Bluetooth Battery Meter

Currently supported on Gnome Versions:

Supported: 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48

Deprecated: 42

Bluetooth Battery Meter is a Gnome Extension featuring indicator icons in system tray, serving as meter for Bluetooth device battery levels and providing detailed battery levels via icon/text in the Bluetooth quick settings menu.

Important Notes

  • Certain Bluetooth devices report battery levels in different increments.
  • One would expect a continuous discharge reading like 100, 99, 98, 97… down to 0.
  • However manufacturers often design devices to report in specific increments.
  • Some devices may report battery levels in increments of 5 (e.g., 100, 95, 90, 85… to 0)
  • Some devices may report battery levels in increments of 10 (e.g., 100, 90, 80, 70… to 0)
  • Some devices may report battery levels in increments of 20 (e.g., 100, 80, 60, 40… to 0)
  • For Quick settings percentage displayed in text (when enabled), might observe battery level stuck at a percentage example 100% for a while and later suddenly drop down to 80%, if designed for increment of 20%.


Features:

Core Functions (Default Operation Mode)

  • Displays battery level (text/icon) reported by BlueZ in the system tray indicator and Bluetooth popup menu.

  • Configurable indicator style: battery bar or dots.

  • Customizable battery bar and dot colors.

  • Shows indicator for non-battery Bluetooth devices (e.g., keyboard, mouse) to reflect connection status.

  • Option to disable battery reporting per device.

  • Option to choose different icons for each Bluetooth device.

UPower Devices (Optional Mode)

  • When enabled, displays battery level in the system tray for non-Bluetooth UPower devices (e.g., Logitech Lightspeed keyboard/mouse).

  • Option to select a custom icon for the indicator.

  • Configurable indicator style: battery bar or dots.

  • Customizable battery bar and dot colors.

Enhanced Device Mode (Optional Mode - Requires Python Script)

  • The extension uses a built-in Python script to enhance battery reporting and device control. It communicates with supported devices using:

    • Socket-based interface for devices like AirPods/Beats to retrieve battery levels and control features such as ANC.

    • D-Bus GATT Battery Service (BAS) for standard Bluetooth devices that expose battery information via the GATT protocol.

  • Provides additional UI widgets to display battery levels and control features such as ANC:

    • Message Tray notifications

    • Panel Button

    • On-hover details

    • Multiple indicator mode