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macOS Sierra 10.12.2 Removes 'Time Remaining' Battery Life Indicator

At first I thought the article was saying Apple got rid of the battery indicator altogether. But then realized they were only talking about the "time remaining" not the percentage. That's no big deal. Don't know why everyone is freaking out. I can live with that.
 
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I am not updating my MacBook - I use this all the time. While it is not accurate, I can get a sense for how much longer I can use the machine.

A Mac is NOT like an iOS device - with those (my iPad Pro) I have a pretty good idea that it will last me the entire day since they use ARM processors and run (mostly) 1 thing at a time. There's no anxiety when using them. However, with a Mac - I have to be vigilant if I want to make it through an entire day without plugging in and the battery time estimate helps me gauge where I am going.

Frankly, even my Android phone (haven't used iOS on a phone in a while) will tell me how much time it thinks I have left - which is handy to see if I can make it 'til I get home or the next time I plan on charging it.

This is really stupid.
 
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Well, they waited until almost the end of the year, but I am officially calling it: Apple has jumped the shark.

It's been a good run. The next few (final?) years of its life will be perfecting its craft as a boutique fashion brand which sells grossly outdated, way overpriced accessories that cater to brand-conscious consumers. Vertu, anyone?

Maybe they'll come out on the other side of it, but when my 2015 MBP dies, I have a feeling my next machine will not be making the "dong" on startup.

Oh wait, neither will Macs. :/
 
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I found the apple time remaining indicator to be one of the better implemented :( much better than that of windows on my surface pro 4 but I guess it was to do with Apples very very tight integration and years of experience with this. My Surface Pro 4 is becoming my go to laptop much more than my mac these days. Every update seems to dumb down and simplify the OS for use by toddlers!

Microsoft are acing Apple these days
 
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Ok, but most importantly: does the update have any impact on the length of your battery life? Anyone taken the time to test it out?
 
furi0usbee said:
Apple believes that the battery life indicator in macOS Sierra is ultimately inaccurate and has led to some confusion about battery performance, and so it has been removed in macOS Sierra 10.12.2.
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Why was this never an issue until Apple came out with a new product with battery life issues?

I have never read a single comment about the problems with accuracy of the battery life indicator until today's update. Hmmm...
 
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The 2012 15" MBP's time remaining was pretty accurate. I suggest people keep gfxcardstatus set to the Intel GPU and manually switch to the dGPU if need be, and hope for the best?
 
Hey Apple -

If you need help with some multi-variate forecasting using Monte Carlo methods - give me a call, I can help.
 
tw1ll said:
Really, so all those supposedly mighty brains at Apple couldn't design an accurate estimation algorithm on a closed system? Or maybe the management just decided that being customer centric doesn't apply any more and instead will stick to their new strategy of "blame the customer" or "B/S our way to a reason for removing functionality and convenience"?
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I'm pretty sure estimation algorithms will do nothing to reduce the thickness of the computer. Why would Apple spend resources on them?
 
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FactVsOpinion said:
It's a fair move, I believe. If it says 4 hours and then you watch a 90 min hd film and it dies, people don't get it. iPhones have never given estimate time remaining, and people seem to better understand that battery percentage drops more quickly when performing certain tasks.

From what I've heard, people are contacting Apple Care with a screen shot saying some number of hours remaining and then another screenshot again when fewer hours have past but battery is almost dead, as if being more active in the interim should make no difference.

Obviously the battery should still achieve Apple's advertised life on average, but I don't think it's hard to understand how the time remaining indicator is problematic.
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So basically a few stupid customers don't understand how the battery life indicator works, and so Apple decides to remove the feature, thereby punishing all the rest of us who do understand what it means and are able to gain useful information from it? A better tactic would be to explain to customers that are confused how the estimate works (and fix the estimate if there are new problems created by the new MBPs that didn't exist before). Should we all have to live with tools that cater to the lowest common denominator to the detriment of everyone else? Based on this and past actions, I think we know where Apple stands.

For all the people that know how to interpret the battery life indicator, or those that use their computers in a consistent fashion, this feature was very useful.
 
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I think this is a dumb move by Apple. What they could have done at least is replaced it with a tool that shows you how much battery life you have used over time. I use a simple app called Battery Logger ($1.99 App Store). It shows me in a graph and numerical form the time between charges (start 100%, end 17%, 7:23, etc.). The counter showing the time on battery sits in the menu bar. Great way to check what kind of battery life you are actually getting.
 
MrX8503 said:
Is it really hard for people to understand that the battery estimate was NOT accurate? There were many people reporting their battery life soely on the estimate rather than ACTUAL battery used from full charge to dead.



A speedometer is very accurate. The battery estimate is not.
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So if people were doing what you said Apple could explain to them how the battery life estimate works rather than remove the feature that is useful to many people (despite its "inaccuracy").
 
kepler20b said:
I got a better idea.


In Apple maps, they should completely remove the time estimate until arrival. Because you know, theres a thing called traffic. And it is very dynamic and unpredictable, so Apple needs to remove it from the app because you cannot predict future traffic conditions, and it does not want the app to confuse people as to whether or not they will actually ever arrive to their destination on "time".
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Agreeed. And on top of that Trafic is not Apple's fault. Why would they be held liable for our arrival time ending up wrong.
 
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applefan69 said:
Just another one of those little things that used to set the Apple laptops apart from competition gone. This is easily as disappointing as losing magsafe.

Not even a lot of Apple apologists kicking around regarding this subject, feels kinda strange actually.
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The thing that gets me about the magsafe is that it was just a few years ago that they were explaining how it was vastly superior to all other laptops (and it saved my laptop many times), and then they drop it and think we won't remember what they said? If we bought into their argument before (as I do, and as they undoubtedly hoped we did), then we have to see their current machines as inferior due to the lack of this feature. Do they think we are stupid?
 
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“A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
 
benlukes said:
Yes, unfortunately, but I'm not sure why...
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We call those people fanboys and Apple apologists. They claim the battery estimate has always been "inaccurate" and "never really needed in the first place" even though it has been part of MacOS for years.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the battery life is only a software issue and for Apple's sake not a purposeful attempt at deceiving the consumer. If they don't get this sorted out quickly it will be very costly for Apple to defend, especially after willfully removing the battery estimate indicator in a software update.
 
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The sad thing is all the macs in the wild prior to this model have to get penalized.

It has been on there for all this time and all of a sudden it is not accurate and being removed.

I really like apple and some of their products but lately they are just screwing people over left and right.

There really is no other way to say it.
 
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