Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
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.
Low is more reliable because its giving you a range instead of a specific value; just replace the battery when it tells you to. If you feel like you cant rely on that, then change the battery every six months.

No one seems to have a problem with knowing you should replace the smoke detector batteries every six months, regardless of their health, so why is it bad on the AirTags.
 
Never found the it to very accurate most of the time in just at all most 100% till I got low batter notification which came and went a few times before I got around to replacing the battery lol
Lithium cells have notoriously bad level tracking. One trick I learned was to take the batteyr out for 1 minute and put it back in. You can get another 20% out of the battery.
 
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?
Using the speaker would definitely cause excess drain.

I have a Casio watch that billed itself as having a 10 year battery. It's been running on that battery for close to 20 years because I never used the speaker or light. The draw from the watch module is tiny compared.
 
  • Like
Reactions: compwiz1202
The previous generation will be immediately depreciated with the next model of air tags:rolleyes:
 
This is kind of annoying because I have several AirTags that are just fine when it comes to the battery but one that needed replacing.

I guess Apple has turned this into a smoke detector battery where you replace it on your birthday or some other significant day.

I can’t say I’m surprised because Apple has been nerfing AirTag since it came out
 
  • Like
Reactions: compwiz1202
This is kind of annoying because I have several AirTags that are just fine when it comes to the battery but one that needed replacing.

I guess Apple has turned this into a smoke detector battery where you replace it on your birthday or some other significant day.

I can’t say I’m surprised because Apple has been nerfing AirTag since it came out

I suppose that it can just go into the routine if you change clocks where you are:

Change clock
Change Smoke Detector Batteries
Rotate Mattress
Change Air Tag Batteries
 
  • Like
Reactions: russell_314
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.

Bingo. It's a lot more difficult than people think.

As I understand it, the typical way to read what "level" a battery is at is to read voltage. The only issue with that is on a small 3.2 V cell, the difference between a dead 2032 and a fresh one is only about 1.4 V and that swing can be affected by temperature, handling, etc. One moment it reads dead, one moment it's fine.

If you show the user you have "only" 20% left, on a MacBook you might want to consider plugging in. On a small device like this, you might think it's time for replacing but it's actually got plenty of life left. These are continuous drain batteries. Have to wonder if Apple saw people replacing more often than necessary and decided to do something about it.

People also forget that it does take a small bit of power to read what what "level" a battery is at too. Poll often enough and drain the battery faster.
 
I suppose that it can just go into the routine if you change clocks where you are:

Change clock
Change Smoke Detector Batteries
Rotate Mattress
Change Air Tag Batteries
That’s true but you would have to pick one time when you change it because we change the clock twice a year.
 
  • Like
Reactions: compwiz1202
Sorry for the stupid question, but, In any case, is it actually possible to acuratelly track the level of non lithium bateries? old consoles, radios and devices powered by button cells and non recharcheable AAs only had the low power indicator led and no way of tracking the current charge state. Only device I ever saw that had a "0-100%" battery level indicator was the Canon F-1 camera and it's used a weird mechanical metter system.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Squillace
It will be interesting to see when this information from Apple is updated.

Last updated July 20, 2022.
 

Attachments

  • 3503F39D-57FE-4F50-85F3-CF13E4839DFF.png
    3503F39D-57FE-4F50-85F3-CF13E4839DFF.png
    816.5 KB · Views: 78
That’s true but you would have to pick one time when you change it because we change the clock twice a year.
True or just do it twice a year since the batteries are around $1. Just wish the covers had more grip. One took forever to click back on
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.