iOS 26 includes a big upgrade to how it handles battery life with a new ‘Adaptive Power’ feature in the Settings app.
Appel Ships ‘Adaptive Power’ Feature with iOS 26 to Extend iPhone Battery Life
It was rumored that Apple was going to reveal this feature with the iPhone 17 Air later this year. However, with the iOS 26 beta, the feature is live and works on iPhone.
Once enabled, Apple says that if it detects very high usage, it will tweak the performance a little in order to make the iPhone last longer on battery.
It may even slightly lower the display brightness, slow down some things in the background, and turn on Low Power Mode automatically when the device is at 20%.
I really want someone to put this to the test and see how long the iPhone lasts with Adaptive Power turned on. The battery saving should be massive on something like the iPhone 16 Pro Max, while smaller battery devices like the iPhone 16 might not see huge gains.
I’m just speculating here, and the chances are high Apple is going to improve the algorithm from time to time in order to extend battery life even more compared to how it is handled with the first beta.
