iOS 16 Battery Percentage Display Not Available on Some iPhone Models

Among the new features that come with an upgrade to iOS 16 on supported iPhones, is the new battery percent display that first showed up in an iOS 16 beta. The feature basically lets you glance at the battery’s charge status without the need to swipe down the Control Center on iPhones that have the TrueDepth camera and the display notch. Turns out that not all iPhone users can take advantage of this feature.

Apple’s iOS 16 operating system is available for a long list of supported iPhones (starting from the iPhone 8), but it turns out that not all of them will get all of the features. Key among these is the new battery percentage display that is located to the right of TrueDepth camera system, which is housed inside the display notch. It now indicates the battery percentage, which is convenient to glance at instead of swiping down the Control Center.

Apple has now indicated in a support document that not all iPhone models will support the battery percentage display feature. In its support document, Apple states that the new battery percentage display is not available on the iPhone XR, iPhone 11, the iPhone 12 mini, and the more recent iPhone 13 mini as well. It does not provide any information on why it’s not possible to bring the feature to these iPhone models.

While the new battery percentage display is a welcomed feature in iOS 16, the way it displays the percentage can be a bit tricky to read as the new indicator includes the percentage inside the battery icon instead of next to it, like on past models, and in the Control Center. The icon itself remains completely filled giving users the impression that battery has not drained, until the battery drops to 20 percent after which the icon turns red, remaining partially filled.

This is very different compared to how Android smartphones display battery status, which usually have the battery icon that’s filled to indicate exactly how much battery life is left along with the percentage shown next to it.