I have been testing iOS 26 since it’s release, and I would say battery life on iOS 26 is rather terrible. This isn’t surprising to me as it’s expected on any beta version. There’s a variety of reasons for this, like most apps being poorly optimized to preserve health. While there are a lot of exciting features within this release, I would highly suggest waiting for at least the public beta before installing anything.
Looking at the iPhone 15 Pro Battery before iOS 26
I bought the iPhone 15 Pro when it became available in September 2023, and it’s been my daily driver ever since. Checking my battery stats (which you can find in Settings > Battery > Battery Health), it was manufactured in July 2023 and was first put to use in September.
If you’re familiar with lithium-ion, you know it tends to degrade over time, and my iPhone is no exception. Though, there are ways to help protect it, such as taking advantage of the features typically found on newer devices. At the time of this writing, my device has a maximum capacity of eighty-nine percent and iOS says the health is normal.
Before installing iOS 26, I would say I had typical battery life from my iPhone. On an average day, taking my iPhone off the charger at 7:00 a.m. would find me needing to charge my device again around 1:00 p.m. Before charging, I would find my iPhone at around sixty percent battery life. Personally, the largest killers of my battery life would be Pokémon GO and doomscrolling Facebook reels. For days I knew I would be playing Pokémon after work, the need to charge my phone would be essential, as even just a few hours of gaming would leave the iPhone nearly dead.
Personally, I chalk this up to fast-charging during my lunch break, but there can be a number of factors to consider when it comes to a phone battery depletion. Running the iOS 26 developer beta has made things considerably worse.
Battery Life after Installing the Beta
I took the plunge into iOS 26 shortly after the beta became available. It’s also worth noting that at the time of this writing, I am not running the second developer beta that launched last June 23. I am, however, running the “second” one that came shortly after the first, which addresses issues in iPhone 15 and 16.
Keeping this in mind, the battery life is about what you would expect, which is to say that’s it not good. When you install a beta, you should be aware that terrible battery life (among other issues) is something you should expect, as the software simply isn’t built with battery preservation in mind just yet. Likely, very little is optimized at this point.
Before writing this article, I took a walk and played some Pokémon GO. Despite my iPhone having nearly a full charge, it had dropped nearly 30 percent in the forty minute walk. This is about what I would expect from the current iOS 26 beta, as doing any sort of gaming drains the battery fast. Really, it’s just one of the many reasons you should not install such things on your primary device.
In its current state, going anywhere with my iPhone for long periods of time can be a challenge if I do not adequately prepare beforehand. For example, even knowing that I will be away from a charger for more than six hours has me ensuring I charge my device for as long as possible before heading out.
In this instance, I doubt my situation is unique, and I would largely suggest you expect the same if you plan on running the developer beta.
Should I Install the iOS 26 Developer Beta?
If you have any concerns about the battery life of your iPhone, I would recommend not installing a developer beta. Honestly, I would likely say the same when the public beta sees release in July. While the second developer beta may improve battery life somewhat, it is not really something you should expect.
There’s really only two reasons to download a developer beta in the first place: either you want to gain early access to the next generation of features, or you’re a developer that needs to test your own software on the operating system. Either reason is still going to sacrifice the overall usability of the device, battery life included.
While it has been great testing iOS 26 and seeing what’s in-store this coming September, don’t expect anything near a flawless experience. If anything, expect certain things–potentially critical things–to be semi if not fully broken.
While time will tell on how the battery life will be in the full release of iOS 26, it will certainly be better than the developer beta.