I created multiple videos showing you how liquid glass animations could impact your battery. In this screenshot from my previous video, you can see what iOS 18 can do with 1%. iOS 26 did with 13%. Back then, my 16 Pro Max was running the stable version of iOS 26.0. Now, we have iOS 26.1. So, I will do the same test again on the newer version and compare the results to iOS 26.0. So, let's find out how things have changed since then. If you are new here, let me give you a quick summary about this test or feel free to skip to the next chapter if you did watch the previous videos. The test includes four scenarios that all iPhone users have to do on daily basis.
Plus, they heavily rely on the new liquid glass animations, which are checking the notification center, open and close apps, scrolling in firstparty apps, which is Apple Photos in this test, and finally unlocking the phone. I will do each task 150 times by hand to make sure it mimics actual usage. I chose this number based on the latest studies that suggest that we unlock our smartphones 150 times a day.
Similarly, we get up to 150 notifications day. Now, let's prepare for the test. iOS 26.1 now gives you the option to adjust the liquid glass intensity by choosing between clear or tinted. I am curious to test both. So, on the left, I'm using the clear option. In the center, it's set to tented, which is more like iOS 18. And on the right is the old footage when my 16 Pro Max was running iOS 26.0. If you are wondering about my battery capacity, it's still at 100% since then. The screen brightness is calibrated to match the previous videos with the same wallpaper, clear icons, and the home screen layout to avoid any discrepancies. And the starting battery is 80%. After each round, I will measure the battery and thermals, then overlay the numbers I got from my previous videos to compare. Now, let's begin. And the first test is to check the notification center 150 times. Apple tweaked liquid glass many times since the official release of iOS 26.0.
I personally started to notice less battery usage and better thermals with 26.1. So, after trying this for 150 times back to back on both versions, here is what I found. Starting with the thermals, iOS 26.0 reached 40.8° C, while 26.1 was at 34.9 and 36.9 using the clear and tinted options, respectively. That's a massive difference between the two. Not only this, but 26.1 is still at 80% in both scenarios, while 26.0 lost 4% in this test. Apple did some serious optimizations with this update. It's still hotter than iOS 18.5, which was at 27.8° and 80% battery in the same test, but it's certainly a big improvement. The second test is the open and close Safari 150 times back to back. I really like the new open and the close animation of iOS 26, but it used to consume more battery than usual on 26.0. So, let's see if 26.1 will change this. After 150 times, the 16 Pro Max's temperature jumped to 40.9° on iOS 26.0. In contrast, 26.1 temperatures from left to right are 37.7 and 39.7. It's certainly better in thermals, but all consumed the same 2% in this test, while iOS 18 back then was at 21.8° and 80% battery at this stage.
So, iOS 26.1 is slightly better than 26.0, 0, but is still noticeably worse than iOS 18. Before jumping to the next round, if you want to give your iOS 26 a fresh new look, check out my exclusive wallpapers. They work really well with the depth effect and spatial scene features, which makes your lock screen look unique and gorgeous. These wallpapers are available for download through my Patreon's page. You can find the download link in the description.
And now, let's get back to the video. The third test is to do some scrolling in Apple photos, which is one of the best examples of Apple's liquid glass in firstpart apps. I will do 150 scrolls. A pair of up and down swipe will be counted as one scroll. It's also worth noting that so far the tinted option didn't make any difference in the battery usage. Plus, it's worse in thermals, but in this round, the buttons and the tab bar are a lot more opaque when compared to the clear option.
So, hopefully we will see better numbers. After 150 scrolls, iOS 26.0 temperature was at 43.4°, while 26.1 did a lot better to be at 37.1 and 37.3 with the clear and tinted options, respectively. The battery consumption is miles ahead as well. 26.1 consumed only 1% with the tinted and the clear options, while 26.0 was three times worse, consuming 3%. iOS 18 back then in the same test was still at 80% battery and 29.6 6°. There is a big improvement between the two iOS 26 versions, but still behind iOS 18. Also, the tented option didn't add any value to the battery usage. It's only better in the readability. Now, let's do the final round, which is unlocking the phone 150 times. I started with 71% battery on iOS 26.0 and 77% on 26.1. I'm really impressed by the improvements I have seen with the newer version. It's already 6% ahead of 26.0, which is a big deal. After 150 unlocks, iOS 26.0 was at 43.6°, which is worse than the 41.7 and 41.4 of iOS 26.1 using the clear and tinted options, respectively.
But in battery usage, all lost the same 4%. iOS 18 at this stage was at 79% battery and 30.6° in my previous videos. And now let's sum up the numbers. Revealing the notification center 150 times, iOS 26.0 consumed 4% battery and raised the 16 Pro Max's temperature to 40.8° C, while 26.1 remained at the same 80% with a temperature of 34.9 using the clear option and 36.9 with the tinted. Opening and closing Safari 150 times consumed 2% battery in all scenarios and the temperature was at 40.9° on iOS 26.0.
O, while 26.1 reached 37.7 and 39.7 with the clear and tinted options, respectively. In the third test, which includes 150 scrolls in Apple Photos, iOS 26.0 consumed 3% battery and reached a temperature of 43.4°, while 26.1 reached 37.1 and 37.3 with only 1% battery usage. Lastly, in the 150 unlocks comparison, all versions lost the same 4% battery with a slight difference in the temperatures with iOS 26.0 reaching the highest number of 43.6° followed by 26.1 which did slightly better with 41.7 and 41.4. So overall, iOS 26.1 consumed a total of 7%. It's about 50% improvement when compared to the 13% of iOS 26.0, O, which is a huge leap forward. But let's not forget that iOS 18 did the same exact test with 1% at a much lower temperature. I hope to see further improvements with future updates, and I will keep you posted if I spotted any improvements. Some of you also requested to do the same test with the reduced transparency option enabled. Please drop me a comment and hit the like button to let me know if I should make this comparison. But for now, thanks so much for watching and see you in the next.
