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iOS 18 has a hidden feature you’ll only see when your iPhone battery dies

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Close-up view of remaining battery life on an iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Joe Maring / Digital Trends
Promotional logo for WWDC 2023.
This story is part of our complete Apple WWDC coverage

It’s been just a few days since Apple released the first developer preview of iOS 18. Since then, developers and everyday users have discovered features in the first iOS 18 beta that Apple didn’t mention in its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2024) keynote. The most recent discovery concerns what happens when your iPhone’s battery becomes exhausted.

Apple iPhones have a power reserve feature that conserves a small amount of battery life to support essential functions like Find My and NFC unlocking when the battery is nearly depleted. In iOS 18, the feature appears to be extended.

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According to a Reddit post, even when the battery is drained, your iPhone will continue to display the time in the upper-left corner of the screen. You’ll also see a message on the screen that notes, “iPhone is Findable,” as well as a depleted battery icon.

New battery depletion display on iOS 18 and iPhone 15 series.
Reddit

MacRumors says the new feature only works on the iPhone 15 and, undoubtedly, the upcoming iPhone 16 series. This limitation is strange given that iPhones back to the iPhone XS have had power reserve functionality. Regardless, it’s nice to discover tiny new features in iOS betas.

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Earlier this week, we noted that iOS 18 offers a redesigned iPhone flashlight that allows you to make the flashlight beam wider or narrower. There are also plenty of new home screen customization features — some good and some bad.

No doubt, much more about iOS 18 will be discovered and discussed during beta testing. This process will likely be extended into September when new iPhones are announced and the first public version of iOS 18 arrives.

Apple officially announced iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia, watchOS 11, and visionOS 2 earlier this week. Apple Intelligence will be the most significant update for each of these software updates and their devices. This AI technology from Apple is expected to revolutionize how we interact with our devices by impacting writing, image creation, and search. Siri will also undergo significant changes as part of the Apple Intelligence update.

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Bryan M. Wolfe
Bryan M. Wolfe
Bryan M. Wolfe has over a decade of experience as a technology writer. He writes about mobile.
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