The way iOS displays your current battery level has been approximately the same since the first iteration of the mobile operating system; albeit with a few minor changes present in some of the most significant updates over the years.
For anyone interested in a fresh take on iOS’ battery level indicator, a new free jailbreak tweak dubbed BatteryBar by iOS developer DGh0st may grab some attention.
As shown in the before and after screenshots above, BatteryBar replaces iOS’ stock battery level indicator with a new bar that spans the full width of the device’s display.
As a subtle detail, BatteryBar adopts the current color of the stock battery level indicator. In this case, it’s yellow because Low Power Mode is turned on; it would display green or red otherwise, depending on your current battery level.
If you happen to be a /r/jailbreak user, then you might’ve stumbled upon this concept already. It was initially requested specifically for the iPhone X such that it would take advantage of the OLED display’s notch. Unfortunately, BatteryBar only works on non-iPhone X devices as of this writing, but that could change in the future.
After you install BatteryBar, you will find a new preference pane in the Settings app where you can configure a bevy of options:
Here, you can:
- Toggle the tweak on or off on demand
- Choose the default Status Bar text color (black, white, or default)
- Hide or show the Status Bar’s stock battery level indicator icon
- Hide or show the Status Bar’s stock charging icon
- Configure the thickness of BatteryBar
- Choose whether BatteryBar displays at the top or bottom of the Status Bar
- Configure BatteryBar’s alignment (left, center, or right)
- Configure BatteryBar’s color scheme (default, solid, or gradient)
- Adjust BatteryBar’s opacity
- Enable or disable a pulsing effect like you’d see on some other manufacturers’ phones
The developer includes a Respring button at the top right of the preference pane, but it stays disabled until you change some of the settings. When you do, it becomes tappable and you’ll want to use it to save your changes.
In my opinion, BatteryBar seems like a fun and quirky way to add some personalization to your iPhone, but it’s unfortunate that it doesn’t work on the iPhone X. I very much like the stock configuration right out of the box, but it’s convenient how the developer includes the added customization because it makes the tweak more versatile for other users.
If you’d like to give BatteryBar a shot for yourself, then you can download it for free from Cydia’s BigBoss repository. The tweak works on all jailbroken iOS 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 devices (excluding the iPhone X).
Do you like how BatteryBar makes the battery level indicator look? Let us know in the comments section below.
