Battery Drain on iOS 26 and iOS 26.0.1.

Good morning everyone,

I would like to report a VERY SERIOUS problem with the battery and performance.

I have a NEW iPhone 15 with 100% battery capacity and only 22 cycles (which I did myself; when it arrived, it was at 0).

However, after updating to iOS 26 (and even with iOS 26.0.1, the situation remains the same), I continue to have VERY SERIOUS problems with the battery life of my NEW phone.

Today, I was busy all day and did not use my phone from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., yet it still dropped from 90% to 45% WITHOUT DOING ANYTHING. No apps were open, the “Refresh apps in background” option was not enabled, the screen was set to turn off automatically after 30 seconds, and automatic brightness was enabled. So it's definitely not the phone's fault because it's BRAND NEW with a 100% ORIGINAL battery, nor is it the settings because it was in PERMANENT POWER SAVING mode. So the fault lies solely with iOS. There are no excuses.

I am writing this message to urge Apple to resolve this issue as soon as possible because, from what I have read on X, I am not the only one.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Thank you very much and have a good day.

iPhone 15, iOS 26

Posted on Oct 1, 2025 8:07 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 12, 2025 7:06 PM

I would expect your Home & Lock Screen and Settings to be using more battery today after the update.


You still have not posted what apps are using your battery by scrolling down on your screen. Just because you aren't using an app does not mean it is not using power. The 2 you identified are the exact ones you would expect to be using your battery after an update for a short period of time.


In addition there is no word on your cell signal which is a major contributor to how much power is necessary to connect to your closest tower. The farther away it is the less bars you will have and the more power your device is going to use. The only thing that uses more power than a 1 bar signal is when it is searching for a tower.


If you post future screenshots, it is the green battery graph along with the apps consuming the battery that is the most helpful. The green graph shows rate of drop where the daily usage does nothing more than tell you what you have used. Leave it plugged in all night tonight and follow up tomorrow with your results.

441 replies

Dec 20, 2025 11:03 AM in response to VictorSMiller

VictorSMiller wrote:

That article tells me nothing concrete about the percentages corresponding to what you said. I tried clicking on the links, but none of them said more. BTW I used to be a Professor of Math and CS. I would give these articles a grade of C-.

Hello~ Let Apple know…


Product Feedback - Apple


Contact - How to Contact Us - Apple


Contact - Official Apple Support


Perhaps one of these links will make the grade?


~Katana-San~



Dec 20, 2025 11:35 AM in response to VictorSMiller

You need to keep clicking the links within each article. The articles are intended for the average consumer. They are written in layman terms, but as you keep digging deeper you can put it all together.


The alternative is become an Apple developer and you’ll have access to Apple engineers. You can ask all the questions you want and they should be able to provide the technical explanations you may be looking for.

Dec 22, 2025 8:52 AM in response to sk8gal

sk8gal wrote:

Several charges later, it appears that the setting is being ignored altogether for both the iPad and the iPhone. It charges to 100% every time (unless I remember to check it and remove it around 80%)

Schedule an appointment with Apple so they can perform diagnostics on your device. None of use are experiencing the same thing with a Charge Limit other than the occasional charging to 100% to maintain accurate estimates. If that action was due to the update, then we would all be experiencing it, so there is something specific with your device where it is not performing correctly.

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple


The first thing they will likely do is a Factory Reset, so if you have not done that already, then you may want to do that before scheduling an appointment to see if that resolves the problem.

Dec 23, 2025 6:43 AM in response to muzckl1

What device and what iOS are you using? What is the battery health of your iPhone? Are you aware that batteries do not age in a linear fashion? It’s not unusual for battery health percentage to fix at one point for an extended period of time and accelerate at others. It can also be the result of changes (tweaks) in the algorithm used to determine battery health.

Dec 23, 2025 7:00 AM in response to sk8gal

sk8gal wrote:

I did that two weeks ago. Everything is fine. This 80% battery charge limit is being ignored on both the phone and the iPad (the iPad is new). Something is amiss that is not specific to my devices.

The problem is that it is not being reported on anyone else's device. The only time that has been reported is when the user was unaware that it needed to charge to 100% on occasion to maintain accurate readings and once informed to not pull the plug early, the Charge Limit returned. If there was a bug in the update the ignored the Charge Limit, then this Support Site would be flooded with those posts, and that does not seem to be the case. It would also be easy for others to reproduce.


I haven't seen how long you have left it to charge while being on 100%, but would suggest leaving it plugged in all night to see what happens.

Dec 23, 2025 10:49 AM in response to muzckl1

muzckl1 wrote:

I updated well over a week ago and my battery is now at 79%. Before the update, my battery was at 90%. This is unreasonable.

What device are you using and do you know the Charge Cycles. An iPhone 15 and newer is expected to have 1000 charge cycles before the battery needs to be replaced when it falls below 80% and an iPhone 14 and older device is only expected to last 500 charge cycles. For an iPhone 15 a newer that translates to about 1% of Battery Health for every 50 charges cycles and earlier devices would be 1% for 25 Charge Cycles. The OS version makes no difference on the battery expectations of those devices.


Let us know the device and charge cycles if available and that will provide a better picture.

Battery Drain on iOS 26 and iOS 26.0.1.

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.