What is Adaptive Power on iPhone in iOS 26?

Adaptive Power is a new iOS 26 feature available on iPhone 15 Pro and later that works automatically in the background to save battery, with the noble motive of helping you get through the day on remaining charge.

How does it work

After you turn on Adaptive Power or set up your new iPhone 17/17 Pro/iPhone Air (where this feature is enabled out of the box), your device takes at least 7 days to learn about your charging habits and usage. Going forward, whenever the on-device intelligence predicts that you’ll use your iPhone more or if it notices that your usage is higher than it typically is, it will make a few adjustments (mentioned below) to save battery.

These subtle adjustments ensure you get a slight boost in use time with the remaining battery. For devices like the thin iPhone Air (that comes with compromises), these small savings can add up and help you get through the day on a single charge.

One important point to note is that Adaptive Power won’t engage when you’re doing things on iPhone that require maximum performance, such as gaming with Game Mode enabled, using the camera, etc.

What happens during Adaptive Power mode

Adaptive Power can do the following to extend your usage:

• Lower display brightness by 3%
• Limit background activity
• Reduce stress on the processor and make some tasks take more time to finish at the cost of using less battery
• Turn on Low Power Mode, which is a stricter battery saver mode, automatically when your iPhone battery falls to 20%
• Make other performance adjustments to save battery

Supported devices

iOS 26 Adaptive Power is available on these iPhones:

• iPhone 17 Pro Max
• iPhone 17 Pro
• iPhone Air
• iPhone 17
• iPhone 16 Pro Max
• iPhone 16 Pro
• iPhone 16 Plus
• iPhone 16
• iPhone 16e
• iPhone 15 Pro Max
• iPhone 15 Pro

Note:

• Adaptive Power is enabled by default on iPhone 17 series and iPhone Air. You can turn it on manually on other models.
• As of now, it isn’t available on Apple Watch, iPad, or MacBook.

Turn Adaptive Power on or off

1. Open the iOS 26 Settings app.
2. Tap Battery.
3. Tap Power Mode from the bottom.
4. Turn Adaptive Power on or off.

You can also choose to get silent notifications every time Adaptive Power turns on. This helps you understand when your iPhone is running a few optimizations to save battery. If you notice a significant lag or delay in carrying out a task, you can disable Adaptive Power from battery settings. Note that if you keep Adaptive Power Notifications off, your iPhone will automatically turn this feature on and off in the background without you knowing about it.

Should you use it over Low Power Mode?

I rarely use Low Power Mode on my iPhone, as it disables the 120Hz ProMotion display. At one point, I even set up an automation that blocks Low Power Mode from activating on my iPhone. Secondly, Low Power Mode significantly limits CPU performance, which can be easily noticeable.

Adaptive Power mode, on the other hand, takes a gentler approach. It doesn’t turn off the smooth ProMotion display or make the device very slow. Plus, it engages and disengages automatically in the background based on my usage. So, I don’t have to manage it manually or wait for my iPhone to reach 80% to turn off automatically. Therefore, I’ve not turned it off yet.

But a few people on X suggested that they noticed significant stutters and delays when Adaptive Power was on. If you also detect something like this, consider enabling Adaptive Power Notifications so you can be aware when this battery-saving mode is active. Or, you can just turn off this feature entirely.

What do you think of this new feature?

Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/10/10/adaptive-power-iphone/