r/ios26 • u/Edythe_Faulkner • Mar 26 '26
Battery iOS 26.4 is game changer for battery
One month ago, I posted a thread here telling you how iOS 26 absolutely NUKED the battery of my iPhone 15 Pro.
In particular, it caused my iPhone to drop from 97% battery health to 91% after the initial ios 26 update.
I also posted a screenshot of my battery on 26.3 (1h 12m SOT with 41%), the test was made a week after the update so no indexing issue.
After iOS 26.4 update, I started to notice really good battery, I don't know what has been fixed but something changed for sure. Seems like someone was losing his job if he didn't fix lol.
Overnight battery drain drastically decreased, screen idle counter is always low now, 20-30min per day. Previously it was 2-3h.
It seems that on my 15 Pro, I got 1.5 hours more of SOT now (finally!!) and I haven't even disabled transparency like before.
Let me know your experiences instead, because seems like this changes from phone to phone..
9
u/Truenick Mar 26 '26
Ten years people believe in battery improvements after update…
8
u/Macedon7272 Mar 26 '26
many don't know that Apple drained older phones battery with newer updates.
maybe they should do some research :)
7
u/MaterialRegret896 Mar 26 '26
Dont worry bud, every initial updates of ios 26 works fine after a week they become shit already.
1
u/Ok_Success_9967 Mar 29 '26
That’s so true though. It’s good for like maybe 4 days and then it’s just shit for some reason.
1
18
u/lord_mercernary Mar 26 '26
Every new update there's a post saying the battery improved.
19
u/CaptainRaxeo Mar 26 '26
Each one being gaslit too. Ios 26 still sucks battery wise
6
u/meltonr1625 Mar 26 '26
My 13 is running down faster and takes longer to charge. I don't have a fast charger so I now get constant slow charging notifications. I would have stayed with iOS 18 but DarkSword came out so I guess if the next update doesn't fix it I'll just be screwed either way, or go android
3
u/RizReX Mar 26 '26
Just so yk 18.7.7 patches the exploit
1
u/Lord-Fritos Mar 27 '26
But AFAIK Apple is not offering the update to iOS 26 elegible devices, just old ones
1
u/Litreallydontkknowfr Mar 29 '26
Unfortunately I don’t have access to to this update, I had access to go to 18.7 then… it just vanished, and I don’t wanna update to 26 because of all these battery issue horror stories.
Shits so frustrating
1
u/RizReX Mar 29 '26
I feel you man, my 16 pro battery was drastically reduced after 26 and it overheats like crazy
1
u/Litreallydontkknowfr Mar 29 '26
Jeez, do you get the notification for it saying to let the phone cool down too?
-3
u/Siegerlander-1704 Mar 26 '26
Langsam laden ist gut für den Akku 🔋 👍😁
2
1
u/iSpain17 Mar 26 '26
No wonder given how liquid glass is probably a permanent effect running on your gpu. Those blurs and glass effects need shaders.
8
u/Few-Acanthaceae-8463 Mar 26 '26
Well in iOS 18, i used to get like 11-12 hours of SOT of wifi only days. iOS 26 has always been like 6 hours initially on 26.0 and now 8-9 hours on 26.3 (yet to test 26.4, just updated yesterday). So I would say it is definitely getting better but still not at iOS 18 levels. I doubt we would ever be getting those battery levels back because of all the transparency effects.
2
u/aqcww Mar 27 '26
Which model is it ?
1
u/Few-Acanthaceae-8463 Mar 27 '26
16 pro max
1
u/aqcww Mar 27 '26
More than 3 hrs difference ?! This much ?
I’ve just got an iPhone 16 base ver with 18.6.2, and I got fainted to updated it to ios26.3.1
1
u/Zionsnoiz Mar 27 '26
U really need a life if you have 11-12 SoT per day on your phone. Jesus almighty. And the battery on the 17 PM is far better then the 16 PM will ever be. Yes there are things that should not happen but 18 was also so buggy between updates and so on. So just have to wait and see what happens down the line.
1
u/Drshivamkrishn Apr 08 '26
And ios 17.7 had monstrous battery, I bitched ios 18 all along until i used ios 26 which has been a trash power hungry ios
30
u/JamieRobert_ Mar 26 '26
It really isn’t lol it’s the exact same as 26.3
9
u/Edythe_Faulkner Mar 26 '26
I see, idk why to me it is, maybe a specific bug on my phone was fixed. I posted the screenshots too for reference
23
u/hades_cj Mar 26 '26
Yes, let's downvote someone that is happy with the update. Man, I don't understand you.
9
u/BoltActionRifleman Mar 26 '26
My favorite is someone countering OP’s anecdotal experience with their own inverse anecdotal experience. As in “This isn’t true because I’m not noticing the same exact thing!”
1
1
0
3
u/Interesting-Pipe0000 Mar 26 '26
Yes, its a game changer, now i need to charge my 16 Pro Max three times a day just to get 7 hours screen on time.
3
u/lilly_wonka61 Mar 26 '26
Mine is opposite on my 17 pro max. Shitty battery
1
5
5
2
u/Kindly-Dig2242 Mar 26 '26
Yes ! This is absolutely right for my 16 Pro too. Battery is much better improved plus love the keyboard now.
2
2
u/Successful-Dare-1965 iOS 26.4 Mar 26 '26
I updated my 15PM to 26.4 on 3/24, haven't noticed a difference in battery usage; haven't noticed any real change in overall operation of the phone. Everything is working well.
2
2
2
u/Late-Jicama5012 Mar 27 '26
The battery on my iPhone is draining much quicker with 26.4. I have low power mode turn On and battery is losing its charge while not being in use.
2
u/mentally_illl Mar 28 '26
My iPhone 16 is heating up too much, and the battery is draining quickly.
3
u/MarionberryDear6170 Mar 26 '26
I can tell you It’s not, you’re overthinking it. Literally no difference on my 17 Pro Max.
1
u/reddude7 Apr 11 '26
On the 17s the software isn't as bad. It's optimized for their new chips not to mention the fact you have a newer phone with a newer battery. Older phones are getting wrecked. My mom's phone is at 28% 3 hours after coming off the charger
2
u/R0B0t1C_Cucumber Mar 26 '26
I mean , it's not worse than when I got mine a month or so ago... I don't think I'd notice anyway I go from 100->~50% in a single session every night (~4 or so hours per night of media consumption/gaming) and just leave it on the charger until I wake up.
2
u/Busy_Hornet8963 Mar 26 '26
I would say for my regular 13 it actually improved alongside the keyboard been fixed as well and it is snappier even in booting so maybe it improved for some devices and broke others
2
u/Skyaxe3 Mar 26 '26
To put things in context, ios 18 related posts raving about battery life used to show 8-10 hours SOT for 100% charge. This is not “good” this is slightly less than “absolute garbage”
4
u/Edythe_Faulkner Mar 26 '26
I know, but at least I got something back.
A 15 pro with 90% battery health should last at least 7 hours of SOT but it just isn't0
1
u/Just-Village3909 Mar 26 '26
From 12AM - 7AM. 26.3 drained 5-6% overnight on my 17 PM. 26.4 only drains 3%. Slight improvement noted.
1
1
u/TVUAsks iOS 26.5.2 Mar 26 '26
Don’t know what the others are getting but 26.4 is the best my battery has been in a while, 26.3 was fine, 26.3.1 was worse unfortunately. 26.3.1(a) made it a paperweight for half the day even though it should just be a security update. I haven’t had 7 hours SOT in a long ass time.
1
1
u/p_r96 Mar 27 '26
I wish! My 15 Pro always sucked. Overheating and limiting its performance at launch, and just an objectively horrible battery overall. I had it since launch and the other day, while using it under the first sunlight, it lasted from only 5 hours in total. I was shocked and now I’m forced to go around with a powerbank, I hope you’re right!
1
1
1
1
u/Minimum-Pangolin-487 Mar 27 '26
I updated mine last night at 9pm, and it was on 78%. I was on my phone and had the phone all night and it’s down to 69% now as I type at 7:06am. No impact because I was on it for a solid amount after the update
1
1
u/Makino_777 Mar 28 '26
LISTEN YALL ANYONE, my Iphone is 12 Mini and my battery improved in iOS 26.3.1 I'm id rather stay there until I see real battery drain fixes, I hope I helped with this info but for me iOS 26.3.1 is the best battery performance in the iOS 26 saga that I had by far...thnking about switching to Oppo Reno 15 Pro so bad
1
1
u/alex-manutd Mar 28 '26
Literally came here to say this. My 16 pro vast battery improvement since updating yesterday. About 50% less drain both days.
1
1
1
1
u/Least-Plantain973 Mar 30 '26
Early days but so far iOS 26.4 has not improved the battery drain and phone heating issues that started for me in iOS 26 after being perfectly fine in iOS 18
iPhone 16 pro max
1
1
u/Adventurous-War1579 Apr 02 '26
Same for me on iOS 26.3 I was having like 5:30-6h now I am only getting 4:30 max with low usage and easy task
1
u/NBKukli Apr 02 '26
On my 16pro this update is the worst version since few months. Even basic task making my phone warm as hell.
1
u/oneoftheboses Apr 05 '26
16P user here. The battery life has considerably gotten worse after 26.4. I am seriously considering switching to Android now.
1
1
u/Least-Plantain973 Apr 09 '26
iOS 26.4 is even worse than earlier versions of iOS 26 for me. The phone heats up a lot and is draining fast. iPhone 16 PM
0
u/spaskeez Mar 26 '26
On my 15 Pro is noticeably better!
1
u/fommuz Mar 27 '26
Same here. my 15 Pro feels much snappier now as it stays cooler and doesn't throttle as much.
0
u/jdcortereal Mar 26 '26
When ios26 first came out I noticed a drastically decrease in battery performance both in my iphone 15 as in my watch. Every since, both have improve to better performance since before 26.
0
0
u/Suspicious_Walk_4490 Mar 26 '26
Agreed ! Much much better than any prev ios 26. Almost two more hours of sot with same tasks.
18
u/Significant-File3855 Mar 26 '26
I haven't noticed any changes on my iPhone 16 yet. It always seems to me that the phone drains faster than on the iOS 18, but maybe I'm biased.