iPhone iOS 26.5.2: Battery drain, overheating, audio bug

Hey HI - this sounds like an iOS update bug, not a problem with one app. On an iPhone 12 mini, the first things to try are: restart the phone, check for a newer iOS update, and leave the phone idle on Wi‑Fi and charging for a while so it can finish background tasks.

For the audio issue, try:

• Turn Bluetooth off if you are not using earbuds or a speaker.
• Check Sound Check or other audio settings in the app.
• Delete and reinstall one app where the bug happens most often.

If battery drain and heat started right after the update, it can improve after a day or two, but if it stays bad:

• Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset All Settings.
• If that does not help, back up the iPhone and restore it.

One more important point: if the phone gets very hot, stop using it for a while and remove the case.

You can also contact Apple customer care here: Contact Apple Support

Apple support pages:

• If your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch gets too hot or too cold
• If your iPhone or iPad battery drains too fast

AmenotejikaraSasque wrote:

• Did you update to iOS 26.6?
• After any update, you will need to wait about 4 days for the background indexing to complete and also for any object detection algorithms to be performed on your entire Photo Library. Apple documents that during this time, you should expect heat, battery drain, and some UI lag until it finishes. If it continues beyond the 4 days, then I would recommend a Force Restart in case a process has been stuck. Some will do that anyway after an update to do some basic housekeeping and cache clearing.
• Are you experiencing the Thermometer Screen stating you cannot continue using your device until it cools down? That is the only condition where your phone is overheating.
• Are you seeing a message while charging that it is paused until it cools down? That is normal where fast charging goes to 80%, then pauses to cool down and continues to slow charge to 100%. That is a new message and the purpose is to protect your battery.
• What is your Battery Health percentage?
• Have you posted the Screenshot at Settings > Battery > View All Usage that shows the 2 battery graphs and the top 5 apps consuming your battery? That will tell you what is draining your battery along with the rate of discharge.

Don't forget this is a Support Site that will require information from you for a resolution. If you have Meta apps listed as any of your top 5 consumers, you along with everyone else experiences far more battery drain than those that don't. Those apps consume your battery even when not using the apps. It is their business model to let you use their apps for free while harvesting your data and phoning home to build your Social Media graph to sell your information to advertisers. That should not be a surprise to anyone and the same thing happens on Android phones where even Google called out Meta for the excessive battery drain on their devices.

If you are looking for help, we are here to assist. Me too posts where no information is provided is not likely to be resolved at all. No, not everyone is experiencing battery drain after the update, but certainly some are depending on those factors noted above. It is quite easy to test app related usage by removing the app and comparing your results. In the meantime while you are doing this test, you may be able to use web versions of those platforms where the battery drain does not occur. Once you identify the app, then you know the developer that needs to resolve the issue with their app or accept their battery usage on your device.

Shortcut101 wrote:

Battery Drain: Battery life has decreased significantly. The battery drains much faster than it did before, even during light to moderate use.

The measure of battery health deterioration/drainage is subjective and can vary depending on individual usage patterns. There is no universal standard to determine whether the battery health deterioration/drainage is normal or abnormal because it heavily relies on how the battery is used and maintained.

Protect & Prolong the Life of your iPhone's Battery:

1. About the battery usage on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch ...
2. Batteries - Maximising Performance - Apple (IN)
3. iPhone Battery and Performance
4. About Charge Limit and Optimised Battery Charging on iPhone - Apple Support (IN)

• Find out what to do if Optimised Battery Charging doesn’t activate.
• Find out what to do if your device stops charging unexpectedly.
• Find out what to do if you think your battery is draining too quickly.
• Find out how to charge and maintain your iPhone battery.

Try to monitor Battery usage by iPhone Activity as shown below

What is shown under battery usage? Checking that would give you an indication of the usage behavior.

1. Background Activity
2. Notifications
3. Connected to Charger
4. Or any Other

Try some of these options too.

To prolong the life of your iPhone battery, you can follow these tips and best practices:

To prolong the life of your iPhone battery, you can follow these tips and best practices:

1. Optimize Battery Charging: Enable the "Optimized Battery Charging" feature on your iPhone. It helps reduce the wear on the battery by slowing down the battery aging process. You can find this option in Settings > Battery > Battery Health. About Optimized Battery Charging on your iPhone - Apple Support (IN)
2. Avoid Extreme Temperatures: Extreme temperatures, both hot and cold, can negatively impact your battery life. Avoid exposing your iPhone to excessive heat or cold, such as leaving it in direct sunlight or in a freezing car.If your iPhone or iPad gets too hot or too cold – Apple Support (UK)
3. Use Original Chargers and Cables: Always use Apple's original chargers and cables or certified third-party accessories. Low-quality chargers or cables can damage the battery and reduce its lifespan. Identify counterfeit or uncertified Lightning connector accessories - Apple Support (IN)
4. Avoid Draining the Battery to Zero: Charge it whenever the charge becomes lower than 20%. The rest is up to you when to charge. how long to charge, how often to charge, which adapter to use starting from 5W to 140W USB-C Power Adapter etc.
5. Optimize Display Settings: Adjust your display settings to optimize battery life. Lower the screen brightness, enable auto-brightness, and use shorter screen timeout durations. Adjust the display and text size on iPhone - Apple Support (IN)
6. Minimize Background App Refresh: Limit the number of apps allowed to refresh in the background. Go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh and disable it for apps that don't require real-time updates. Switch apps on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support (IN)

Wow, I thought my phone was ruined. And I couldn’t figure out why. My friend told me that other people have been having these issues and I’m so glad I found these threads. It definitely is a problem from the iOS update and they better take accountability. I never had a problem in until July this year

Shortcut101 wrote:

All of these problems began immediately after installing iOS 26.5.2. My iPhone did not exhibit these behaviors prior to the update.

Not every issue an individual encounters on their device can be attributed to an iOS update. If the update itself were the root cause, then every device running that same version of iOS would exhibit the identical problem. In such a scenario, the forums would be flooded with countless posts reporting the same malfunction, creating an unmistakable wave of complaints that no one could possibly overlook. The absence of such widespread reports strongly indicates that the issue is not systemic, but rather specific to the device in question.

Shortcut101 wrote:

iOS 26.5.2 Causes Severe Battery Drain, Overheating, and Audio Volume Bug Across Multiple Apps

Immediately after updating my iPhone to iOS 26.5.2, I began experiencing several issues that were not present before the update.

I conducted a thorough search of this forum using the term 'battery drain after iOS update' and uncovered numerous posts detailing similar issues across various iOS updates. This suggests that iOS updates may not consistently be the root cause. Below are a handful of examples extracted from the search results:

• iPhone 14 Pro Max battery drain after iOS 17.0.1 update
• iPhone 6s battery drain after iOS update 15.7.1
• Re: Battery draining quickly on my iPhone 13 after iOS 18.5 update
• Battery Drain rate after iOS 16 update
• My iPhone 13 battery is draining fast after iOS 18.3.2 update
• Battery Draining after the ios 16.5 update
• Battery Draining after updating iOS 18.1.1
• Re: Battery drain after ios 15.6 update
• battery drain after ios 10 update
• Re: iPhone battery drain after updating to iOS 16.3

Read this Apple Article for better clarity --> Find out what to do if you think your battery is draining too quickly.

Battery drain is only subjective if you have nothing to compare it to. I do. Prior to the update, my phone would never fall below 60% battery remaining during a day. After the update, my battery remaining routinely falls below 20% with no significant change in usage. My wife's phone is having similar issues. This is clearly a flaw in the update, and Apple needs to get it fixed ASAP.

I get the same after updating to 26.5.2. My iPhone 15 Pro is overheating all the time. Battery gets from 100% to 20% over night. 2 weeks ago it was like 80% in the morning. This is def. related to the new update. Hope there will be a new version asap.

You're being so annoying by ignoring that plenty of people are exposing the same issues: battery drainage, overheating and audio glitches. I came here looking for support because guess what: I'm experiencing the exact same issues on my iPhone 16 pro max. A bunch of friends are experiencing the same issues, on different phones, so will you keep saying it's not related to the iOS update? Everyone is experiencing them after the update.

Personally, I’ve been experiencing battery drain and overheating issues since iOS 26.5.2 (on my 15 Pro). Everything was functioning perfectly before the update.

Shortcut101 wrote:

Audio Volume Bug: While watching videos, the audio will randomly become extremely quiet without warning. The volume indicator still shows the volume increasing when I press the volume buttons, but the actual sound level does not increase. The only reliable workaround is to completely force close the app and reopen it.

Now with Feedback Assistant available on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and the web, it's easier to submit effective bug reports and request enhancements to APIs and ...

Feedback Assistant

Shortcut101 wrote:

Audio Volume Bug: While watching videos, the audio will randomly become extremely quiet without warning. The volume indicator still shows the volume increasing when I press the volume buttons, but the actual sound level does not increase. The only reliable workaround is to completely force close the app and reopen it.

When you watch videos or listen to audio on different streaming platforms, the playback volume often shifts because each file is recorded, mixed, and uploaded at varying loudness levels. Unlike standardized broadcast audio, not all creators or publishers normalize their content to the same volume threshold.

• Recording differences: Some videos are captured with higher gain, while others are recorded more quietly.
• Editing choices: Producers may intentionally boost or reduce volume during mixing for dramatic effect or stylistic reasons.
• Platform policies: Certain platforms apply loudness normalization (e.g., YouTube’s “Loudness Normalization”), but others leave the audio as uploaded.
• Result for the viewer: Since there’s no universal standard across all platforms, you’ll notice that one video might sound louder, while the next feels softer—even if your device volume hasn’t changed.

Playback volume isn’t uniform because not all videos are recorded, processed, or uploaded at the same level, and platforms vary in how they handle normalization.

I might add that not only battery drainage, but it is taking forever to recharge. From 28% to 76% in over an hour.