Alex Ruben
How To Fix iPhone Battery Drain After iOS 26 Update in 2025
Got a shiny new iPhone update to iOS 26, and now it feels like the battery’s melting faster than ever? Yeah, you’re not alone. Sometimes, beta updates (especially betas, weirdly enough) cause weird battery issues due to buggy processes, background apps acting up, or just general system glitches. This isn’t permanently broken — just annoying. The goal here is to squeeze a little more juice out of the device until Apple patches the mess, and get things back to normal. Expect some steps to involve tweaking settings, resetting stuff, or toggling a few hidden options. Fingers crossed, these help save you from constantly hunting for a charger.
How to Fix iPhone Battery Draining Faster After iOS 26 Update
Check if a rogue app or process is hogging resources
Stuff running in the background can easily sabotage your battery. On iOS, useful for spotting battery drain, is the built-in battery usage stats — they tell which apps or services are acting weird.
- Go to Settings > Battery.
- Scroll down to see which apps are burning through your battery the fastest.
- If an app is suspiciously high but you aren’t using it actively, try force quitting it or uninstalling temporarily to see if that helps.
Sometimes, after a system update, certain apps get stuck or hang, causing battery drain. Clearing out the culprits can help legit, even if it’s fight-the-ghost fixes.
Disable or Limit Background App Refresh (because of course, iOS loves to eat your battery alive)
This is a classic, and it applies especially after an update when apps seem to decide they need to refresh every second. Switching it off for unnecessary apps or all apps altogether can give a quick bump in battery life.
- Open Settings.
- Tap on General > Background App Refresh.
- Either turn it off totally or selectively disable for specific apps — you don’t need Tinder updating every moment unless you’re actively swiping.
On some setups, this seems to fix the crazy drain, especially if a random app is stuck refreshing in the background.
Cut down on location services, but do it smartly
Location tracking can be nice, but on a new update, it also seems to sneakily drain the battery when apps are constantly on GPS. Here’s what to do:
- Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services.
- Try turning it off entirely — but this isn’t always practical.
- Or, set individual apps to “While Using” instead of “Always”.
Doing this probably helps apps only access GPS when you want them to, saving some precious power.
Switch on Low Power Mode (because, duh, it works)
One of the easiest and fastest fixes — enabling Low Power Mode. It slaps down background activity, email fetch, visual effects, and other power-hungry processes. You can toggle it from Settings > Battery.
- Just flip it on and see if that stops the drain for a bit.
Not perfect if you need full performance, but for draining batteries it can really buy some time.
Reset settings if nothing else works (not a full reset, just settings)
iOS sometimes gets its knickers in a twist after a beta, especially if you tweak stuff and reboot. Resetting all settings can fix weird bugs without wiping data.
- Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings.
- This resets Wi-Fi, Home Screen layout, and preferences, but leaves your apps and data alone.
Expect to re-enter Wi-Fi passwords afterward, but it’s worth trying.
Update or downgrade if the issue is persistent
Because beta updates are… beta, sometimes the fix is to wait for a new patch. Or, if things are just unbearable and killing the device, consider going back to a stable iOS version — but that’s more involved. Check if there’s a public beta or official release that’s more stable, and remember, beta is meant for testing. If you’re running the developer beta, it’s more prone to bugs.
Extra Tips & Common Issues
Also worth noting: keep your iPhone’s software updated, as Apple often releases quick patches for these same issues. Adjust screen brightness manually or use Auto-Brightness from Settings > Display & Brightness. Notifications from loads of apps? Limit those or disable non-essential ones, as they wake your screen and use power just for a glance. And if all else fails, resetting all settings usually resets weird configurations lurking in the background.
Wrap-up
Bottom line is, the update can mess with how iOS manages resources, so these tweaks usually help tip things back into balance. Sometimes, the problem’s just a temporary glitch that will get fixed in the next update. Other times, it’s process-specific and requires a bit of fiddling around. Don’t be surprised if a reboot or toggling a setting doesn’t work immediately. On some machines, this whole process might require a couple of tries or a reboot afterward. Because why not? Technology loves to surprise.
Summary
- Check battery usage for rogue apps.
- Disable background refresh for unnecessary apps.
- Limit location services or set them to “While Using”.
- Turn on Low Power Mode.
- Reset settings if things stay wonky.
Fingers crossed this helps
Dealing with battery issues after a new update is super frustrating, but usually, with these tweaks, it’s possible to stabilize things until Apple drops a fix. Just keep an eye on the updates, and don’t forget to report bugs if they’re really bad. Maybe someday, iOS will be more stable post-beta, but until then, a little user high-maintenance goes a long way.