【Randy Spears Archives】

A long time ago,Randy Spears Archives before the notch came along to adorn the top of their displays, Apple's iPhones had the ability to show battery percentage in the status bar. When enabled, you'd see the battery icon showing you, roughly, the current state of your device's battery charge, and next to it was the exact percentage you have left.

With the iPhone X, Apple killed this feature, presumably as the status bar got significantly smaller with the advent of the notch. You could still see the battery percentage, but you had to swipe down from the upper right corner for it to show up.

Now, in the latest iOS developer beta (iOS 16 beta 5), the feature is coming back, but with a slightly different design. Instead of the percentage figure showing to the left of the battery icon, it is now lodged within it.

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I haven't yet tested the feature, but the percentage appears to be slightly harder to discern than before. Still, it's (probably) better than nothing.

Interestingly, the battery-percentage-in-status-bar feature isn't coming to all phones. According to MacRumors, only the following devices are getting it: iPhone X, iPhone XS and XS Max, iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max, iPhone 12, 12 Pro, and 12 Pro Max, and iPhone 13, 13 Pro, and 13 Pro Max.

This leaves out all of the iPhone mini phones, the iPhone 11, and the iPhone XR.

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Notably, the upcoming iPhone 14 Pro models are rumored to have a dual hole cutout for the front camera and Face ID sensor instead of the notch, which would leave a little more space for icons in the status bar.

This being a developer beta, everything about the feature, including its availability and design, could change by the time it becomes a part of a widely available iOS release.