battery icon

You need to swipe down from the upper right corner to see the state of charge. Just touching it won’t work. Your wife’s phone probably works the same way.

What other people wrote, and probraly mistaken. You swipe down from upper right corner to see battery percentage, all iphones with Face ID works that way.

Show the battery percentage on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

See link.

Are either of you on Beta Software?

That's amazing and very unusual. I've never heard of this, nor does this work on any of our iOS devices. I don't think it's supposed to work either as what you're suggesting your wife's iPhone does it not supported behavior in iOS.

Other than that, can wife make calls, etc., on phone? You and wife should go to a real Apple Store show them what's going on her iPhone XR. They can find out if it's software, or hardware issues.

hello...henryfrompottsville...Sorry it took so long to answer you...personal reasons, not well but here today just to answer you.

Thank you for the picture...amazing...it is not that you are missing a feature it is that your wife has an extra feature...why...

there could be many reasons this happened.

Without listing all possible scenarios let me just mention the most likely ones...

Did you get a new phone...you already said you did..."both new from Apple" but was it new...what I mean is did someone set it up for your wife and add a third party battery app or did someone play around with the phone before they set it up for your wife...

Did you and your wife set up the phones and possibly someone added a third party battery app without your knowledge.

I have a feeling you will answer no to the two above and this leads me to the main reason I am answering...because it has happened to me.

Simply put...software developers try many features before releasing a new version or update...if a feature is not desirable it can be removed or blocked...when blocked every once in a while (lets say one among millions) it some how becomes unblocked and added to someones OS (your wife's lets say).

The next time you update that phone that feature will disappear .

fyip...for your info please

I’ve never seen that, and don’t see any controls that might enable it. Is your wife’s phone jailbroken?

I have an iPhone XR with iOS 13.3.1. I can not duplicate what you are saying that you can do on your wife’s phone. As noted, try to find out what is different with her phone.

Send us a screenshot or a picture, I once had something no-one believed until I sent a screenshot, and I was the only one to have it among millions.

I did search for the answer to your question...that was all I found...answering to you puts your post back up at the top so someone else might see it before it goes to page 2...3...4...where not many people look.

What do you mean, first you tell “mine will do it, then mine will not do it?” Try send photo of what your wife’s phone screen to show everybody. We all want to see what you really writing about.

What the previous post wrote. Where did you and wife buy iPhone XR from, and buy it brand new, or used? My iPhone is on iOS 13.3.1, on it don’t do what you describe.