This Smart iOS 26 Feature Could Boost Your iPhone Battery Life: All About Adaptive Power
The batteries of the iPhone 17 series offer a longer use before having to be billed, in particular the iPhone 17 Pro Max, which offers “the best life of the battery of any phone that CNET has ever tested”, according to the editor Patrick Holland in his journal. This is partly due to physically larger battery sizes – but that’s not the whole story.
A new software feature in iOS 26 called adaptive power also contributes to an improvement in the battery life. It is activated by default on the latest Apple phones, but also available on older models that support Apple Intelligence.
Currently, the iPhone uses as much energy as it must perform its tasks. You can extend the battery life by doing a number of things, such as the decrease in screen brightness and the screen deactivation always on. Or, if your battery operates low, you can activate the low power mode, which limits background activity, such as mail recovery and data download, as well as screen fat to help extend the battery life. The low power mode also starts automatically when the battery level reaches 20%.
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If low power mode is the hammer that eliminates energy consumption, adaptive power is the scalpel that intelligently cuts energy savings here and there if necessary. On the basis of the description of Apple which accompanies the control, the savings will be mainly made in situations eager for power such as the recording of videos, the modification of the photos or even the reading of games:
Apple says that adaptive power takes approximately a week to analyze your user behavior before starting actively. And it works in the background without needing management on your part. Here’s how Apple describes it in the iPhone user guide: “He uses intelligence on devices to predict when you need additional battery power according to your recent models, then makes performance adjustments to help your battery last longer.”
Look at this: The iPhone 17 Pro Max has an incredible battery life
What iPhone models can use adaptive power?
The functionality uses AI to monitor and choose when its energy saving measures should be activated, which means that only phones compatible with Apple Intelligence obtain the function. These are the models that have the option:
• iPhone 17
• iPhone 17 pro and iPhone 17 pro max
• iPhone air
• iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus
• iPhone 16 pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max
• iPhone 16th
• iPhone 15 pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max
Although some iPad and Mac models support Apple Intelligence, functionality is only available on iPhones.
How to turn on the adaptive power
On the iPhone 17, the iPhone 17 Pro, the iPhone 17 Pro Max and the iPhone Air, the adaptive power supply is lit by default. For other models, you must opt to use it. In iOS 26, you will find the adaptive power change in settings> Battery> Power mode. If you want to be alerted when the function is active, activate the Adaptive Power Notifications option.
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In iOS 26, activate the adaptive power adjustment to help prolong the battery life.
The adaptive power sounds like an outgrowth of the game mode, introduced in iOS 18, which transports all the treatment treatments and graphics available to the most frontal application and takes a break from other processes in order to provide the best possible experience – to the significant detriment of the life of the battery.
When the iPhone uses an adaptive power, a notification appears.
What does this mean for your charging habits?
Although we all wanted as much battery life as possible all the time, judging by the description, it seems that the optimizations of adaptive power will not always be active, even if you leave the functionality. “When using your battery is higher than usual” could include a limited number of situations. However, given that, according to a CNET survey, 61% of people upgrade their phones due to the battery life, a characteristic such that adaptive power could prolong the longevity of their phones simply by updating to iOS 26.
I also wonder if the slightly adjusted adjustment The brightness of the display could be disruptive, but according to my experience so far, this has not been noticeable. Since the functionality also undresses selective treatment tasks, the external effects seem minimal. When activated on my iPhone 16 Pro, the only indication was the adaptive power alert that appeared.
Find out more: The adaptive power in iOS 26 could save the air from the iPhone 17 from this major trap
We will have a better idea of how adaptive power works because more and more people adopt iOS 26 and will start buying new iPhone models. Also, don’t forget that shortly after installing a major software update, it is common to undergo a life of the worse battery because the system optimizes the data in the background; Apple went so far as to remind customers that this is a temporary side effect.
