Is Ios 26 Draining Your Iphone Battery Faster? Here's Why - And What You Can Do

Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET

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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• Increased artillery drain is normal pursuing a awesome OS update.
• Your telephone needs clip to complete nan setup successful nan background.
• iOS 26 offers a caller Adaptive Power mode to widen your artillery charge.

Raise your manus if you've updated your iPhone to iOS 26 and noticed nan artillery draining faster. Yes, we've heard that title galore times, particularly aft installing a awesome caller operating system. But it's not conscionable you. There's a logic this happens, and Apple is present to explain.

Also: iOS 26 is now unrecorded - here's really to download it (and which iPhones support it)

In a support page astir package updates refreshed connected Monday, Apple clarified why it's important to update your device's OS and really specified updates work. New versions for illustration iOS 26 footwear successful caller features and improvements, enhanced security, and bug fixes. As such, you'll want to update your iPhone for information reasons moreover if you're not each that excited astir nan latest features.

To update your iPhone, conscionable caput to Settings, prime General, and pat Software Update. Select nan action for iOS 26 and hold for nan update to download and install. After your telephone restarts, nan caller OS will beryllium fresh for you.

Impact is temporary

OK, but what astir nan battery drain? People ever look to announcement that their artillery complaint depletes much quickly aft an OS update. Here's why.

Also: Don't for illustration Apple's caller Liquid Glass look? Here's really to reside it down

Apple acknowledged that aft immoderate update, particularly a awesome release, you whitethorn announcement a impermanent effect connected artillery life and thermal performance. Not only could your artillery drain faster, but your telephone whitethorn get hotter. This is normal, arsenic your instrumentality needs a definite magnitude of clip to decorativeness nan setup successful nan background. That intends updating apps, indexing files and information for search, downloading caller assets, and more.

"New features are breathtaking and thief you get moreover much retired of your Apple product, though immoderate whitethorn require further resources from nan device," Apple added. "Depending connected individual usage, immoderate users whitethorn announcement a mini effect connected capacity and/or artillery life. Apple continually useful to optimize these features successful package updates to guarantee awesome artillery life and a soft personification experience."

Redesigned Battery surface  

Given capable clip and early package updates, nan artillery drain should go little terrible and little noticeable, aliases astatine slightest group will kick astir it less. But if your recently updated iPhone seems to beryllium losing its complaint quicker, location are ways to conflict back. iOS 26 tin help.

Also: iPhone Air vs. iPhone 17 Pro Max: I compared nan 2 flagship models, and here's nan winner

For nan latest OS, nan Battery surface has been redesigned to supply much thief and information. Head to Settings and prime Battery. The surface will show you a chart of your artillery use, moreover comparing today's capacity pinch that of yesterday.

Even better, iOS 26 offers a caller mode called Adaptive Power. With this enabled, your iPhone will effort to widen nan artillery complaint by lowering nan brightness of nan display, letting immoderate activities return longer to complete, and turning connected Lower Power Mode erstwhile nan complaint reaches 20%.

Otherwise, you tin move to a assortment of different battery-saving tricks by checking retired nan pursuing articles:

• My 5 elemental tricks to widen iPhone artillery life erstwhile traveling
• Running connected iOS 18? Changing these settings greatly improved my iPhone's artillery life
• iOS 18.4 update draining your iPhone's battery? Try these 6 fixes
• Why I limit my iPhone 15's complaint capacity to 80% (and you should you too)