Learn how to get a notification when your iPhone uses Adaptive Power Mode to extend your battery life, which may cause apps to run slower and the device to lag.
Apple’s iOS 26 operating system brings Adaptive Power Mode, an intelligent battery saver mode that extends battery life when your device usage is abnormal. This new power management option is in addition to Low Power Mode, which temporarily suspends many background activities to make your iPhone last longer.
However, Adaptive Power Mode makes smaller adjustments that don’t affect your iPhone’s performance as drastically as Low Power Mode. Here’s how to toggle the Adaptive Power notification if you’d like to know when Adaptive Power Mode has reduced the device’s performance.
How to toggle the Adaptive Power Mode notification
You can manage the Adaptive Power Mode feature and notification in the Power Mode section in your iPhone’s battery settings, provided you’re running iOS 26.
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Navigate to Battery ⇾ Power Mode.
- Turn on the Adaptive Power and Adaptive Power Notifications switches.
Adaptive Power requires Apple Intelligence. Image: Christian Zibreg/iDB/Apple
If you turn on this switch, your iPhone will show a notification when Adaptive Power Mode has decreased device performance to conserve battery life, saying “iPhone is adjusting performance to help extend your battery life.” The notification shows up on the Lock Screen when the device is locked and during active use. Apple’s description suggests that Adaptive Power Mode doesn’t engage when you have sufficient battery charge and the battery doesn’t drain faster than usual.
How does Adaptive Power Mode work?
Adaptive Power Mode, turned off by default, makes smaller performance tweaks than Low Power Mode. “When your battery usage is higher than usual, iPhone can extend your battery life by making performance adjustments, such as lowering display brightness, allowing some activities to take longer or turning on Low Power Mode at 20%,” according to Apple’s description.
Adaptive Power Mode uses artificial intelligence to dynamically adjust device performance, meaning it only works on devices that are compatible with Apple Intelligence (iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16 lineup)
Make your iPhone last longer
There are many iPhone battery saving tips to stretch your battery life, like keeping Low Power Mode turned on all the time with a little help from a Shortcuts automation. Personally, I don’t like to keep Low Power Mode turned on throughout the day as its heavy restrictions make my device way too laggy for my taste.
But Adaptive Power Mode doesn’t throttle your device so drastically, and it’s a feature that automatically kicks in when needed without deactivating a lot of background activities and features such as Background App Refresh, mail fetch, Always-on display, iCloud syncing, 5G data, as well as display refresh rate (ProMotion) and brightness.
However, keep in mind that Adaptive Power Mode can also turn on Low Power Mode with all its performance adjustments when the battery charge drops to 20%, which is when iOS automatically turns on Low Power Mode anyway.