Since the iPhone X debuted in 2017, Apple fans have been complaining about the missing battery percentage in the status bar. With the introduction of the TrueDepth module and all the cameras and sensors that enable Face ID, the status bar was cut in half with a lot of space missing in the middle.
So on all iPhones with Face ID and a notch (all but the iPhone SE), Apple has eliminated the ability to display your battery percentage on the status bar. You need to swipe to the Control Center to see your battery percentage. Now, with iOS 16, everything changes.
As of Developer beta 5 (released August 8, 2022), iOS 16 includes the option in Settings > Battery to show the battery percentage in the status bar again.
They said it was just too complicated. That the technology simply wasn’t there yet. But Apple has shown what WHERE innovation is by making the battery icon just a touch bigger and mentioning the battery percentage inside the. Just like everyone has asked them for the past six years.
It appears that this feature is not available on the iPhone SE, iPhone XR, iPhone 11 or iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 13 mini. Our guess is that the LCD screen phones and mini phones don’t have enough resolution to make the little black text as clear as Apple would like, but you never know what might change in the future. Here is the full list of supported phones:
- iPhone 13 Pro Max
- iPhone 13 Pro
- iPhone 13
- iPhone 12 Pro Max
- iPhone 12 Pro
- iPhone 12
- iPhone 11 Pro Max
- iPhone 11 Pro
- iPhone XS Max
- iPhone XS
- iPhone X
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Of course, iOS 16 is packed with much bigger features. A customizable lock screen! Cut the subject directly from an image! Edit and delete messages! But it’s often the smallest things that make people happiest. Apple didn’t even telegraph this move — maybe it wasn’t even planned when iOS 16 was unveiled at WWDC in June. Still, we get the feeling that when hundreds of millions of iPhone users update their iPhones in September, you’re a lot of upbeat social media posts about battery percentage returning to status bar.
