By accessing a hidden Settings menu, you can add the battery percentage number directly into the status bar of both the Pixel and the Pixel XL.
Sometimes the battery icon isn’t enough to quickly figure out how much juice is left in your smartphone’s battery. It’s a good way to get a vague estimation, but even being as little as 10% off can be the difference between having enough battery at the end of the day or running out early.
Some OEMs will let you show the exact percentage of the battery directly in the status bar with a simple toggle from within the Settings application.
Many have asked Google why they don’t include this open as openly as others, and they say it is because of how much it drains the battery. Since Android 6.0 Marshmallow, this feature has been included in stock Android, but it has been hidden behind a secret menu. So today I want to show you how to show the exact battery percentage number right in the status bar of the Pixel and Pixel XL.
Sadly, this isn’t as easily readable as it is on some devices (like Samsung’s), but at least the feature is there.
Pixel Battery Percentage in the Status Bar
- Enable the System UI Tuner on the Pixel phone
- Launch the Settings application
- Scroll down and tap on the ‘System UI Tuner’ option
- Tap on the ‘Status Bar’ option
- Then tap on the ‘Battery’ option
- And choose the ‘Always Show Percentage’ option
Explanation
As mentioned, Google says they don’t easily let people enable this feature because of the effect it has on battery life. Now, you shouldn’t see any drastic changes to your overall battery life by enabling this feature. Factors like screen brightness and cellular signal strength play a much bigger role here. However, Google feels the impact it has on your battery life outweighs the benefits that having the feature offers.
So to start, you’ll need to enable the System UI Tuner on the Pixel or Pixel XL. If you’re not sure about how to do this, then follow the link in step 1 of the guide above and that will walk you through the process. Once that is enabled, you can launch the Settings application and then scroll all the way down to tThe bottom. You should see a new System UI Tuner option here, and tapping it will bring you to the hidden menu.
From here, you will want to tap on the Status Bar option, and then you’ll be taken to a menu that has a lot of toggles. This place will let you enable or disable the viewing of various Status Bar icons, but we want to ignore those and look toward the bottom of the list. You should see an option labeled Battery here, and tapping on it will bring up three options just like you see in the image above.
By default, the battery percentage is only shown in the Status Bar when the device is charging (which again shows that Google now showing by default is because of battery life). Here, you also have the option to hide the battery life icon from the Status Bar entirely. Lastly, we have the option to Always Show Percentage, and that is the one we want to choose right now. Tapping on this option will show you something similar to what you see at the very top of this tutorial.
Unlike Samsung devices, this feature will not bring the battery percentage number outside of the battery icon. There are some 3rd-party applications that will show the battery percentage number on its own, but it will place it on the left side of the Status Bar. If you’re okay with that, then you should check out some of these applications from the Play Store. For those who want to keep it on the right side of the Status Bar, this is the only option we have (without rooting our phone).
Sadly, having this number sitting inside the battery icon isn’t the most visible way of doing it, but maybe Google will change it up in a future update.
