Battery Drain on iOS 26 and iOS 26.0.1.

Deejjjjjjjjjj wrote:

iOS 26.1 is even worse than

26.0.1 with the battery drain!!

how is this even possible!!!!!

• What is your Battery Health percentage?
• Post a screenshot of Settings > Battery, showing your green battery graph with the last 24 hour option and the top apps consuming the battery. Make note of the System battery usage below for things like Lock Screen that may indicate file indexing, AI model installation after the update and also widget usage.

The battery improvements have been widely reported by many third party review sites across multiple devices.

https://www.geeky-gadgets.com/ios-26-1-update-fixes/

crap292 wrote:

I spent a lot of money to buy the new iPhone 16 PM. At first, the battery worked well with iOS 18. However after the update to iOS 26, everything changed. It ruined my new phone, and now I don’t feel like I’m using a new device anymore. The battery is draining super fast even though the phone is new and the battery cycle count is only 45. I updated to version 26.1 today but the battery is still draining super fast. Why is Apple doing this to us and not fixing this major issue?

You are wondering why Apple is doing this to "us", and that does not seem to be the case as you have seen here that not everyone has experienced the battery drain and it has been reportedly widely from many third party sources that those who did have seen vast improvements with 26.1. There was a bug resolved with the use of Low Power mode that could explain why it was an issue to some and not others, but that is no longer the case with 26.1.

Post a screenshot of your battery usage at Settings > Battery that shows the green battery graph with the previous 24 hour option, along with the apps consuming the battery. Note also the ones below the apps for System usage of the battery, which may be an indication of the file indexing following the update and expected.

• Have you updated to iOS 26.2?
• What is your battery health percentage?
• Low Power Mode does turn off Background App Refresh, but it is not reported to stop Background Activities of apps noted in your Battery Settings. What apps do you see using the Battery?
• How many bars are showing for your cellular connection? The less you see the more power is being used to maintain that connection whether you use Low Power Mode or not. On iPhone 12 and 13 5g remains on for streaming and downloads, where other devices turn it off.

Use Low Power Mode to save battery life on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

jon-luc84 wrote:

…. I left the house with 51% at 6:30 am and ended up on 20% by 10:30 am with my screen on time being only 1hr 40mins??

I agree with Jeff, you should not leave the house with 51% early in the morning, you must charge overnight.

Having said that it doesn’t surprise me that you lost 30% in 4 hours whilst the phone desperately tries to catch up what it missed overnight.

The standby time has also worsened severely, I’m losing 20 a 25% battery overnight, for comparison back when I had the 13 Pro Max on iOS 15 that phone never dropped more than 5% which is honestly unacceptable

if you leave it turned on overnight, not on charge, then 20% is not unusual.

You must must start charging overnight, every night, on Wifi to allow the phone to curate and index.

I may have found the solution. It worsens the user interface, but you need to go to Settings, then Accessibility, Display, and reduce transparency. Apparently, Liquid Glass is poorly optimized and requires significant effort from the GPU, causing the phone to overheat and accelerating battery degradation.

[Edited by Moderator]

dolphinfever wrote:

So then the apps causing my battery draining problem being the photos app and the music app are APPLES problem right?

I don't see where you have provided any details for your case. There is some very important information that has been left out. The battery draining is obviously not s systemic problem, otherwise everyone would see the same thing and that is not the case. I have 3 devices in my family, all with iOS 26, and there is no battery draining problem on any of them.

Don't forget this is a Support Site for those looking for assistance, it is not a Social Media site. For your case:

• What is your Battery Health at Settings > Battery > Battery Health > Maximum Capacity?
• Post a screenshot of Settings > Battery, showing your green battery graph along with the top 5 apps consuming the battery.
• Describe what you have done to address the problem so far, such as Force Restart, Factory Reset, Contact Apple.
• What version are you on and when did you update?

For some here, simply following the recommended steps have solved their problem, and you can see the examples yourself as Abhijitrabha posted a few days ago that the Apple support article was correct and waiting for the files to finish indexing improved their battery performance.

I have bought a new iPhone 15 and right then on 28 sept I upgraded my phone to 26 then again after 3-4 days to 26.0.1 .I am not facing any issues but for the first 10-12 days my phone battery was draining fast.Now suddenly battery performance improved

We have also seen others that had the problem resolved with a Factory Reset and others seen significant improvement after deleting identified battery consuming Social Media app. Many of those apps have now been updated, so results may vary. A large number of users have a Battery Health lower than 80%, and it has always been the case that the battery needs to be replaced once that happens. We are also aware that iOS 26.1 is currently in beta and being tested, but we cannot comment on any issues that have been resolved related to battery performance as it violates the user agreement for testing the beta software.

If you are wondering why posts are deleted on this site, you will need to review the Terms of Use and can find them on the bottom of this page. This support site is vastly different than a Social Media site where you can post the earth is flat and there is no accountability.

My iPhone 14 Pro Max battery drains by approximately 10 percent to 20 percent or more per hour on iOS 26.1, even with only moderate usage or when the screen is locked.

In addition, the maximum battery capacity has decreased by about 3 percent since updating to this iOS version. The battery was replaced less than one year ago and was previously at 99 percent.

It now feels like I get only about half the usage time per charge compared to when I was using iOS 18, and I now need to charge the phone several times per day.

There appear to be ongoing issues with iOS 26 that are significantly affecting battery performance on the iPhone 14 Pro Max and have not been addressed since the initial release.

oldmaninflorida wrote:=

Why are there three different places to disable this battery eating, poorly written program?????

• Disabling Apple account-> find my is the setting for finding YOUR device and turns on Activation Lock.
• Background App Refresh is only for updating the UI of Find My when the app is not open. That is an optional setting that has little impact on battery performance.
• Settings->Privacy and security-> Location services ->System services-> find my Iphone, allows your device to participate in the Find My network where it broadcasts the location of OTHER Apple devices. That is how another user can find their lost device when your iPhone passes within range. You don't need to be using Find My yourself to assist others in finding their devices, but if you turn this off it also means you will not be using Find My to locate your device. I suppose if you are in a household with many Apple devices with users constantly using Find My to locate them, it may have a greater impact, but have seen no data on battery consumption from the service for that purpose.

Just because you don't understand what the settings are for does not mean it is a poorly written program. As IdrisSeabright suggested, it is most likely something else that was going on that you correlated with this setting. Maybe you have Automatic App Updates set in the App Store where you would not even know it occurred other than a little blue dot next to the app.

Harry_chirag wrote:

I am too facing a **** out of this update the battery drain a lot faster . I wish apple fixes it fast

Are you referring to iOS 26.1 that was released today, or still talking about iOS 26.0.1 that was being used by the person you replied to?

I can suggest to use the Sort By option above the first reply and you can choose Newest where you will see the newest reply on top. There you would have seen the iOS 26.1 is available and you should update your software.

TTPDElmer wrote:

I did the update last night. I have not had any prior battery issues. I barely used my phone today due to being at work, but the battery percentage dropped like a ROCK. Not good.

For the first 24-48 hours after any iOS update, battery usage will be higher than usual as the phone rebuilds all its internal databases.

Wu7chamber wrote:

Well, it's been a few weeks and indexing didn't seem to help. Didn't think it would. I'm sure Apple thinks I already need an upgrade after only a year and a half.

Don't forget to update to iOS 26.2 released today. It is seen for most already, but may take a little more time to propagate to your device. Beta testers had already noted improvement, but we could not post here as it violates the Terms of Use for beta software.

What does the Battery pane say is using your power?

Please update to iOS 26.1.X released today 11/03/25.

iOS 26.1 is a relatively major update and, as with every iOS update, battery usage will be higher than usual for a day or two until the phone rebuilds all its internal indices.

Do you have someone in your family you’re sharing your location with using Find My or are you checking on someone’s or something’s location frequently? That could be the reason for the battery usage.