How To Show Battery Percentage On Iphone X

How to show battery percentage on iPhone XS (and X/XR/XS Max)

Because of the notch, the iPhone XS's top status bar shows a lot less information. Here's how to see remaining battery percentage on the iPhone X, XR, XS - or any iPhone, for that matter

The 'notch' bisecting the top edge of the screen on the iPhone XS (as well as on the X, XR and XS Max) is there for a good reason: it contains sensors and cameras used for Face ID and selfies. But it removes much of the space previous taken up by the status bar. What has happened to that information, and how do we get it back?

In this article we explain how to find the battery percentage on X-series iPhone handsets (and on other models of iPhone, for that matter).

For broader related advice, see How to use the iPhone XS. And if you'd like to improve battery performance once you've found out how your device is getting on, see How to get better iPhone battery life.

How to show iPhone XS battery percentage

What the iPhone XS status bar shows - and doesn't show

All you get now is the time (in the lefthand slot), and the cellular and Wi-Fi signal strengths and the battery remaining, all crammed together into the righthand slot. There isn't even room for the battery to be displayed as a percentage, only as a graphical icon - which tells you roughly how much power you've got, but not exactly.

(What else has been lost? You don't see the name of your cellular provider, and while the location services icon appears on the left where applicable, and the charging icon now sits on top of the battery graphic, many of the other status icons that used to come and go depending on conditions don't make the cut either.)

How to find the battery percentage

The place to check for this is in the Control Centre: swipe down from the righthand side of the top edge. Above the various controls and toggles in this screen, you'll see that the status bar has been pulled down from the top and now has enough space to expand the battery status into a graphic and a percentage figure.

(Note that this is different to the way the Control Centre displays on other iPhones, which blur out the top status bar.)

How to see iPhone XS battery percentage

In fact there are other methods you can use to achieve the same thing.

Any time you plug the iPhone XS into a charging source, a graphic will pop up showing the current battery percentage. And the ever-undervalued Siri can help here too: just say "What's my battery percentage?" (or even just "What's my battery?") and he/she will tell you.

Showing battery percentage on other iPhone models

If you've got an iPhone 8, 7 Plus, SE or whatever - any non-X-series model - then showing the battery percentage is slightly different.

Like the XS and its siblings these models always show remaining battery power as an icon at the top right of the Home screen, but unlike the XS they have plenty of space to show it as a number too. Open the Settings app, swipe down and tap Battery; the top toggle, Battery Percentage, dictates whether the number is shown.

How to show iPhone battery percentage: Other models

Author: David Price, Editor

David Price

David has loved the iPhone since covering the original 2007 launch; later his obsession expanded to include iPad and Apple Watch. He offers advice to owners (and prospective owners) of these devices.