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

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)

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.

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.