iOS 16 battery percentage is only available on these iPhone models

Apple added the ability in iOS 16 to show battery percentage at all times on iPhone models with Face ID. Strangely, this feature does not support all iPhone models with a notch, as users are realizing that their iPhone 11 and other models do not support this.

Before iOS 16, iPhone with Face ID users had to swipe down the Control Center to see the battery percentage.

iOS 16 battery percentage

Apple had added the ability to show battery percentage in iOS 16 beta 5, in what came as a surprise move. However, even if a user had disabled battery percentage, it would enable automatically in Low Power Mode. Later, in beta 6, Apple changes the behavior to respect the user’s preference.

On iPhone models with a notch, you can enable battery percentage to always show only on the following iPhone models, by going to Settings > Battery and turning on Battery Percentage.

iPhone 14
iPhone 14 Plus
iPhone 14 Pro
iPhone 14 Pro Max
iPhone 13
iPhone 13 Pro
iPhone 13 Pro Max
iPhone 12
iPhone 12 Pro
iPhone 12 Pro Max
iPhone 11 Pro
iPhone 11 Pro Max
iPhone XS
iPhone XS Max
iPhone X

This leaves out the following iPhone models:

iPhone XR
iPhone 11
iPhone 12 mini
iPhone 13 mini

Apple did not share any explicit reason as to why this seemingly basic feature is limited to only certain smartphone models. Even iPhone models with Touch ID such as iPhone SE and iPhone 8 show battery percentage, so this cannot be attributed to low-resolution displays.

Maybe, someday we might find out why Apple has limited this feature, but for now, it is disappointing that select iPhone users are stuck with swiping down the Control Center to see the battery percentage.

iOS 16 battery percentage

Imran Hussain