Apple’s new adaptive battery mode in iOS 26 skips most iPhones

Adaptive Power Mode in iOS 26 makes subtle system tweaks for better battery life, but works only on select newer iPhones.

Shubham Sawarkar

ByShubham Sawarkar

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Shubham Sawarkar is a technology journalist at GadgetBond, covering Apple, AI, consumer technology, software, gadgets, and product launches. His work explores emerging technologies, industry developments, product...

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Jun 21, 2025, 2:06 PM EDT

Apple’s annual software update season always brings a mix of excitement and speculation, and iOS 26 is no exception. At WWDC 2025, Apple unveiled a slew of new features under the umbrella of Apple Intelligence, and among them is Adaptive Power Mode—a new battery-saving option designed to extend runtime by making subtle performance adjustments. While the idea sounds straightforward, the implementation comes with important caveats: not every iPhone that runs iOS 26 will support this feature.

Adaptive Power Mode is an opt-in feature in iOS 26 that works alongside the existing Low Power Mode. According to Apple’s beta description, when your battery usage is higher than usual, the iPhone can make “small performance adjustments to extend your battery life, including slightly lowering the display brightness or allowing some activities to take a little longer.” In practice, this means the system may dynamically dial back CPU or GPU bursts for non-essential background tasks, reduce refresh rates, or nudge brightness downward when it predicts battery strain. When the battery level falls below 20%, the system may also automatically engage Low Power Mode as it does today.

Compatible iPhone models

While iOS 26 supports devices as far back as the iPhone 11 series, Adaptive Power Mode is only available on models with the required Apple Intelligence support. Specifically, the feature appears in iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPhone 16 lineup (iPhone 16e, 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, and 16 Pro Max).

iPhone 15 Pro
iPhone 15 Pro Max
iPhone 16e
iPhone 16
iPhone 16 Plus
iPhone 16 Pro
iPhone 16 Pro Max

How to enable Adaptive Power Mode?

By default, Adaptive Power Mode is turned off. Once you install iOS 26 on a supported iPhone, you can opt in via Settings → Battery → Power Mode, where you’ll see toggles for both Low Power Mode and Adaptive Power Mode. Toggling on Adaptive Power Mode allows the system to apply its intelligent adjustments continuously. If you toggle it off, your iPhone behaves as before, relying solely on manual Low Power Mode or automatic triggers at 20% battery.