How to display battery percentage on your iPhone

Get a clearer picture on your iPhone battery percentage

Anyone who owns an iPhone will – at some point – be concerned about the amount of battery they have left. Seeing the low battery warning when you know you’re still a distance from a charger never fails to get the heart beating a little faster, and while there are ways to extend the battery life of your phone, getting a better handle on just how much juice is left will help you plan top-ups and battery-saving actions.

Newer handsets from Apple, such as the iPhone 14, have improved battery life – but having greater clarity over how much power is left is always useful.

Close-up of the battery icon on an iPhone SE, which is at 55%. — Having the battery percentage displayed helps you understand how much life your iPhone has left.

iPhones have a battery indicator in the top right corner of the screen, in what is known as the notification bar. However, this small icon isn’t always easy to see – especially if you’re using a smaller screen handset such as the iPhone SE, iPhone 6S or iPhone 7.

However, the iPhone battery percentage can be displayed either next to this icon or inside it (depending on which model you own), but this feature is not turned on by default, requiring you to dive into the settings to enable it.

We’ll show you how to display the battery percentage on iPhone, giving you a clearer picture of how much power you have remaining.

Project summary

How to display battery percentage on iPhone

Estimated Time

1 mins

Difficulty

Low

Step 1: Head to Settings

Unlock your iPhone and open Settings

Unlock your iPhone and tap on the Settings app – it’s the grey icon with a picture of a cog.

Step 2: Scroll and tap

Find ‘Battery’ in the list and tap

Once the Settings app is open, scroll down to Battery. It’s past ‘General’ but before you get to ‘App Store’.

Step 3: Tap the toggle

Switch on ‘Battery Percentage’

Screenshot showing the battery percentage toggle in an iPhone's Settings app. — Head to the Settings app and in the Battery section you can enable battery percentage.

Finally, just tap the grey toggle to the right of ‘Battery Percentage’ to enable this feature. The toggle will turn green to show you have enabled battery percentage.

You’re done, so close the Settings app. You will instantly see the iPhone battery percentage next to the battery icon at the top of the display.

Written by John McCann he/him

Published: 21 December 2022Updated: 02 June 2023

John McCann is the Editor-in-Chief of Tech for Saga Exceptional. John has been a technology journalist for more than a decade, and over the years has built up a vast knowledge of the tech industry. He’s interviewed CEOs from some of the world’s biggest tech firms, visited their HQs and appeared on live TV and radio, including Sky News, BBC News, BBC World News, Al Jazeera, LBC and BBC Radio 4.

He’s reported on pretty much every area of consumer technology, from laptops, tablets, smartwatches and smartphones to smart speakers, video doorbells, vacuum cleaners, electric cars, headphones and more. During his time in journalism, John has written for TechRadar, T3, What Laptop, Windows 8 magazine and Gizmodo UK, and he’s appeared in the Evening Standard and Metro newspapers.

Outside of work, John is a passionate Watford FC and Green Bay Packers fan, enjoys a Sunday afternoon watching the F1, loves a top quality burger or pizza for dinner and is addicted to travel. He’s also a Guinness World Record Holder and appeared in the Olympic Opening Ceremony for the London 2012 games, dressed as one of The Beatles from the Sgt. Pepper’s album cover. He’s even got the pictures to prove it!