iPhone 16 battery draining faster after iOS 26.4 update

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iPhone 16 battery draining faster after iOS 26.4 update

I have an Iphone 16 which I have been impressed with the battery life since I bought in 8 months ago. I could have it fully charged at 7:00am and by noon, it was still showing 100%. By the time I retired for the night I rarely showed less than 70% chage remaining, even after the IOS 26 update. I did wait for a month or so before I updated from ios 18.

Recently, I'm finding that it would show 100% at 7:00, but by 10:00am I see 95%, and this is without doing anything, just sitting on the table. By the time I retire for the evening I've been finding 50-60%, even with light use. My wife has an identical handset which we bought at the same time, and no like issues.

I checked and there wasn't any new apps, and if I was unsure, the app was removed.

The reason I'm asking is that it seems that the 26.4 may have triggered this, it may be normal and the great battery longevity was the oddity...I'm not sure.

Has anyone experienced anything like this, or have I done something stupid with a setting?

Thanks.

iPhone 16, iOS 26

Posted on Mar 30, 2026 2:11 PM

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Answer 1

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Mac Jim ID

Community+ 2026

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93,302 points

Mar 30, 2026 9:36 PM in response to Gramps-47

Check at Settings > Battery > View All Battery Usage, and see if there is a message noting the extra battery usage due to the update finishing the setup in the background. Also check the apps there on that page to determine which ones are using the battery. The top 5 would be the most relevant with the percentage used and also the ones that show Background Activities, as those consume the battery when you are not using the app.

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Answer 2

Mar 30, 2026 2:26 PM in response to Gramps-47

When did you phone update to iOS 26.4? It is expected to have increased battery usage, along with a little lag and heat generated, for about 3-4 days after the update. The phone is indexing files in the background along with updating photos with object detection algorithms.

About Apple software updates - Apple Support

When I updated to iOS 26.4 there was a message in Settings > Battery that explained the battery is currently being used more to finish setting up the device in the background.

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Answer 3

Gramps-47 Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 30, 2026 2:39 PM in response to Mac Jim ID

Hey Mac Jim,

Thanks for the reply.

It's been about a week ago when I updated the phone. I knew there would be some delay to return to normal with the background getting sorted out. I haven't noticed any abnormal heat.

I really didn't expect it to take this long, so I checked my wifes phone a few minutes ago and compared the two and found hers wasn't updated to 26.4, and where I'm sitting at 67%, she's at 91%. In fairness, I had made 2 calls today.

Hopefully it will return to "normal" soon.

Thanks

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