The iPhone has had a Power Reserve function that holds back a small amount of battery life to allow features like Find My and NFC unlocking to work even when your device has died, and in iOS 18, Apple seems to be improving the feature further for the iPhone 15 models.
As demonstrated on Reddit, when the battery on an iPhone running iOS 18 is exhausted, the phone can continue to show the time in the upper left corner of the device, which is a small but useful upgrade. The battery icon still shows up, and you'll see "iPhone is Findable" while reserve battery is left.
It appears that this feature is limited to the iPhone 15 models. We tested on an iPhone 14 Pro Max and were not ale to get the time to show up, but it did work as expected with an iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Power Reserve has been a feature on iPhones dating back to the iPhone XR and iPhone XS, so it's not clear what the limiting factor is in terms of showing the time on display when the battery has drained on older devices.
iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why.
In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like ...
Thursday June 12, 2025 8:58 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup.
If you skipped the iPhone...
Alongside WWDC this week, Logitech announced notable new accessories for the iPad and Apple Vision Pro.
The Logitech Muse is a spatially-tracked stylus developed for use with the Apple Vision Pro. Introduced during the WWDC 2025 keynote address, Muse is intended to support the next generation of spatial computing workflows enabled by visionOS 26. The device incorporates six degrees of...
Thursday June 12, 2025 4:53 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
With iOS 26, Apple has introduced some major changes to the iPhone experience, headlined by the new Liquid Glass redesign that's available across all compatible devices. However, several of the update's features are exclusive to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models, since they rely on Apple Intelligence.
The following features are powered by on-device large language models and machine...
Wednesday June 11, 2025 7:14 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple at WWDC previewed a bunch of new features coming in its updated operating systems, but certain changes will have been met with dismay by third-party developers who already offer apps with equivalent or similar features. In other words, their product has been "sherlocked" by Apple.
When Apple creates an app or a feature that has functionality found in a third-party app, it is referred...
Wednesday June 11, 2025 4:22 pm PDT by Juli Clover
iOS 26 features a whole new design material that Apple calls Liquid Glass, with a focus on transparency that lets the content on your display shine through the controls. If you're not a fan of the look, or are having trouble with readability, there is a step that you can take to make things more opaque without entirely losing out on the new look.
Apple has multiple Accessibility options that ...
At today's WWDC 2025 keynote event, Apple unveiled a new design that will inform the next decade of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS development, so needless to say, it was a busy day. Apple also unveiled a ton of new features for the iPhone, an overhauled Spotlight interface for the Mac, and a ton of updates that make the iPad more like a Mac than ever before.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel ...
Apple this week announced that iPhone users will soon be able to watch videos right on the CarPlay screen in supported vehicles.
iPhone users will be able to wirelessly stream videos to the CarPlay screen using AirPlay, according to Apple. For safety reasons, video playback will only be available when the vehicle is parked, to prevent distracted driving. The connected iPhone will be able to...
Because iPhone sales have been slowing down and people are keeping their iPhones longer and longer, Apple is becoming more and more aggressive in creating artificial restrictions to get users to upgrade - this is a classic example. The author even pointed this out in their article - "Power Reserve has been a feature on iPhones dating back to the iPhone XR and iPhone XS, so it's not clear what the limiting factor is in terms of showing the time on display when the battery has drained on older devices."
If you want further proof, look no further than these examples:
* Adaptive Charging limit ('https://www.macrumors.com/2024/06/12/ios-18-charging-limit-recommendations/') * Additional charging limit options ('https://www.macrumors.com/2024/06/10/ios-18-introduces-more-charging-limits/') * Apple Intelligence compatibility is restricted to iPhone 15 Pro and later (however, this also could be due to the increased RAM that are in these devices)
Because iPhone sales have been slowing down and people are keeping their iPhones longer and longer, Apple is becoming more and more aggressive in creating artificial restrictions to get users to upgrade - this is a classic example. The author even pointed this out in their article - "Power Reserve has been a feature on iPhones dating back to the iPhone XR and iPhone XS, so it's not clear what the limiting factor is in terms of showing the time on display when the battery has drained on older devices."
If you want further proof, look no further than these examples:
* Adaptive Charging limit ('https://www.macrumors.com/2024/06/12/ios-18-charging-limit-recommendations/') * Additional charging limit options ('https://www.macrumors.com/2024/06/10/ios-18-introduces-more-charging-limits/') * Apple Intelligence compatibility is restricted to iPhone 15 Pro and later (however, this also could be due to the increased RAM that are in these devices)
Maybe the reason none of the prior iPhone models have this exclusive to iPhone 15 series feature is because none of them have [s]A16 chip[/s] [s]6GB RAM[/s] [s]Dynamic Island[/s] USB-C port that's needed to enable the feature? ?♂️
