An analysis of the iOS 16.4 code shows that you will soon be able to see exactly how much battery life is consumed when using the iPhone Always-On display.
- What’s happening? The iOS 16.4 code indicates that the Settings app will soon be able to drill down on battery usage when the always-on display is on.
- Why care? The Always-On display consumes minimal power. However, it would be great to accurately measure how much battery life this feature consumes.
- What to do? Keep your eyes peeled for iDB as we will be sure to post more information about this feature as it becomes available.
Does iOS 16.4 track always-on display battery drain?
The battery section of iOS 16.4 may soon detail the battery drain of the always-on display, according to evidence found in iOS 16.4 9to5Mac code.
Apple already provides battery drain data for system features like Personal Hotspot in Settings → Battery. You can also see how much battery power was consumed when your iPhone tried to connect to a network in areas without cell coverage. The next logical step would be to add permanent battery drain.
“At this point, it’s not clear if this feature is enabled in this beta, as it will likely be at least a few hours before iOS collects enough statistics to detail the battery consumption of the always-on display,” notes 9to5Mac.
Even though the Aways-On display consumes minimal power, it still needs power to display dimmed wallpapers and refresh the screen. People like PhoneBuff have done tests claiming that the feature can consume up to twenty percent of your battery in 24 hours, or about fourteen percent with wallpapers disabled.
Other Persistent Display Benefits in iOS 16.4
iOS 16.4 includes other always-on display benefits. For example, there’s a new focus filter to turn the always-on display on or off when a specific focus, like Driving or Work, is active. In addition, you can now toggle the display of Always-On in automation shortcuts when a specific event is triggered or the location changes.
iOS 16.4 launches around April
Apple restarted the beta testing cycle by releasing the first beta software updates for iOS 16.4, iPadOS 16.4, macOS Ventura 13.3, watchOS 9.4, and tvOS 16.4 on February 16, 2023. These betas are available to both registered developers at developer.apple .. com and public beta testers at beta.apple.com.
These software updates will be tested and improved over the next few weeks and we expect them to be released publicly around April.