Battery Drain on iOS 26 and iOS 26.0.1.

Had the same issue on my iphone 16 after upgrading to 26.0.1.

i did these things and battery life seems to be normal. Following are the things i did.

1. update all the apps manually and do a hard reset by pressing volume up, release, volume down, release & finally hold power button until you see the apple logo. This will force your iphone to restart.
2. turn on reduce motion from setting. This will disable lockscreen 3d image feature. But maybe this helped to reduce my battery draining. (accessibility—> motion)
3. turn on the prefer cross-fade transitions(accessibility—> motion). This will disable modern transitions and new glass effect.

somehow these things prevented my rapid battery draining issue.

also please note that for first 2-3 days there are some background processes running to indexing after the update. So maybe that will also take a huge battery power for that process better to give 2-3 days and then try these methods. All or one will help you.

This situation, it seems, is quite exasperating, particularly when one has just acquired a new iPhone, boasting a battery health that is, indeed, at a full 100%. First, I would suggest, if I may, that one should navigate through the Settings and then proceed to the Battery section. There, one might observe what, in fact, is consuming the battery power in the background, because, you see, it often happens after a significant iOS update that the device engages in a process of indexing various elements like photos, apps, and other system data for a certain period of time. 

If, by chance, nothing particularly alarming appears in that section, then perhaps one could attempt to perform a force restart, which is to say, turning the phone off and then back on again. Following this, it would be prudent to update all applications, yes, all of them, and then allow a span of 1 to 2 days for the system to, hopefully, stabilize or settle down. However, if one finds that the battery still experiences a significant drop, from 90% to a mere 45% while the device is not in active use, it might be wise to capture screenshots of the battery usage statistics and subsequently send those images to Apple Support. After all, a drop of that magnitude, it seems, is rather concerning, to say the least, especially when the device is idle and not being utilized in any substantial manner. 

Apple Support - How to Fix iPhone or iPad drains too quickly

Possible FIX.

still have open feedback about this issue with screenshots on the feedback app. But, after purchasing a new iPad Pro because my iPad Pro 3 wouldn’t last, and got to the point it wouldn’t charge, I think I found the issue. I was noticing a lot of system apps we can uninstall, like mail, would have hours of background time. You can’t disable background updates for system apps. Even turning off all background updates, my system would run so hot, it refused to even charge. It got to the point I had to shut it down, and use a slow 15w brick to charge it.

i think I found the bug. Go into settings, apps, mail, accounts, and change fetch to manual. In automatic, it says it only fetches when charging and on WiFi, but I think that is the bug. I turned it to manual, and not I can lock my iPad and let it sit for hours and the battery is 98%. It used to be hot and about 20% after 2 hours. Now if I can get them to warranty replace my 125 cycle battery after only 3 months.

What specific version of iOS 26 are you using? iOS 26.3.1 was just released a few days ago. If you’re not up to date, please do so and give it a couple of days to stabilize. Also manually make sure all your apps are up to date.

• You emphasized NEW, so not sure if that means you just purchased it from Apple. It was discontinued on September 9th, another source could have been refurbished and new to you and not disclosed. The battery values can be "boosted" on those phones as that phone was released over 2 years ago.
• When did you update? The background process will continue for 3-5 days indexing files and cause battery drain, lag, and increased heat.

About Apple software updates - Apple Support

• Post the screenshot of Settings > Battery that includes the green battery graph for the previous 24 hours and also the top apps using the battery. Below that you will see System usage, and Home & Lock Screen is an indication of those background processes still being performed.
• As for the next update currently being tested in beta, we cannot comment on the issues that have been resolved in that version. We can be a tester, but disclosing the information is a violation of the terms here and also the user agreement being a tester of the beta. You may see improvement when it is officially released.
• From what I read on X, the earth is flat, and you will find many that agree.

hi there friends,for me about battery drain,i have an iphone 16 pro max and happened the same to me....but the best solution for me was to update and restore iphone with Mac or PC with the full iphone firmware downloaded.....but remember to backup your stuff....from 5:00am to 1:30pm i was at work and started to use my iphone after work have 91 % and started to use on youtube,web search and whatever well at least not gaming and at 7:57 i still have a good 55% i hope it works for you 👍🏽

phillip9 wrote:

I close apps religiously

I charge to 95-100% before bed

and I wake up and the battery is already down to

92%

battery health says 94%

• Phone should be charged all night, every night using Optimized Charging.
• Do not close your apps, it uses more power.

Do not close iPhone and iPad 'background'… - Apple Community

• On average your Battery Health will lose 1% for every 50 Charge Cycles. I suspect you are around 300 charge cycles, so a 94% reading would fit into that average. The iOS update does not change your Charge Cycles. The drops you see in Battery Health are never linear and some months it will not drop at all and other months it will drop more. Also the calibration of the battery only occurs when it is allowed to charge to 100%. Even when using a charge limit the phone will automatically charge to 100% for calibration at times if not manually removed from a charger. You will also see a larger than expected drop when it has previously been prevented to calibrate and a condition occurred where it was allowed to charge to 100%, since the previous calibration had been postponed.
• Use your phone normally and post a screenshot of the green battery graph along with the tops apps consuming the battery.
• There are 2 ways to troubleshoot if it is app related. Either Factory Reset and NOT restore from a backup, you would need to use a computer for this method to create an archived backup to be able to restore later. Or remove the top consumers one at a time to compare results. Don't ignore an app as a contributing factor. Some have been identified by users where battery performance dramatically improved when removed and others by the developer where they acknowledged the drain with an update. It is simple to test, so you can make an informed decision on what is more important, the app or the battery usage seen by the app.

I was having terrible battery drain on my iPhone, because of the iOS 26 download. One day I was having trouble with my safari and brought it to my T-Mobile carrier for help! Trying to fix the Safari issue, she asked if she could restore the iPhone back to its original settings to see if it would correct the problem. Unfortunately it didn’t! However I was able to get it fixed at a local Geek Squad in Best Buy! The amazing thing was that the following day after my phone had been restored back to its original settings, my regular battery life was back! I had been charging my phone 3 times a day and that day my phone battery lasted for more than 12 hours!

The battery drain is only affecting a minimal of iPhone owners. Many millions do not have the problem. It has to be one of your apps. I am suggesting off loading all of the apps you can - non Apple apps - and reload one at a time to find out which app is the culprit.

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.

After turning off Find My, I went from 120% usage to 40% usage in 1 day.

Hi, this is not Apple Support. Apple and Apple Support do not participate in the communities here. They only moderate our posts to insure all user guidelines are followed in regard to content and user behavior. Your thoughts and feelings will not be reviewed by Apple. Apple will make changes (or not make changes) based partially on the feedback they receive through their official channel, linked below and good luck.

Product Feedback - Apple

Now with all that said, if you want to troubleshoot the issue we’ll need to know what are the top 5 apps for battery usage and the percentages. You’re welcome to share a screenshot if it’s more convenient.

You’re also welcome to contact Apple Support and they can assist with troubleshooting.

you’re in the US, please call  1-800-MY-APPLE, or outside the US, consult the support articles below. In Canada, call 1-800-263-3394.

Contact Apple for support and service - Apple Support

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

Hi, I agree, I’d be pretty frustrated by this battery drain issue as well. What model iPhone are you using?

What are the top 5 apps using your daily battery capacity? Please follow this path,

iPhone > Settings > Battery > View All Battery Usage > screenshot

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.