Android 14 has introduced new BatteryManager APIs that address the need for battery health information, according to Esper.io’s Mishaal Rahman. These APIs offer valuable insights such as cycle count, charging status, manufacturing date, date of first use, charging policy, and state of health.
However, these APIs are only available on Pixel devices running Android 14 Beta 2 or higher.
A few days back, I commented on some new BatteryManager APIs Google added in Android 14. Two of the APIs (cycle count & charging status) are public while the rest (manufacturing date, date of first use, charging policy, state of health) are system APIs. https://t.co/3ujezWsLg2
— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) June 1, 2023
Open-Source App Utilizes Android 14 APIs
Taking advantage of the new APIs, developer @narektor created an open-source battery health app called Batt. The app utilizes the Android 14 APIs to provide users with battery health statistics. Interested users can download the app from GitLab, as it is not available on the Play Store.
It is important to note that the accuracy of the battery health statistics provided by the app may vary. The app relies on the information returned by the APIs, which, in turn, depends on the charging IC’s tracking capabilities and the HAL’s support for this feature.
Charging IC is an integrated circuit that controls the charging process of the battery. HAL is a Hardware Abstraction Layer that provides a standard interface between the hardware and the software.
Battery Health Feature in Android 14?
While the availability of third-party apps like Batt is a temporary solution, it is expected that Google will eventually release its own battery health feature. Ideally, this feature will be directly integrated into the Settings app, eliminating the need for additional apps.
Although the battery health feature was removed from the Android 14 Beta 1 release, there is still hope that Google will implement the new APIs directly into the Android Settings app. This would make battery health information accessible to all devices that support reporting this data, not just Pixel devices.
While there is still a possibility of including the battery health feature in Android 14, it is more likely to be introduced in Android 15. This would provide OEMs and Google with additional time to refine the feature and potentially offer custom recommendations and enhanced charging/power management functionalities.
Despite the users’ desire to know battery health information, the feature has still not been released by Google yet.