Apple Removes AirTag Battery Level Indicator From the Find My App

[thejadedmonkey]

"Dutch blog iCulture.nl, which spotted the battery icon's absence, speculates that Apple has removed it altogether because of persistent problems getting the indicator to display correctly."

The guess is because of Apple's technical incompetence.

Getting a battery meter to display properly is incredibly difficult. It's a hard task when you have a battery of known capacity, and known discharge rate and known charge rate.

It's even harder when you have a battery of unknown capacity, with an unknown discharge curve. The energizer battery from Lowes is going to have far different use characteristics than one from Dollar Tree. The one from Dollar Tree might even have a max voltage near or at the energizer minimum voltage.

I don't blame them for having trouble, but you'd think that they could sort of figure it out.

 

[Konigi]

Well they said their batteries would last a whole year. I bought mine in May 2021. Last time I checked, a few days ago, the batteries of all of my AirTags were still more than half full. Perhaps that's also the issue: the icon could display false positives. Perhaps there is less energy remaining in these. We'll see!

But I was pleasantly surprised by the longevity of these batteries.

 

[compwiz1202]

Time for class action lawsuit. Every member of the class will receive $0.00000001

Or one new iCR2032

 

[rorschach]

well in that case i guess we don't know if our iPhone or MacBook batterys are accurate. why not just remove the battery icon from them too? 🙄

Apple makes the iPhone and Mac batteries and they are all the same (for each model). Those batteries also have dedicated hardware that measures the current. So yes, we do know that iPhone and Mac battery levels are accurate compared to AirTag which let you use any random coin cell battery made by any one of thousands of manufacturers and that has no gas gauge.

The iPod touch’s battery also didn’t have this hardware and you couldn’t view the percentage for it either (until the 7th and last generation).

 

[poorcody]

In my experience the indicator was inaccurate. I had two AirTags batteries die, and up to the point they did, it showed full battery levels. I think as others have said, unlike most rechargeable batteries, getting an accurate reading from the coin cells is just fraught.

 

[Mascots]

Apple: the visual gauge was inaccurate
Totally rational forum members: They MUST be removing it out of malice because I don’t understand why they’re removing it!

Why… have a knee jerking reaction to something like this?

 

[oldmacs]

If the battery level is inaccurate, what useful information will seeing it tell you?

Why can't a company as loaded as Apple design accurate battery level software?

 

[EdT]

Remember when people would change batteries early if they anticipated a possible issue?

Yes. And I remember when batteries for most devices only lasted for a few hours of use total. On Apple’s website they say that AirTag batteries can typically last a year or more. So, what usage is “typical“ and what usage drains them faster?

 

[compwiz1202]

I believe I read that the “bitter coated” batteries were not recommended. Of course, now I’d have to find it

I think I saw it in the article Apple has about how to replace the battery. And of course that was the kind I bought, and they didn't work.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Why tho? I hope to God it's not because AirTags does not have an M1 chip?

 

[azentropy]

I'd rather they fix the inaccuracies vs removing it altogether, but guess they couldn't figure it out.

 

[ProfessionalFan]

Why tho? I hope to God it's not because AirTags does not have an M1 chip?

Ever since the polishing cloth wasn't given an M1, I lost all hope for other products.

 

[0134168]

You know whats funny? (or not funny at all). Third party compatible chipolo shows the battery level indicator.

 

[darngooddesign]

Yes. And I remember when batteries for most devices only lasted for a few hours of use total. On Apple’s website they say that AirTag batteries can typically last a year or more. So, what usage is “typical“ and what usage drains them faster?

My watch batteries always lasted for years; even digital watches last as long Apple says AirTags last. Our LED Christmas lights last for two weeks.

CRs are cheap. If it's been a couple of months since you last changed them, just treat yourself to a new battery for each bag.

 

[timmyh]

I don't understand what the bold text means. What AirTag card are they referring to?

‘Card’ is just another dev name for the AirTag panel in Find My.

 

[pbush25]

From a firmware perspective, getting accurate and reliable battery info from a coin cell battery is pretty hit or miss. Basically the best you can do is get a “good”, or “not good” status, which is effectively what apple has done here.

I don’t like feature removal, but this one makes a little sense. And it’s not like I was actively checking that battery indicator all the time.

 

[hans1972]

I don’t understand the reasoning behind this change at all.

Showing the wrong battery level isn't useful.

 

[rpmurray]

I think Apple may be working on a subscription service where for only a small fee of $1.99 a month you get access to the battery indicator.

 

[hans1972]

Can't fix? Just remove it altogether.

So you would have indicators which aren't reliable?

 

[ersan191]

It's hard to get an accurate battery level for lithium batteries when they are user replaceable and can be from a hundred different brands. Most battery powered door locks for example will not show level, just ok or low.

My guess is the ones they send you already installed were tested and working fine but as they died and people started replacing them they got complaints about the battery level not being accurate because Chinese brand xyz's battery has terribly inconsistent voltage.

 

[jonen]

Interesting. I was just annoyed looking at my battery level the other day for an AirTag that is not that old and is rarely used. I think it was showing roughly under half the battery life bar remaining...

If it was truly inaccurate, I don't mind this change, but hopefully they'd be able to figure out a way to get accuracy improved and give the feature back.

 

[krspkbl]

I’m on iOS 16 b3 and I still have the battery meter on my AirTags.

will be gone in Beta 4. If not, then when iOS 16 officially releases.

 

[Johnny907]

It’s still present on the newest beta of 16, so chill. iOS 15.6 is a buggy useles POS, don’t look deeper into this than that fact.

 

[RealPhone]

How on earth are we supposed to know when the battery needs to be replaced when the iOS device is unable to adequately indicate battery status?? That we receive a notification that the battery level is low; how much can we trust the correctness of this notice.

 

[RealPhone]

It’s still present on the newest beta of 16, so chill. iOS 15.6 is a buggy useles POS, don’t look deeper into this than that fact.

The same problem applies to iOS 16 PB 3. No battery status! Very inappropriate change from Apple!