iOS 26.5: Ten essential tweaks for privacy, storage, and battery life
The iOS 26.5 update offers practical tweaks to boost privacy, performance and efficiency, including end-to-end encryption for RCS where supported; controlling notification forwarding to save battery; Audio Zoom for clearer video audio; disabling automatic podcast downloads to conserve storage; enabling Background Security Updates; switching screenshots to SDR format for smaller files; enabling Optimized Battery Charging (and considering disabling Clean Energy Charging); disabling lock-screen camera access; reviewing and tightening app permissions; and using a Scheduled Summary to group non-urgent alerts.