as much battery drain as they did before.

Things can change quickly and can be unpredictable.

 

[Reeneman]

Installed the refreshed beta 1 yesterday. This morning I went from 100% to 90% in one hour on a 16PM… in low power mode. I was listening to a podcast via Bluetooth, so there may be some issues with the the Bluetooth stack. Not the first time.

There is also a lot of background indexing. Furthermore apple AI downloaded again after installing the revised beta 1.
Bluetooth for sure is not the only reason here for your experience. Give it a bit of time and it will get better, but as always battery life in the first betas are most often pretty awful. Not anything new and you need to be aware of it when jumping in the beta so early.

 

[goldmac2006]

There is also a lot of background indexing. Furthermore apple AI downloaded again after installing the revised beta 1.
Bluetooth for sure is not the only reason here for your experience. Give it a bit of time and it will get better, but as always battery life in the first betas are most often pretty awful. Not anything new and you need to be aware of it when jumping in the beta so early.

It’s highly probable that the Apple Intelligence reinstallation after installing beta 1 is the primary reason for the battery drain. The file is so large that it consumes a significant amount of power from the battery, leading to rapid drainage in the initial days of this beta after downloading it.

 

[fisherking]

It’s highly probable that the Apple Intelligence reinstallation after installing beta 1 is the primary reason for the battery drain. The file is so large that it consumes a significant amount of power from the battery, leading to rapid drainage in the initial days of this beta after downloading it.

that wouldn't matter on phones that don't support apple intelligence (like my 13mini)... asmy battery life on beta 1 is terrible. but seems business-as-usual for an early os beta.

 

[goldmac2006]

that wouldn't matter on phones that don't support apple intelligence (like my 13mini)... asmy battery life on beta 1 is terrible. but seems business-as-usual for an early os beta.

Yea that above 👆🏻 response was intended for applicable users with iPhone 15 pro and later.