I hadn’t noticed that, and that is even more nonsensical.
Nobody cares about that. I am 100% sure: those in charge of that setting have no clue.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
New anti consumer design? - Battery Usage
- Thread starter Parowdy
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Nobody cares about that. I am 100% sure: those in charge of that setting have no clue.
As a parent I care about usage trends. However I’m sure Apple will be tweaking this design over time.
Have you tried disabling and tweaking 'new features' in the UI that may cause this? Dynamic wallpapers, flashy animations, etc.
Double checked each app's background settings? Tested with wifi/bluetooth/cellular on and off?
I could see where some of the 'pretty' UI elements changes could cost CPU time, among other things. I think to do an comparison you need a little bit stricter/well defined testing methodology to understand the cause.
During testing, I didn't change the brightness or use the interface. I watched YouTube, Twitch, and VK videos. In other words, the new interface animations were barely used. I didn't change any background settings; everything was exactly the same as on iOS 18. However, iOS 26 actually consumes more battery power under the same usage scenario. I reverted back to iOS 18 twice, and the battery drain immediately stopped, even with the same phone settings and usage scenario.
iOS 18.7 currently gives me 17 hours of screen-on time, with a battery drain of 125%. (This is on home Wi-Fi, watching all sorts of videos, and messaging on social media.) iOS 26 would give me 5 hours max. And that's simply outrageous.
Not to mention that the push notification sound disappears on iOS 26. After a reboot, the notification/screen lock sounds work for about 10 minutes and then disappear again. Switching the silent mode button doesn't affect the sounds. This is a firmware issue. However, the notifications themselves appear on the screen, but silently. Switching between 2G and 4G networks takes noticeably longer than on iOS 18.
I feel like the "View all usage" view should be the main view. The current main view abstracts away too much information, rendering it not very useful.
Almost feels "by design" to not highlight precisely how amazing! the new battery life is.
But why would they check settings they didn’t touch in probably years? The point stands that battery life is worse after updating and haven given it enough time to index.
A drop of more than half the usual usage time is considerable enough that they don’t need to look at things they didn’t tinker with.
Flashy animations can’t be disabled anyhow.
I would -expect- settings to stay the same but this does happen. Also when new features are added it may mean new settings/options.
If you arent on iOS26 just dont do it.
Wouldn’t you be far more interested in the screen time data than these battery settings? What insight do they give you that’s more accurate or relevant than Screen Time?
Usage trends are utterly irrelevant. Who cares if I used Safari 34% more than I usually do if I can’t know whether I’m getting 7 hours to 50% or 12?
Who cares about usage trends if I can’t know whether my iPhone on Cellular is woefully inefficient (like smaller, 4-inch iPhones and apparently the iPhone Air) or whether it is actually quite efficient (like larger models, such as the Pro Max and the recent Plus models).
I was actually surprised by that with my 16 Plus (running iOS 18). It is infinitely more efficient with cellular use than my Xʀ on iOS 12. The Xʀ dropped a lot as soon as I enabled cellular and increased the brightness a little. The Xʀ suffered massive drops with significant camera use. The 16 Plus is far, far more resilient. The 16 Plus is far closer to my light Wi-Fi usage pattern. The only reason I know that (which allows me to use Cellular and/or the camera without concern as I know it’ll be more than enough) is iOS 12-18’s ability to determine SOT.
Remove that and I’d have no clue. Usage trends is Apple’s idea of a useful number? Ridiculous.
I don’t really care about screen-on time. As long as my phone lasts me the day I’m good. I don’t want micromanage my battery. I don’t in my ev either. Just want to know I can go to where I need to and the relative health.
I don’t know if I can follow your train of thought here.
You said as a parent you care about usage trends, presumably on your children’s device.
I tell you that the battery settings, despite their new „features“ probably aren’t the right tool for you, especially since you can’t share them, unlike Screen Time.
Now you talk about screen-on time and micro managing the battery.
I agree though that the current design doesn’t help understand what consumes how much battery and how to last a full day.
Two trains of thought:
1. Certain posters dislike the changes to the battery app,
2. Parents looking at relative usage of their children’s phones.
#1 cribbing about it may bring about changes. #2 can still be done.