Moto Mod Battery Level Status Bar Icon

[Android Central Question]

Is there a way to add a status bar icon for the Moto Mod battery level? I have a Moto Z Force with an Incipio OffGrid Power Pack and I remember early on that the mod's battery used to have its own icon right next to the phone's battery icon, but a software update removed that icon and now I have to swipe down the whole notification drawer just to see the battery level when I'd like to see it only at a glance. Does anyone know of any setting or app that would add that icon or something like it back to the status bar?

 

[Photo_Drew]

not that I'm aware of but when you swipe down to the notification tray it's right there.

 

[ratsttam]

That would be handy.
What I would absolutely LOVE to see:
I would also like a way to have the battery % be from BOTH batteries. So if the internal is at 50% and the external is still at 100%, it would report 75% remaining. I think that would be a helpful feature. And have it update on the fly if you switch batteries or put a non-battery mod.

 

[Freedom 2018]

I would also like a way to have the battery % be from BOTH batteries. So if the internal is at 50% and the external is still at 100%, it would report 75% remaining. I think that would be a helpful feature. And have it update on the fly if you switch batteries or put a non-battery mod.

 

[Andrew Bonner]

That would be handy.
What I would absolutely LOVE to see:
I would also like a way to have the battery % be from BOTH batteries. So if the internal is at 50% and the external is still at 100%, it would report 75% remaining. I think that would be a helpful feature. And have it update on the fly if you switch batteries or put a non-battery mod.

That could get confusing, because none of the battery mods have the same capacity as the phones, and none of the phones have the same capacity as each other, so it's not a 1:1 comparison.

Also, how would it handle mods with internal batteries that are not specifically to charge the phone? I'm thinking of the projector and JBL, specifically. Their battery percentages show in the tray, but you certainly wouldn't want their capacities averaged out with that of the phone itself.

I like the way Moto is handling the duplicate batteries, with the percentage in the tray.

It might be better to have two icons in the notification bar, but I dunno if I could sacrifice much more space up there, given that I've turned on seconds in addition to minutes and hours for the time in the top right corner.

 

[thinkbui]

That could get confusing, because none of the battery mods have the same capacity as the phones, and none of the phones have the same capacity as each other, so it's not a 1:1 comparison.

Also, how would it handle mods with internal batteries that are not specifically to charge the phone? I'm thinking of the projector and JBL, specifically. Their battery percentages show in the tray, but you certainly wouldn't want their capacities averaged out with that of the phone itself.

I like the way Moto is handling the duplicate batteries, with the percentage in the tray.

It might be better to have two icons in the notification bar, but I dunno if I could sacrifice much more space up there, given that I've turned on seconds in addition to minutes and hours for the time in the top right corner.

I think the idea is to have it configurable so that you can display the second icon if you want or keep it hidden if you don't. Having it in the tray does keep it out of the way if the notification/status bar is getting cluttered, but it's not always convenient to slide it open.

I personally like to frequently check the mod's battery level when I'm using a power-hungry app, but said app tends to go into some kind of annoying suspended mode whenever the tray is open, so I'm hoping to avoid that by having the mod's battery level displayed somewhere on the notification/status bar.

 

[thinkbui]

As an alternative, you can use "Power notification controls" to set the Moto Mods Manager notification level at Level 5. It won't show the battery level on the notification/status bar, but it will show it as a peeking notification every time the percentage changes. It's not an ideal solution since it pops up all the time, but it won't cause the app I was talking about in my last post to pause.
https://www.addictivetips.com/andro...ation-control-levels-for-apps-in-android-7-0/

 

[ratsttam]

That could get confusing, because none of the battery mods have the same capacity as the phones, and none of the phones have the same capacity as each other, so it's not a 1:1 comparison.

Also, how would it handle mods with internal batteries that are not specifically to charge the phone? I'm thinking of the projector and JBL, specifically. Their battery percentages show in the tray, but you certainly wouldn't want their capacities averaged out with that of the phone itself.

I like the way Moto is handling the duplicate batteries, with the percentage in the tray.

It might be better to have two icons in the notification bar, but I dunno if I could sacrifice much more space up there, given that I've turned on seconds in addition to minutes and hours for the time in the top right corner.

Well,
Maybe so. I wasn't thinking along those lines. The Z system is smart enough to know what the mod is capable of. So the speaker won't try to add itself to the phone battery.

My thought in this was to override the actual system battery icon that's on every android phone only when (and calculated for the actual capacity of both batteries combined by total mah capacity.) a battery mod is installed. The mod battery % would still be available in the pull down as it currently is.

As far as the capacity I'll use simple numbers. Say the phone is 3000mah, and the battery mod is 2500mah, so total would be 5500mah and the percentage figured from that. Put a "non-battery" mod on, and it'll report capacity as 3000mah and adjust the percentage accordingly to %/3000mah instead of the previous %/5500mah.

Meanwhile the "mod" battery percentage will always report the % of the mod on it's own. So it'll show %/2500mah left, while phone reports %/5500mah.
Place a non-battery mod, and it'll report that mod as %/1000mah and phone will report only %/3000mah.

 

[Ry]

I would also like a way to have the battery % be from BOTH batteries. So if the internal is at 50% and the external is still at 100%, it would report 75% remaining. I think that would be a helpful feature. And have it update on the fly if you switch batteries or put a non-battery mod.

I wouldn't like this since the phone battery is more important.

We're seeing faster degredation likely due to constant charging (either to 80% or 100%).

 

[Ry]

Well,
Maybe so. I wasn't thinking along those lines. The Z system is smart enough to know what the mod is capable of. So the speaker won't try to add itself to the phone battery.

My thought in this was to override the actual system battery icon that's on every android phone only when (and calculated for the actual capacity of both batteries combined by total mah capacity.) a battery mod is installed. The mod battery % would still be available in the pull down as it currently is.

As far as the capacity I'll use simple numbers. Say the phone is 3000mah, and the battery mod is 2500mah, so total would be 5500mah and the percentage figured from that. Put a "non-battery" mod on, and it'll report capacity as 3000mah and adjust the percentage accordingly to %/3000mah instead of the previous %/5500mah.

Meanwhile the "mod" battery percentage will always report the % of the mod on it's own. So it'll show %/2500mah left, while phone reports %/5500mah.
Place a non-battery mod, and it'll report that mod as %/1000mah and phone will report only %/3000mah.

Would be less accurate as well since it wouldn't account for the loss when using on battery to charge another.

 

[Andrew Bonner]

Well,
Maybe so. I wasn't thinking along those lines. The Z system is smart enough to know what the mod is capable of. So the speaker won't try to add itself to the phone battery.

My thought in this was to override the actual system battery icon that's on every android phone only when (and calculated for the actual capacity of both batteries combined by total mah capacity.) a battery mod is installed. The mod battery % would still be available in the pull down as it currently is.

As far as the capacity I'll use simple numbers. Say the phone is 3000mah, and the battery mod is 2500mah, so total would be 5500mah and the percentage figured from that. Put a "non-battery" mod on, and it'll report capacity as 3000mah and adjust the percentage accordingly to %/3000mah instead of the previous %/5500mah.

Meanwhile the "mod" battery percentage will always report the % of the mod on it's own. So it'll show %/2500mah left, while phone reports %/5500mah.
Place a non-battery mod, and it'll report that mod as %/1000mah and phone will report only %/3000mah.

I'd be on board with that

 

[Andrew Bonner]

I think the idea is to have it configurable so that you can display the second icon if you want or keep it hidden if you don't. Having it in the tray does keep it out of the way if the notification/status bar is getting cluttered, but it's not always convenient to slide it open.

I personally like to frequently check the mod's battery level when I'm using a power-hungry app, but said app tends to go into some kind of annoying suspended mode whenever the tray is open, so I'm hoping to avoid that by having the mod's battery level displayed somewhere on the notification/status bar.

I could get on board with this too.

 

[thinkbui]

Why is it so difficult to make the mod battery level visible at a glance? The Android update I just installed yesterday basically downgraded the Moto Z circle widget removing both side circles. I know I can easily find a substitute for the weather high/low temperature side circle, but without the battery level side circle, the only ways to see the mod's battery level and charging status I can find are to open up the drawer, which isn't something I want to do all the time, or the peeking notifications that only show up when there is a change...

 

[ratsttam]

Why is it so difficult to make the mod battery level visible at a glance? The Android update I just installed yesterday basically downgraded the Moto Z circle widget removing both side circles. I know I can easily find a substitute for the weather high/low temperature side circle, but without the battery level side circle, the only ways to see the mod's battery level and charging status I can find are to open up the drawer, which isn't something I want to do all the time, or the peeking notifications that only show up when there is a change...

I wish I could explain their decision to change that. However, doing a quick google search for "Moto Z command center v3", found the original to download. Works perfectly on my Moto Z Force freshly "upgraded" to 8.0.

I was rather upset that they changed the widget to the same circle one that is on the Z2 Play. What made me even more upset, is that pulling down the tray, didn't show the battery status anymore, and only allows a quick way to enable/disable charging the internal battery from the battery mods. I didn't even bother seeing what shows up with my speakers or projector mods attached.

 

[Ry]

What made me even more upset, is that pulling down the tray, didn't show the battery status anymore, and only allows a quick way to enable/disable charging the internal battery from the battery mods.

Here's what displays when I swipe down.

 

[thinkbui]

I've opened up a topic in Motorola's forums about this. Hopefully their devs see it. Please feel free to add your own thoughts, especially if it helps bring about the status bar icon or another solution that's just as good.
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Moto-Z...battery-status-on-the-status-bar/td-p/4122477