According to a new Apple patent, iPhones and watches could be able to warn users to charge before the battery is empty.
At first glance, the current warning system is pretty sufficient: If the battery of the iPhone or Apple Watch is almost empty, the battery symbol changes to a red colour and you receive a warning message. In everyday life, however, you often see this warning too late – and then realise that you won’t get through the rest of the day with your half-charged watch. (See all Apple Watch features)
Power saving mode is helpful for prolonging the battery life, but even may not be enough to get you through to the next opportunity to charge.
A new patent suggests that Apple has come up with an interesting solution to this problem. Hopefully a solution that will appear in an upcoming system update.
The new Apple patent details a method where the operating system will warn the user of impending battery drain well in advance. The patent, called: “Smart advice to charge notification” (10,970,185) describes how the system monitors the typical charging processes of an iPhone or other device. It also considers location and takes into account whether it is a working day or the weekend. Based on this data the system then tries to predict whether the user will have enough battery charge by the next typical charging process.
For example, the iPhone software will remind you to charge in preparation for the next working day on Sunday evening, even if the battery is still half charged. Several devices can provide this warning, for example, an Apple Watch can remind a user to charge their iPhone and an iPhone can remind a user to charge their watch.
For advice on how to make your battery last longer read: How to save battery on iPhone. and How to improve Apple Watch battery life.
You may also be interested to read: How to check iPhone battery health and find out when to replace it