Battery Drain on iOS 26 and iOS 26.0.1.

I don't think it's low power mode causing that - I think, based on my own experience with this issue, that once the battery level gets to a certain point, drain accelerates; or, some process accelerates the drain. I could be wrong, but that is what I have been thinking as I observe my phone performance (13 mini, older and smaller phone, 85% battery health). Sometimes I've left it on low power mode for a long time, and it stays close to the same level for hours. I haven't figured out which apps are causing the biggest drain. I thought it was Facebook, but that conclusion doesn't seem to hold over time (after I removed it from my phone).

It’s an issue deeper inside the OS when native system apps and menus are chewing up the battery.

This is on a clean iPhone 14 Pro Max with a brand new Apple account (no restores) Battery at 87% health & IOS26.2

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Millions of users worldwide have Find My enabled, including me, and do not have this issue.

However, in combination with other factors, like say having only one bar of cell signal so your phone must use full power transmissions to keep in touch with a cell tower and report your device position may well use more battery than expected.

Thats not a bug, it's what is required to provide the functionality in question.

I see no "drain" on any of my devices.

Yes definitely. I have a iPhone 14 Pro. When I did an update a month or so ago. My battery started to drain ridiculously. I had no open spots and did everything. In fact, I kept the phone on low battery power. From when I get up at 7 until I leave before 8, my battery goes from 100 to 87 with little use. I’m disgusted because whenever I’ve I talked to Apple Care they look at everything and it say my phone’s battery is fine. However, I know differently.

I always update apps when prompted, and I update the versions when prompted as well. I just updated to 26.2 and the battery drain is even worse than on 26 and 26.1, which I may add, never got better after a couple of days of installing unfortunately

bailey324 wrote:

Barely use the phone and by early evening I had 20% battery left. A friend is reporting he’s not getting emails!!!!!

Since you posted in a iOS 26.0.1 forum is that the version you are using? You may want to create a new post with your information and include your Battery Health percentage at Settings > Battery > Battery Health > Maximum Capacity, and the screenshot at Settings > Battery that shows the green battery graph along with the top apps consuming the battery at that location.

Not many people are going to be looking to offer support on iOS 26.0.1 anymore and this topic will not likely receive very many eyes on new posts here.

sk8gal wrote:

We have all been through the endless cycles of questions and suggestions without finding a solution. A better survey would be to find out which iPhone models are experiencing poor battery performance.

That is exactly the point of the questions in the post you replied to. Not only is the iPhone model important and one of the questions asked, but also the Battery Health, Cycle Count, and other info to identify the commonality. Without that additional information from that user there is never going to be a way to find that unique circumstance. There are 2.5 billion active Apple devices and they all are not experiencing a problem with the battery, so for those that are there is something else going on other than iOS 26.

FNManc wrote:

My iPhone is older (13), but the battery response has been shocking since the upgrade which happened over a week ago. Today it has also stopped charging via the port at the base of the phone.

Go to Settings>Battery>Battery Health>Maximum Capacity. What does it say? If it's 80% or less, you need a new battery.

davemilster wrote: "...Further this heavy draining and overheating has reduced my battery's health..."

davemilster ~ What's the Maximum Capacity % here?...

Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging

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I think we should focus on the percentage rather than the total number of users. What difference does it make whether there are 10 or 100 million users if they are all running the same affected software version?

Not all of them will necessarily experience the issue. Bugs are often triggered only under specific circumstances—for example, a particular combination of settings, enabled features, or certain iPhone models.

In addition, many users may never reach this forum. Since the battery drain is not critically severe, some may assume it is normal or by design. Others might contact support instead. As a result, only a small percentage of affected users may actually appear in discussions like this one.

When the issues started right after a software upgrade—and that remains the only clear common factor—even after trying the usual recommendations (waiting a few days for things to settle, uninstalling apps that might cause issues, etc.), I do not think it is reasonable to completely rule out a software problem. However, that seems to be what you are suggesting.

I've been on 26.3.1 for over 3 weeks. Everyone says to wait a few days and it will "settle down". Nope. Still fast draining. I'm always in Low Power mode. About the only time I can use it, I have to be plugged into the charger. It drains from full power to under 50% in 2 hours, even though my minutes of use show less than 15 combined between screentime and apps.

I am at my wits end over this.

I’ve only had it since Christmas , used very sparingly it has 32 battery cycles, I only charge it to 80% and yet I only getting 3.23hours on screen and 5.45 screen off, I’m about to need it to edit a substantial few videos, however at this rate, I’ll have keep charging it every 4 hours as editing on DaVinci resolve 20 app is a lot more labour intensive than watching a movie. In fact from new it wasn’t very good battery wise, currently has iOS version 26.3.1.

j0r0b0 wrote:

I noticed that gradually through the months, my phone holds the charge a shorter time. Throughout the day. Just using the phone for different operations even checking text messages and emails by noon. I’m already getting down to 50%.

Not making it that much nicer when I have to stop to recharge my phone during the day.😡

Of course there are many reason why that would be the case as your battery is a consumable part. If you have an iPhone 14 or earlier, it is only expected to last for 500 charge cycles before a replacement would be needed. If you would like us to see what is going on with your phone then we would need some additional details:

• Phone Model
• Battery Health percentage at Settings > Battery > Battery Health
• Screenshot of the green battery graph and the top 5 apps consuming your battery at Settings > Battery > View All Battery Usage.

Frugal Freddie wrote: "...Battery replaced 1 June 2025..."

Frugal Freddie ~ Was the battery replaced at an Apple Store or by other qualified technician using a genuine iPhone battery?...

Repair Provider Verification - Official Apple Support

About genuine iPhone batteries

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