I was looking for an app to alert me to low battery levels across various of my iOS devices. Although coconutBattery looked good, it is macOS only, and I only power my Macbook up occasionally. So I looked at a good four iOS app options, and there is no perfect one that does everything perfectly. I also discarded anything that was updated more than a year ago. I installed across my iPhone, iPad and Watch. You can view the battery levels from any device’s app, for all the devices.
PowerToYou covers iPhone, iPad (and iPencil found under Bluetooth devices), Watch, AirPods (added as a Bluetooth device). What I like is that it has a good widget layout, clearly showing the percentages and time last updated for each device. You can set notifications globally for any device falling below, or going above (to prevent full cycle charging), a percentage charged. Adding the AirPods on my iPhone, made them show up on the iPad’s app just fine. The widget expanded to show the AirPods. It also has some choices for Watch complications. The app was last updated Feb 2022, and has an active Discord support community. Download from https://apps.apple.com/us/app/powertoyou/id1558154409.
Cloud Battery covers the same devices as PowerToYou (but says AirPods can no longer be monitored this way, and did not detect them), but it also detected and showed my Apple Pencil battery level. Its widgets fall a bit short though as they are nice but fail to show any percentage level or time last updated. However, a quick press on the widget opens the app, which shows the percentages. Another quick press on an individual device, shows when the charge level was last updated, rename the device, and set a device specific alert fop passing below or above a certain percentage level. Cloud Battery also allows you to customise the colours of widget text and icons, and is also unique in that you can share a device’s charge status with another Cloud Battery app user. App was last updated Jan 2022. Download from https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cloud-battery/id1480648069.
“Charged?” is a small app that allows you to check the charge level of your iOS and macOS devices via iCloud. I did briefly use it, and it shows battery percentages with last updated, for iPhone, iPad and macOS. It does lack some of the extra features the apps above have, and was last updated in March 2021.
Battery Status Overview does not work with macOS, but works on iPad, iPhone and Watch. It also has a lot fewer settings and more basic graphics, but does include a charge history log. They only mention alerts for the battery charge level reaching 100%. The app was last updated in Dec 2021, and only has one review rating, though.
Apple’s built-in battery widget is great, but it ONLY shows local devices, so no overview of all your other devices.
So I am a bit torn between PowerToYou and Cloud Battery. I’m leaning more towards PowerToYou as the widget has everything clearly shown, and can track AirPods and BlueTooth devices. Cloud Battery’s plus, is its ability to set a different minimum and maximum battery percentage for each device separately. After two days of use, I can say PowerToYou is updating percentage status with only a few minutes lag, whilst Cloud Battery has been struggling (Watch not updated since yesterday evening). So right now PowerToYou is my better bet.
I’ll post any updates about this topic at my blog post at https://gadgeteer.co.za/powertoyou-and-cloud-battery-amongst-other-apps-both-display-battery-levels-of-your-other-apple-devices/.
#technology #apple #battery #chargelevel #monitoring