Bring Back the Battery Percentage Indicator in iOS 16

Close-up of an iPhone status bar showing 74 percent inside the battery icon

Back in 2017, when Apple added the notch to the iPhone X for Face ID, the resulting loss of usable screen real estate caused the company to remove the battery percentage indicator from the status area. Since then, you’ve only been able to estimate how much battery life you had left from the icon; you had to open Control Center to see the numeric percentage. In iOS 16, however, Apple has revived the battery percentage indicator for Face ID iPhones, building it into the battery icon itself so it doesn’t occupy more of the status bar. You can enable it in Settings > Battery.

iPhone Battery settings with Battery Percentage enabled

iPhone Battery settings with Battery Percentage disabled

(Featured image by Adam Engst)

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