This article explains how to view your iPhone’s battery life as a percentage and avoid the red battery icon to better understand how much battery your phone has left.
What to Know
- In iOS 10 and up, open Control Center and view the battery life as a percentage next to the battery icon in the upper-right corner.iOS 9: Go to Settings > Battery and turn on Battery Percentage. iOS 8-4: Settings > General > Usage and turn on Battery Percentage.In iOS 9 and higher, there’s another useful setting. Go to Settings > Battery and view Battery Usage by App to pinpoint battery hogs.
How to View Battery Percentage in iOS 10 and Up
Until iOS 10, you could view the battery percentage in the upper-right corner of every screen where the battery icon appears by changing the Battery setting. That changed in iOS 10. Now you can only view the percentage of battery life you have left in the Control Center, and you don’t have to change any settings to see it.
- Open Control Center. How you do this depends on the iPhone model. On the iPhone X and newer, swipe down from the upper-right corner. On all other models, swipe up from the bottom.
- The battery percentage displays in the upper-right corner of the Control Center screen, next to the battery icon.
- All other screens display the default battery icon without the percentage.
How to View Battery Percentage in iOS 9
In iOS 9, you can view your device’s battery life as a percentage on any screen by changing the Battery settings.
Open Control Center. How you do this depends on the iPhone model. On the iPhone X and newer, swipe down from the upper-right corner. On all other models, swipe up from the bottom.
The battery percentage displays in the upper-right corner of the Control Center screen, next to the battery icon.
All other screens display the default battery icon without the percentage.
- Open the Settings app.
- Tap Battery.
- Move the Battery Percentage toggle switch to On/green.
How to View Battery Percentage in iOS 4 Through iOS 8
In iOS 4 through iOS 8, the process to view the battery use as a percentage on every screen is slightly different.
Open the Settings app.
Tap Battery.
Move the Battery Percentage toggle switch to On/green.
- Tap Settings.
- Choose General (in iOS 6 and higher; on an older OS, skip this step).
- Tap Usage.
- Move the Battery Percentage toggle switch to green in iOS 7 and iOS 8 (slide it to On in iOS 4 through 6).
How to Track Battery Usage on the iPhone or iPad
In iOS 9 and higher, there’s another feature in the Battery settings screen (Settings > Battery) that you might find useful. The Battery Usage section lists the apps that used the most battery life in the last 24 hours and the last 10 days. With this information, you can pinpoint battery-hogging apps and delete them or use them less, which in turn extends battery life.
Tap Settings.
Choose General (in iOS 6 and higher; on an older OS, skip this step).
Tap Usage.
Move the Battery Percentage toggle switch to green in iOS 7 and iOS 8 (slide it to On in iOS 4 through 6).
To view the timeframe for the report, tap either the Last 24 Hours or Last 10 Days tab. When you do this, you’ll see the percent of the total battery used by each app. Apps are sorted from those that used the most battery to those that used the least.
Some apps include basic information beneath them about what caused the usage. You may see a note that reads Background Activity or Low Signal. These notes explain why the app used so much battery power.
To get more detailed information about each app’s battery use, tap either the app name or the clock icon in the upper-right corner of the Battery Usage section. When you do this, the text beneath each app changes. For example, a podcast app might indicate that its battery usage was the result of two minutes of the app being used on-screen and 2.2 hours of background activity.
Being able to get this information is essential if your battery is draining faster than you expect, and you can’t figure out why.
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