Saturday, May 23, 2020

No alarms? Won't autostart? It's not our fault! Really.

More and more these days we are getting feedback from users who say their alarms don't work or stopped working, or that the app won't autostart, or that the battery number just disappeared from the status bar one day.  I know when I used to have trouble with an app, my first thought always was it must be something wrong with the app, not that there was something wrong with my phone.

Naturally, users blame developers for their apps failing to deliver, but ultimately the manufacturer of your device has total control over the processes that run.  Because smartphones are getting more and more powerful, and because battery capacity is lagging behind, manufacturers constantly try to put their own battery saving feature into the firmware with each new Android release.  Many go so far that they break many apps just so they can try to squeeze a bit more juice out of the battery.

It's gotten so bad, there is a website devoted to these manufacturers and the hoops they make customers jump through just so they can find these default "battery saving" features and turn them off to get their apps to work.  The site is called...

Don't Kill My App!  https://dontkillmyapp.com/

If you go to this site, (which I recommend everyone do before they purchase their next phone or tablet), you will see that the worst offenders are (in order) Huawei, Samsung, OnePlus and Xiaomi.  But by no means are these the only offenders.

Fortunately, the creators of this website have put together an extremely good list with pictures on how to get around these "battery saving" restrictions that manufacturers keep putting on their devices with every new Android update that comes out that cause apps to break and stop working.

So if you are having problems with the app not autostarting, or disappearing, or if  the alarms don't work, check out this website to see if your manufacturer is on the list, and then follow the instructions under "Solution for users".

We test our apps on every new Android version that comes out, and when we get emails from users with problems, very often it is an issue with the extra "features" the manufacturer has added to their latest Android firmware update.  Of course, we are more than happy to try to resolve any problem you might have by contacting us at the email addresses below, but the "Don't Kill My App! site is a great place to start to see if the manufacturer of your device and their new "battery saving" feature just might be the problem.

Don't Kill My App!  https://dontkillmyapp.com/

bnbtfree@gmail.com

bnprobt@gmail.com


Saturday, May 9, 2020

Managing notifications in Battery Notifier Pro BT 2020

Q: How does Manage notification category work compared to the old Notification priority in Battery Notifier Pro BT?                                                                                                                                     
A: This setting works similarly to how it worked before, and is mainly used if you have a lot of notifications in your status bar, or in your notification drawer, and it determines how far to the left or right the status bar icon will appear in the status bar, and how high or low the notification will be in the swipe down notification drawer.

Manage notification category takes you to the settings in your device to make the change.
The options you will find work similarly but not exactly the same as the previous Maximum, High, Default, Low and Minimum settings previously under
Notification Priority in Battery Notifier Pro BT.

Alerting (Pop on screen off) - Battery level number closest to the time - Notification in drawer at the top
This is the default setting and it works the same as Default did in Battery Notifier Pro BT.
Select Manage notification category.  Show notifications should be turned on at the top.

Right beneath Show notificationsAlerting should be highlighted and selected.
When Battery Notifier Pro BT 2020 is first started, it will place the battery level icon number just to the right of the time in the upper left corner of the status bar.  (In case you were wondering, the time will always be furthest left in the status bar in Android 10, and there is no way for notifications to appear to the left of the time.)  It will also place the notification in the swipe down notification drawer at the top.

Normally you should just leave it on this setting.  As other notifications come in, they will appear furthest left (to the left of the battery level icon number and next to the time) until you dismiss them.  If you do not wish to dismiss them, but still want the Battery Notifier Pro BT 2020 battery level icon number to appear furthest left next to the time, just restart Battery Notifier Pro BT 2020 and the battery level icon number will again move furthest left next to the time in the status bar, and the notification in the swipe down notification drawer will again be at the top.

Alerting (Pop on screen on) - Battery level always closest to the time - Notification in drawer always at the top
If you have many notifications coming in constantly, and you don't want to have to keep restarting Battery Notifier Pro BT 2020 to have the battery level stay furthest left, leave Alerting selected, and turn on Pop on screen.  Set this way, the battery level icon number should stay furthest left and next to the time as other notifications come in, and the notification in the swipe down notification drawer should stay at the top.  If a notification still comes in to the left of the battery level icon number, you may need to go to the notification category settings for that app, and turn off Pop on screen for that app.

Silent (Minimize off) - Battery level number more to the right  - Notification in drawer at the bottom
Select Silent instead of Alerting, and the battery level icon number will move to the right, and it will move the notification in the drawer to the bottom.  Whether or not it moves all the way to the right in the status bar or moves the notification in the drawer all the way to the bottom also depends upon what other apps with status bar notifications you are running, and the settings in notification category for those apps.

Silent (Minimize on) - Battery level number off - Notification in drawer at the bottom and minimized
In Battery Notifier Pro BT 2020 this will make the status bar icon disappear, and minimize the notification in the drawer.  It may not minimize the notification in the drawer right away, but if you touch it and bring up the dashboard, then it should.  If it still doesn't minimize, then restart the app, and it should then minimize.

Show notifications off - Battery level number off - Notification in drawer off
If you want the battery level icon number turned off and also don't want a notification in the notification drawer either, then turn off Show notifications.

NOTE: Turning off Show notifications will cause the notification in the swipe down notification drawer to disappear along with the status bar number, but Battery Notifier Pro BT 2020 will still be running in the background, and the audio notifications for low and full battery will still work.  Also, be aware that if you turn off Show notifications and then turn it back on, you may need to restart the app in order for the status bar icon number and notification in the drawer to appear again.

Thursday, April 23, 2020

Battery Notifier 2020 apps now available at Google Play!

Battery Notifier Pro BT 2020 and Battery Notifier BT Free 2020 are now both currently available at Google Play.

Both Battery Notifier Pro BT 2020 and Battery Notifier BT Free 2020 are optimized for devices using Android 10 and up.  They include white only notifications in the status bar as required by Google going forward.  If you do not intend to upgrade to Android 10 or buy a device with Android 10, and only have devices with Android 9 or under, and if you still want colored notifications in the status bar, Battery Notifier Pro BT and Battery Notifier BT Free are still available for download at Google Play, and are compatible with all versions of Android 9 and under, though they will no longer be updated.

Saturday, February 15, 2020

New Android 10 Apps Coming Soon!

As many of you who have already upgraded to Android 10 may have noticed, both of our apps, Battery Notifier BT Free and Battery Notifier Pro BT are not totally compatible with Android 10.  The sound notifications may still work, but the status bar number icons to show the current battery level may not appear.  This is due to many decisions made by Google in recent years, one of them being to force developers to comply with their desire for Android applications to only have white notifications in the status bar.

We have resisted this change as long as we could because we felt users should have a choice if they want a colored number in the status bar or not, and that is part of the reason our apps have not been updated in awhile.  Google recently rejected our attempts to update our apps that did not comply with their white only status bar requirements in Android, as well as removing many of our free colored add-ons for Battery Notifier Pro BT users.
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But the good news is, for those of you who for the time being will not be updating to Android 10 or getting a new device which has Android 10, the current versions of Battery Notifier BT Free and Battery Notifier Pro BT will work just fine on all versions of Android up to and including Android 9.

And if you recently updated to Android 10, or plan on getting a device with Android 10, be aware that we are currently working on two new apps, Battery Notifier BT Free 2020 and Battery Notifier Pro BT 2020, both of which will be totally compatible with Android 10 and up, and which should be out soon.  While they will no longer have multi-colored icons in the status bar and will have white only numbers, the free version will have two built-in choices, one including a percent sign, while the pro version will have eight built-in choices of white numbers in different fonts, two with the percent sign, and two with extra large easier to read numbers.  And if you only desire white numbers, the new 2020 apps should work with earlier versions of Android as well.

Please be patient and check back from time to time on Google Play by doing a Search for Battery Notifier 2020, and we will also be posting on this blog when it is available.

Important Notice Regarding Add-ons

Important notice regarding add-ons for Battery Notifier Pro BT

In an attempt to try and reduce duplicate and spam apps from Google Play, Google has removed many of the numerous free add-ons we offered for Battery Notifier Pro BT from Google Play. We appealed the decision but our appeal was rejected.  If you were one of our users who used one of our add-ons, hopefully there are enough of them remaining for you to choose from to give you the look in the status bar you desire.

Friday, February 14, 2020

Copycats!

Back in 2011 when I co-developed Battery Notifier BT Free (Battery Notifier Big Text at the time) and Battery Notifier Pro BT with my programming partner Dmytro Shkil, there was only one app with the name Battery Notifier which was created by my partner.  Now there seems to be all kinds of copycats.  To be certain you have the original apps, with no ads, only download them from Google Play and make sure the developer is Shkil/larryvgs.

Also, please be aware that Google Play is the only place authorized to carry our apps
If you installed an apk with our name from some other site and are getting popups or ads,
the app has been altered and might have malware
If you think you might have installed an apk with malware see:
Help! I Can't Uninstall Your App!