How to get the battery percentage back on iPhone

Being able to see your iPhone battery percentage right in the status bar is incredibly useful. You can keep an eye on it throughout the day if you’re getting low and need to top up.

The battery icon gives you a rough idea of where your phone is at, but instantly seeing the exact number can give you peace of mind. It’s useful seeing the precise number without pulling down Control Center or checking a battery widget, wherever you are.

For those of you with real battery anxiety, you can even add a widget to your Lock Screen and Home Screen. I’ll show you how.

How to show battery percentage on iPhone

The iPhone had the option to show an exact battery percentage for many, many years — until 2017, with the iPhone X. The new phone crammed the clock, cell signal, Wi-Fi signal and battery icon around a large notch in the top of the screen. Apple decided there wasn’t enough room in the small battery icon to legibly show the battery percentage written out numerically.

The setting reappeared in 2022 with iOS 16, and many rejoiced — except for those with an iPhone XR, 11, 12 mini and 13 mini, where inexplicably, the setting didn’t show up. Apple decided that big phones with an all-screen design could show the battery percentage, but not smaller phones.

At some point later, though, the setting reappeared for everybody. Hurrah! Here’s how you can get it back.

Table of Contents:

1. Show iPhone battery percentage in top status bar
2. Add a battery percentage widget on the Lock Screen
3. Add a battery percentage widget on the Home Screen

Show iPhone battery percentage in the top status bar

Turning the battery percentage back on is easy. Just go to Settings > Battery and turn on Battery Percentage.

If you’re just now upgrading to an iPhone from an older rectangular-screened iPhone that used to have battery percentage visible, you don’t have to do anything! The setting carries over if you’ve preserved your settings through iCloud backup or iPhone-to-iPhone setup ever since then, as battery percentage never went away on iPhones with a rectangular screen.

But for others, the feature is off by default. You have to turn it back on to use this feature.

Add a battery percentage widget to the Lock Screen

If you have real range anxiety, you can add a widget to your Lock Screen. Keep a closer eye on your charge with a bigger, more legible number.

Tap and hold on your Lock Screen and tap Customize, then select your Lock Screen. Tap the empty space below the clock and tap the Batteries widget. Then, tap on the battery widget, disable Automatic, and under Devices, select your iPhone.

Read more about how you can customize your Lock Screen here.

Add a battery percentage widget to the Home Screen

You can also add a battery widget to your Home Screen or Today view — that spot with widgets over to the left. Tap and hold on an empty spot on your Home Screen, tap Edit in the upper right and tap Add Widget. Scroll down and tap the Batteries widget. Drop it wherever you like, or put it on top of another widget to make a scrollable stack.

This article was originally published August 11, 2022. It has been updated with the latest information.