Published on March 18, 2014 | by TJ
Have you ever wanted to check the battery status of your iPhone or iPad without having to pick them up and look each time? Or how about a reminder telling you that your battery is running low and that you need to charge it? With iBetterCharge you can keep an eye on your battery status and receive alerts when it needs a recharge right from your Mac.
iBetterCharge is a simple app that runs in the menu bar, doesn’t require any complicated setup and connects to your devices over wi-fi. Immediately after installing the app I was able to click on the menu bar icon and see the status of the battery on both my iPhone and iPad without having to do anything else. It’s worth noting that you will need to have iTunes Wi-Fi Sync enabled in order for the app to detect the battery status of your devices. As I already had this enabled there was nothing for me to setup and the app was ready to go right after installation.
I quite often check the battery status of my devices throughout the day when I’m using them, sometimes picking one up to purposely check if I think it may be due for a recharge. I generally wait until the battery dips below 20% before I attempt a recharge, although I do occasionally run the battery down completely before doing a full recharge. This simple little app just saves all of the constant checking and will alert you when you need it to.
There are a few simple preferences that you can play around with, the app can be launched at startup which might be useful if it’s something you’re going to use constantly. There’s also an option to check automatically for updates, it’s recommended that you update the app after upgrading iOS as it may fail to work correctly with the latest version. There are also some notification settings which is where you can setup alerts and choose what percentage level the battery needs to dip below before you’re notified. You can also receive alerts when the battery is fully charged which is useful if you always take your phone off charge as soon as the battery has been topped up. Aside from that there is an ignore list so if there’s any devices you want the app to ignore and not show the battery status or alerts you can add them to the list.
One thing that might be useful for some people is the option to manage alerts independently for different devices and to set different battery capacity levels. Unfortunately this isn’t something provided by the app at present with any preferences being applied to all devices that are connected. I would generally prefer to receive alerts for my iPhone at around the 20% level, but would only want alerts for my iPad at around 5%. Maybe that’s a feature that can be added later on though and it’s not a big deal in what’s a really simple and useful app.
I’ve used iBetterCharge for about a week and haven’t had any issues with it, the battery level is always accurate and alerts always come through at the required level. I did find the flashing menu bar icon slightly annoying after a while, but luckily you can turn this feature off in the preferences. There isn’t any specific need for this app and if you feel like you don’t need it and keep strict tabs on your battery anyway then that’s entirely up to you. I just found it extremely useful to have as I tend to put my phone down and forget about it most of the time. Being alerted when the battery is low can save time if I need my battery charged before leaving the office or before going to bed in the evening.
iBetterCharge is a free app and is available for Mac and PC from the developer’s website.
Summary: Great little app for keeping tabs on your iPad or iPhone battery life. Runs in the menu bar and requires little or no setup. Alerts can be setup for when the battery falls below a certain capacity and when fully charged. Doesn't support independent alerts for different devices. Works perfectly, highly recommended.
5
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