iPhone battery settings got a nice update in iOS 26, including a new smart battery saving mode called Adaptive Power. Your iPhone will now also track additional battery statistics, such as average power consumption throughout the day.
But perhaps the most notable improvement is that the iPhone can now tell you exactly how long it will take to charge the battery. Right at the top of the lock screen, when connected to power, your phone will now display the estimated time to charge to 80%.
So, if your iPhone’s battery is less than 80%, you can take a quick look at your iPhone while it’s charging to see the current time until the battery reaches 80%.
This feature is useful if you use a variety of chargers, perhaps a mix of slow and fast chargers. Battery time estimation will take into account whatever your current charging speed is.
In the example above, the iPhone battery currently has a charge of 77%. The phone is connected to a slow charger, and the system predicts that it will take another seven minutes to add 3% of battery to reach 80%.
After the 80% mark, battery charging time estimates can also be found in the newly revamped Settings -> Battery section. The top of this screen now tells you the current charging status, including the time needed to finish charging. If the phone is disconnected, it reports the current battery percentage and the level it was charged to when it was last connected.
The other main section of the battery settings screen is a new chart that compares your current consumption to your daily and weekly averages. It will also try to let you know if an app is using more battery than usual, and why.
To make your iPhone last longer on a single charge, there’s also a new feature Adaptive strength Toggle on the Power Mode settings screen. This sits alongside Low Power Mode as another way to set the longevity and performance trade-off for your phone.
Here’s how Apple describes Adaptive Power Mode:
“When battery usage is higher than usual, iPhone can make small performance adjustments to extend battery life, including lowering the screen brightness slightly or allowing some activities to take a little longer. Low Power Mode may be turned on at 20%.”
The description is a bit vague, but it sounds like the system will check if battery usage is abnormal and conditionally lower your device’s performance to compensate. This may mean that your email may fetch less regularly, or that some things may take a little longer to complete when adaptive power throttles your device.
The adjustments seem intended to be subtle (“a little lower,” “a little longer”) so you shouldn’t notice much of a difference in practice. If you have a lot of battery and don’t use it more than usual, your device’s performance won’t change. That’s why it’s called an adaptive feature.
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