Don’t you sometimes wish you could see exactly how much percentage of your battery juice is left on your Android smartphone?
When the battery drops to critical levels every percentage point makes a difference, but unfortunately, by default you cannot see the battery percentage on stock Android. Luckily, changing that is not too complicated, and it’s something that Google is already working on, so chances are this will likely become much easier in future Android versions.
The simpler way is via the Battery Percentage for KitKat app
Right now, the battery percentage fix is confirmed to work with the newest Android 4.4 KitKat devices only. There are two ways to do it. The first one is the simpler one - you just go on Google Play and download the Battery Percentage for KitKat app by kroegerama (it’s free). You simply start the app after that and tick the check box, reboot your phone and you're done.
What this app does is basically expose the battery percentage that Google has encoded in Android, and interestingly, it will only show after your battery drops below 50%.
It makes sense for most people that won’t really care about exact battery percentage levels until their phone starts crossing a certain critical threshold.
It’s worth mentioning that the percentage will stay even if you uninstall the app afterwards, and if you want to revert to just the battery icon, you have to open the app and disable the checkbox. The end result is right below, and so is a download link for the app:
The other way to enable the battery percentage indicator requires you to have the Android SDK, and to do a little bit of tinkering around. You have to connect your phone to your computer and run terminal. To do so in Windows you just hit ‘Windows key + R’ and type in ‘cmd’.
This is what appears after you start cmd
The next step is to change your directory to the ‘platform-tools’ one in the Android SDK. To do this, simply type ‘cd’, add an empty space and paste the path to that directory. Overall, the command should look something like this: ‘cd C:/Android SDK/adt-bundle-windows-x86_64-20131030/sdk/platform-tools/’
Navigate to platform tools.
Then, you have two final steps. Copy and paste the following command: ‘adb shell content insert --uri content://settings/system --bind name:s:status_bar_show_battery_percent --bind value:i:1’
And follow it by: ‘adb reboot’
And that’s it! You’re done. You pick your method, and let us know how it worked out in the comments section right below.
Victor, a seasoned mobile technology expert, has spent over a decade at PhoneArena, exploring the depths of mobile photography and reviewing hundreds of smartphones across Android and iOS ecosystems. His passion for technology, coupled with his extensive knowledge of smartphone cameras and battery life, has positioned him as a leading voice in the mobile tech industry.
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