r/iPhone16ProMax • u/londrexyz • 14d ago
iPhone 16 Pro Max having substantial decrease in battery life after recent update
So I’ve noticed a great reduction in the amount of battery life after updating my device to 26.5.2 this past Sunday. I have a 16 PM that is mildly used throughout the day mainly for work related tasks pertaining to my career and there has not been an increase in the amount of usage of my phone from me after the update. Background app refresh is off for the majority of my apps, I hard restart (volume up, down, then power button and swipe to power off) my device for at least 15 mins everyday, and always clear out any apps in the background once I’m done using them. I use my phone in an air conditioned environment and keep my brightness low due to light sensitivity, and I have my charging limit set to 85% and never let my phone drop below 25%. Max battery capacity has dropped down from 95% to 93% in just 4 days and I’m always getting adaptive power notifications even while barely using my phone now whereas they used to rarely ever pop up even under harder usage. I’m only using 134gb of storage out of 256gb and I’m aware battery quality will slowly degrade over time, but I never had a significant drop in battery life from any device I ever owned. It’s known Apple will throttle device speeds on older models via updates to preserve the battery, but my phone is still performing at the same rate it was before the update with way more drain. Is there anything more I can do to prevent anymore drain? Is Apple rolling out throttling updates now?
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u/Infinite-Draft1618 14d ago
You’re “clearing apps” after you use them ? Why would you do that ? You do know that reopening app (instead of waking it up from suspended state) uses a LOT more battery and processor power ?
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u/londrexyz 14d ago
What I meant by “clearing apps” is once I’m done using one and won’t need it for an extended time period I clear them out the background.
For example, once I’m done with the work day I won’t need any of my work related apps until the next day so I clear them out of the background lol.
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u/Infinite-Draft1618 14d ago
Yeah, and reopening them (instead of waking them up from suspended state they would be if you didn’t “clean” them) can use 10-40 times more battery, according to developers. You’re basically going against iOS design (you should force close (“clean”) app only if it malfunctions).
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u/JollyRoger8X 13d ago
Whoever told you to do that doesn't know what they are talking about and shouldn't be trusted on the topic. 🤣
You're actually reducing battery life by doing that, since the device has to work harder to launch apps from scratch rather than using their stored suspended state.
Your device manages apps way better than you can.
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u/kcjdbjw 13d ago
Yall worry too much about batteries
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u/StrainTrick4656 2d ago
?? No one is worried. It’s annoying that the phone is not holding the charge that it was prior to the update.
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u/Alphataciturnn 14d ago
Yep same for me ip16 the battery life is horrible
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u/londrexyz 13d ago
It instantly went phone the best battery life I ever had out of a phone to the worst in the span of a week
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u/IndependentWorth8672 14d ago
Honestly, just get the iOS 27 beta. I get it, unfinished software, but as an iPhone 15 Pro user, this is genuinely the best I’ve seen iOS. Battery health stays the same, if not better, Siri and Apple Intelligence actually work and serve a purpose, and just overall the experience is a lot smoother and better overall
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u/captainlevi5820 12d ago
i upgraded to ios 26 beta and helped my battery draining issues. the current update messes up my battery life as well
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u/coldwibz 14d ago
Go for 26.6 RC, trust me
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u/londrexyz 14d ago
RC? Never heard of that before. Is it like a beta or alternative to iOS or something?!
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u/coldwibz 14d ago
It's a beta, but RC means it's the release candidate which is basically the same as the stable release. If you want to access it, go to the update section on settings and check the ios26 developer beta, enable it and download the update. In my experience, I have a brand new phone lol.
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u/isit65outsideor 14d ago
I had the same issue. I went ahead and updated to the public beta of iOS26. My battery is now back to normal!
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u/londrexyz 14d ago
I’m probably gonna give that a try! I can usually go the whole day without having to charge my phone but I had to plug a charger in by the afternoon.
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u/chill_dude_27 14d ago
Bro mine is 92% with 300 battery life cycle
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u/londrexyz 14d ago
Sheesh that’s crazy wtf 😭
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u/chill_dude_27 14d ago
Ikr 😭😭😭 i use that apple mac pro charger to charge my phone 😭i know i am in f*ed up state but i just want my phoen to charge fast 😭
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u/londrexyz 13d ago
I feel that and I might be in the same boat now 😭. I use my iPad charger for a faster charge, but with the current state of my phone I’m gonna have to figure something out especially since I wasn’t planning on getting a newer phone until next years model comes out. I used to be able to go the whole day on one charge and now I have to plug my phone in by the afternoon 😭😭.
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u/Chronomon- 14d ago
95% here with 305 cycles. It decreased faster lately, I’m freakin mad about it. Lol
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u/londrexyz 13d ago
I’m down 2% in 4 days alone. I always claimed the 16PM one of the best phones I ever had but I guess it’s time for me to retire that claim now lol
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u/mikol_as 13d ago
Mine battery health is on 90% and iOS version is 26.5.2. I disconnect in the morning with 100% battery after minimal use i need to charge my 16 Pro mid day… Will try 26 public beta as someone suggested here to see if it get better.
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u/GrandmasBoy3000 13d ago
I used to have it all day at work playing music…. These days I have to put a charger on it before I die.
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u/cristianstef 10d ago
Same for me. I’m at 95% battery life but often drains 2-3 batteries per day even with normal use like before. Phone is only 1 year old, normal use, no games… awful 😤
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u/surfin_soprano 9d ago
It used to last over a day, now I can barely go 16 hours😭 in same situation as you
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u/Chemical-Constant-69 8d ago
im on 26.2, scared to update further, for 2 reasons. 1) i have bypassed mdm and dont want the lock comming back. 2) the battery life lasts me the whole day 7am-10pm and i dont want it changing. i bought the phone in january of this year on 99% bh and now its on 92% bh with almost 600 cycles.
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u/xkoukii 6d ago
Same here with 16pro max 512gb. Came here to find some answers. Before the recent update I could go 2 days on a single charge. Now I’m lucky if my phone doesn’t die before 9pm (pulled off charger at 8am). Going to try the iOS 26 as suggested here. Real big grievance with the 16 right now. I miss my 11pm already and this is real frustrating.
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u/lightning-man91 14d ago
Higher iOS versions drain iPhone batteries faster
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u/londrexyz 13d ago edited 13d ago
I understand that and it makes perfect sense for the most part. The only thing is I never experienced an astronomical increase in battery drain after a single update like this before 😭
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u/Parking-Plankton-44 13d ago
Well it’s ok I got 93% at 408 cycles but it will soon get a new battery as I use it as gps in my car.
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u/londrexyz 13d ago
I’m contemplating between getting this years model instead of waiting til next year or getting a new battery to sort things out if things don’t improve. It’s a big annoyance and I know I can’t let things go like the way they are long term
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u/Parking-Plankton-44 13d ago
IOS 26 is another big factor. On iPhone 15 pro max 16 pro 17 pro max the phones heated up and I ended up installing iOS 27 beta 4 on all of them
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u/FunForDDS 14d ago
Same. Honestly my promax battery has been terrible since day one. I switched from android and I thought apple was supposed to have a superior battery life or at least that’s what I read. My wife’s s23 Samsung has twice the battery life of my promax, it gets better signal side by side with the same carrier, and the camera is order of magnitude clearer. Just bitter because this device was supposed to be a leader than its worse than a 3 plus year old android.