Apple’s latest iOS 16.1 beta addresses a major complaint about the solid and unchanging battery percentage indicator that was introduced with iOS 16. In the latest beat, the battery icon will be filled in based on how much charge it actually has left.
The battery percentage still appears within the icon, which personally isn’t my favorite design, but now the whole thing looks a lot closer to how it should have been from the start.
[Above is] an example of the revised indicator from a colleague running the newest iOS 16.1 beta.
The improved indicator isn’t the only battery status update. iOS 16.1 beta 2 can also show the battery percentage above the time on your lock screen when you begin to charge your device.
Latest iOS 16.1 Beta Tweaks Battery Status Bar to Show Visual Charge Level https://t.co/NrR4fGUVD2 by @julipuli pic.twitter.com/R4vFHxqp5f
— MacRumors.com (@MacRumors) September 20, 2022
MacDailyNews Take: Hopefully, iOS 16.1 will be released as soon as it’s ready. The battery indicator change is welcome improvement over the current solid-at-all-times glyph.
There we go: Apple has tweaked the design of the battery percentage icon in iOS 16.1 beta 2. It now shows the proper charge level 🎉 pic.twitter.com/15tvFUCaPx
— Federico Viticci (@viticci) September 20, 2022
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Who makes these stupid design change decisions? Change for the sake of change?
Sometimes some people just do not know when to leave well-enough alone, especially something that works.
I have seen too many of these over the years.
I’m confused also. Why would Apple make a design change to the battery indicator that would make it less intuitive? Maybe they should have made that a battery display option in settings. (though I don’t know anyone who would prefer an always solid battery indicator)
This was intentional by Apple and they would not have changed it had there not been heavy criticism. The solid battery indicator is the latest way that Apple wanted to distract users from focusing too much on battery life while making the concession with the percentage numbers. They could have done this immediately when introducing the the first notched iPhone X in 2017, it’s a marketing decision.
There has always been room to include both battery icon and the percentage next to it (as it was for a decade before) and the wifi icon. The rarely needed cellular bars can either be next to your carrier name on the left side as is logical, or hidden in the control center. I for one am glad to see the battery percentage above the clock coming back when you start charging (I hope this means that it’s also constantly on the screen when you tap your phone to check, as before), since in iOS16 Apple ridiculously decided to only leave you with the tiny percentage numbers hidden within the battery icon to see your charging status.
Mere words cannot express the significance of this development.
I like your style! 😆
Come now? That seems rather cynical and sarcastic. After all, an article needed to be written about this! 😉 /s
hey…..how bout that 12 mini Apple….?
So the fact that the 12 Mini can’t have the battery percent shown is a down voter??
Oh, yeah…forgot about the professional leftist here.
The solid black background makes the percentage easy to read. I agree with the suggestion to offer the option in settings.
Can we get an analog clock for the lock screen?
Apple should add an analog clock to the lock screen