Your iPhone 15 Can Show the Time When It's Out of Battery in iOS 18

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.

Generic iOS 18 Feature Real Mock
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.

ios 18 iphone time off
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.

Related Forums: iOS 18, iPadOS 18

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Shows Off a Key Reason to Upgrade to the iPhone 17

Saturday February 7, 2026 9:26 am PST by
Apple today shared an ad that shows how the upgraded Center Stage front camera on the latest iPhones improves the process of taking a group selfie. "Watch how the new front facing camera on iPhone 17 Pro takes group selfies that automatically expand and rotate as more people come into frame," says Apple. While the ad is focused on the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, the regular iPhone...
apple wallet drivers license feature iPhone 15 pro

Apple Says These 7 U.S. States Plan to Offer iPhone Driver's Licenses

Monday February 9, 2026 6:24 am PST by
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Apple Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, and then use it to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps. The feature is currently available in 13 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, and it is expected to launch in at least seven more in the future. To set up the...
Apple Logo Zoomed

Apple Expected to Launch These 10+ Products Over the Coming Months

Tuesday February 10, 2026 6:33 am PST by
It has been a slow start to 2026 for Apple product launches, with only a new AirTag and a special Apple Watch band released so far. We are still waiting for MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, the iPhone 17e, a lower-cost MacBook with an iPhone chip, long-rumored updates to the Apple TV and HomePod mini, and much more. Apple is expected to release/update the following products...
14 inch MacBook Pro Keyboard

New MacBook Pros Could Now Arrive in March

Sunday February 8, 2026 6:02 am PST by
New MacBook Pro models with the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips could arrive as soon as Monday, March 2, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In today's "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that the release of new MacBook Pro models is tied to the release of macOS Tahoe 26.3. The launch is said to be slated for as early as the week of March 2. He added that the M4 Pro and M4 Max models on sale today...
m5 macbook pro deal

Why You Shouldn't Buy the Next MacBook Pro

Tuesday February 10, 2026 4:27 pm PST by
Apple is planning to launch new MacBook Pro models as soon as early March, but if you can, this is one generation you should skip because there's something much better in the works. We're waiting on 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, with few changes other than the processor upgrade. There won't be any tweaks to the design or the display, but later this...

Top Rated Comments

augustrushrox Avatar
22 months ago
The "limiting factor" is very clearly Apple's arrogance...
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
klasma Avatar
22 months ago
But can it show the battery when it's out of time?
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GrayFlannel Avatar
22 months ago

You should never let your iPhone completely run out of battery.
Nor should you let your car run out of gas or checking account reach a zero balance or forget to pick up your smoking jacket from the cleaners.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
klasma Avatar
22 months ago

Why is time still so small. Make this info...time, date, %battery,...BIG...BIGGER...BIGGER
I agree, iOS is really lacking big time.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
anshuvorty Avatar
22 months ago
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)
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sw1tcher Avatar
22 months ago

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? ?‍♂️
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)