Apple adds the battery percentage icon back into iOS – TechCrunch

Apple is about to introduce a small change that will have a huge impact on iPhone users around the world who are sick of watching their lives disappear in unquantifiable ways.

But there’s good news: In the latest iOS 16 beta, the battery icon again displays the actual numerical percentage of juice left in an iPhone or iPad’s battery, giving consumers a more precise measure of how soon they’ll be left clutching a lifeless hunk of precious metals.

iOS 16 beta 5 has the battery indicator back, but users must still enable it through the settings menu. The option can to toggle on battery percentage is found in the “battery” corner of the settings menu, above the low power mode toggle.

This update will be limited to beta users for now. However, if the past is any indication it should be available. should This feature will soon be integrated into the full iOS release. The battery percentage indicator first appeared in the iPhone 3GS era. It was then lost to the iPhone X circa iOS 11 in 2017.

As one of our resident Android apologists it is my sworn duty to point out that the battery indicator on Android never went anywhere and indeed remained functional through that operating system’s many recent permutations, but you knew that already. We all know that Cupertino is a fickle entity and will do whatever it likes with the devices it issues.

Our resident Appleman observed this:

Apple doesn’t always keep every beta feature in a final release — particularly if early feedback pushes back on something — but odds are high that the battery percentage icon is coming back in late September with the proper release of iOS 16.