Revision 1.0 / 07.19.2015
Battery Overlay Percent
The manual is also available as pdf here.
Manual
Preface:
Thank you for using Battery Overlay Percent, the most comprehensive battery percentage tool for overlaying your battery icon.
Most battery percentage tools available on the Play Store uses Notifications to show your battery percentage. Notifications on Android are being displayed to the opposite of your battery icon / clock / signal which makes the percentage notification takes valuable notification space.
Unfortunately there is now simple way provided by Android SDK to put a notification on the other side of the statusbar. That’s why Battery Overlay Percent uses overlay.
It creates “floating” percentage that is being drawn above the statusbar.
That means – Battery Overlay Percent is responsible of moving “guessing” where the system draws the statusbar elements.
NOTE:
KitKat (4.4) Android has hidden percentage available within the system. it provides simple black & white percentage. you can check many apps on the Play Store to enable control of this setting. It’s limited in size and was only truly functional on Lollipop (on KitKat it will only show on areas where the battery is empty).
Third-Party: Many phone makers (Samsung, LG, Sony, HTC, etc..) has Show Percentage on their custom Android Versions. usually it provides percentage after the battery icon on the statusbar.
The Settings:
The application itself is a service running in the background. it tries to consume minimal memory as possible and is optimized to take insignificant battery usage. (You can use many battery monitoring apps to see it has minimal footprint on your battery).
General
Show Percentage –
Starts/Stops overlay service.
Start on Boot –
When checked, Battery Overlay Percent service will start with device
Enable NotificationListenerService (JellyBean 4.3 and above) –
Android’s Notification Listener Service allows applications to process notifications.
Battery Overlay Percent uses the data to “duck” when notifications arrive.
Enable AccessibilityService –
Accessibility Service provides apps with updates about user actions.
Battery Overlay Percent uses the data for:
- “duck” when notifications arrive (on Android 4.2 and below)
- detect when status bar / drawer is open.
Customization Appearance
Customize Overlay –
Entire section is described below.
Use Percentage Symbol –
When selected adds % symbol next to the percentage value.
Add outline –
Adds outline over the font (for better readability)
Alarms & Notifications
Sound Notification when charging –
When toggled, each time you connect the device to charger or disconnect you’ll hear a tone indicating whether the device is charging or stopped charging.
* This is very useful for devices with stock Android without such feature. life saver for those cases where you just discover the morning after your device didn’t charge at all!
Hide on lockscreen –
Allows to show/hide the percentage on the lockscreen.
(Default is checked to hide it prior to setting it up correctly).
Keep while charging –
Choose between showing the percentage event when the device is charging or hiding them completely.
Hide on lockscreen when charging –
Allows to show/hide the percentage on the lockscreen while charging.
(on some devices there is percentage on lockscreen only when charging)
Blink while charging –
When checked, the percentage will blink when device is charging make it more clear that the device is actually charging.
Show overlay in fullscreen –
Allows to show/hide the percentage even when in fullscreen for games / movies / etc..
(Default is unchecked).
Advanced
Enable single hour for 24h –
Note: This DOES NOT apply to United States / North American users. This DOES apply to German and Russian users and other european countries.
Some locales and Android version represent a single digit hour with one number (Eg. 9:00) instead of two numbers (Eg. 09:00).
If you see your percentage “moving” (or actually staying in-place…) turn this on and set Single Hour Offset.
Ignore 12h Clock Position Offset –
When 12hour clock is being used Battery Overlay Percent moves the position based on Single Hour Offset value. on some rare cases (for example when you’ve decided to put the overlay on the opposite side or other customized places), you can check this checkbox to ignore the offset value causing the overlay to stay in a static place.
Ignore 12h Offset on Lockscreen –
Same as the above but for lockscreen.
Use Alternative Overlay –
Toggles between 2 types of overlay flags provided by Android O/S.
Can help in some rare cases where you’re not seeing overlay on lockscreen. (After you’ve set it correctly!)
Use Motorola 1% Hack –
Old Motorola based Android devices doesn’t provide accurate percentage values.
If you see partial percentage updates (Eg. from 100% to 90% without smaller values) and you’re using a Motorola device you should turn it on.
About
Help –
(link to this guide..)
Report Issues –
Generate an email with Battery Overlay Percent current settings ready to be sent to developer.
Note: please try to write you issue and attach screenshots. e-mail without additional information cannot be addressed!
Customize Overlay
This screen controls most important customizations to make the overlay positioned correctly for your device.
Not all devices are equal. that’s why Battery Overlay Percent allows advanced customization of the overlay position.
Overlay Control Units (L/R/U/D) Horizontal Offset / Vertical Position
Font Size –
Sets the font size for the percentage.
Percentage Color –
Allows to set a different color for the overlay.
For Premium Users this is the “normal” color which will be used below the high value and above the low value.
Outline Stroke Width –
Sets the size/width of the outline around the percentage.
Alignment –
Battery Overlay Percent supports RTL locales and custom positions.
The alignment settings switch the way Battery Overlay Percent calculates the overlay position.
Right – calculates from the right of the display adding the desired offset.
Center – calculates from the center of the display spreading the offset value.
Left – calculates from the left of the display subtracting the desired offset.
Lockscreen Alignment –
Same as Alignment but for lockscreen.
Lockscreen Horizontal Offset –
Same as horizontal offset but for lockscreen.
Lockscreen Vertical Offset –
Same as vertical position but for lockscreen.
Note: when set to values below 0, Battery Overlay Percent will use the Vertical Position set above.
Hour Digit Number Offset –
Sets the offset for single digit hours (such as 9:00).
This SHOULD be used by users of 12h clocks (United States) and some european countries. please read the FAQ and “Enable Single Hour for 24h”
Reset –
Sets all values to their defaults.
Premium Preferences
Additional features available for donating (paid) users.
Round percentage to single digit – Allow showing a single digit instead of multiple digits.
For example 87% will become 9, 63% will become 6%.
Default Battery Outline Color – Sets the color of the percentage outline.
Font Style – Set different typeface (normal/bold/bold italic/italic) for the percentage font.
Due to request by many users the main premium feature is to set up to 4 ranges of colors.
For example: (high) when above 90% use green; (default) when below 90% and above 25% use white; (low) when below 25% and above 15% use yellow; (critical) when below 15% use red.
In order to set it correctly you’ll first need to set the value for each range.
High Battery Percentage Value – This is the value which is the minimal value for high percentage. (High >= Value)
Low Battery Percentage Value – This is the value which is the maximal value for low percentage. (Low <= Value)
Critical Battery Percentage Value – This is the value which is the maximal value for critical percentage. (Critical <= Value)
How do I set the default range?
The default range is an outcome of High and Low values. it’s between them.
For example, when High set to 90% and Low to 60% that means that the default is between them (low<DEFAULT<high).
Here is a visualization: | HIGH 90% DEFAULT LOW 60% CRITICAL 25% |
(this is NOT proportionate)
After you set the ranges each range allows additional customization:
High/Low/Critical Battery Color – Set the percentage color for the particular range.
(for default you should use the default color available also for non-premium).
High/Low/Critical Battery Outline Color – Set the percentage outline color for the particular range. (for default range you should use Default Battery Outline Color available above).
Font Style When High Percentage / Low/ Critical – You may also have different font face for each range. this can be done by selecting between (Normal/Bold/Bold Italic/Italic).
(for default range you should use Font Style).