Apple released iOS 16 beta 6 on Monday, only a few days after beta 5, in what seems like an unusual release for the iPhone OS. We’re in the final stages of beta testing as we approach the mid-September iPhone 14 launch event. Therefore, we shouldn’t be surprised to see the new beta versions drop irregularly. What’s interesting in iOS 16 beta 6 is that it fixes the battery percentage indicator. Again.
As we explained last week, you can now enable the battery percentage indicator on any iOS 16 beta 5 iPhone. Well, a different version of it because the battery percentage shows up in the status bar as soon as you invoke Control Center. That’s swiping down from the top left corner.
But beta 5 puts the percentage indicator inside the battery icon. That can be a helpful change, albeit not a must-have one. That battery icon is relatively small, even though it’s slightly larger than the original battery icon. As a result, the battery percentage font is rather small.
We have already shown you how to enable or disable the battery percentage indicator in iOS 16 beta 5. And that’s when we realized disabling the feature has one huge caveat. Whenever you enable Low Power Mode on the handset, you also automatically enable the Battery Percentage indicator.
That’s where the iOS 16 beta 6 fix comes in. Apple has fixed the behavior of Low Power Mode. You can disable Battery Percentage completely after you install the new beta. And Low Power Mode will not temporarily reenable it. That’s how the feature should have worked in the first place. And how it’ll probably behave in the final iOS 16 release.
Your mileage might vary, however. Our testing shows that iOS 16 beta 6 can still deliver strange battery percentage errors. Like showing the percentage, even after turning it off in the Settings app and rebooting the iPhone:
The only way to test the iOS 16 percentage indicator right now is to get on the latest beta. Or wait another few weeks until Apple releases the final iOS 16 build.
The battery percentage is only a small iOS 16 feature. The most significant change comes from the Lock Screen experience. The Lock Screen can show battery life indicators for various devices via widgets. That includes the iPhone if you don’t have other gadgets connected. The following video gives you a preview of the iOS 16 Lock Screen experience.
More iPhone coverage: For more iPhone news, visit our iPhone 14 guide.
