I’ve googled this but the answers are all tldr and more often than not either out-of-date, wrong phone model, or just plain don’t answer the question.
On the basis that the SDMB probably contains a lot of iphone owners, and some of them might already know the answer to this, I figured there’s actually less effort involved in just asking, at the expense of a tiny bit of effort expenditure for the answerer…
So, what, if any, is Apple’s official reason for the iphone not having such a basic feature?
And if I’m somehow being dumb, and it does - why doesn’t my phone do it? And if it can, how do I make it?
I’m pretty sure that when it gets down to <20%, it does a pop-up notification that should make a sound like any other pop ups that you have. Same thing for <10% I think. If your phone is on silent I think it’ll just vibrate briefly.
My phone isn’t on silent. I don’t get a sound for those popups.
The problem with no sound is that if the phone is in my pocket I have no idea the battery has died when it dies.
And Edit: I forgot to mention something more important than battery low - A sound for “I am turning off now”. This would be very useful. I use my phone as my alarm. If it dies in the night I don’t get an alarm!! (To get around this I set my ipod’s alarm if my phone’s battery is low… but if my phone ‘told’ me when it was switching off due to low battery I could simply plug it in - assured that it will be on for the alarm.
I keep my phone on vibrate all day at work; even if it was on, I don’t know if I’d be able to even hear such a tone. The iPhone doesn’t have the world’s best speaker in that regard.
It would never occur to me to not plug my iPhone in to charge each night. I was under the impression that such an act was SOP for 99% of cellphone users.
Even with an “I am turning off now,” I know I’ve trained my body to sleep through anything but my specific alarm ringtone. Such an alert would be useless to me.
ETA: As far as an official Apple response for why these features aren’t included, I don’t think they’ve ever addressed them.
The iphone 4’s speaker is quite loud (for normal ‘sensible’ usage such as playing a game or watching streamed video I have the volume slider way down at 2 or 3 on a scale of 1-10)
I can’t shake the feeling that constantly trickle-charging and charging-when-not-drained is adversely affecting my battery life. maybe 99% of cellphone users have been conditioned to be used to the every-port-in-a-storm lifestyle of device charging. I am not convinced that it doesn’t shorten your battery’s lifespan.
And I HAVE tested this with my phone. If I give it ‘typical’ battery charging the day-to-day life of the battery becomes somewhat pathetic compared to when I regimentally charge-only-when-empty and take-off-charge-when full.
Not me My body wakes up if fly farts in australia.
Not to be snarky, but wouldn’t that be like trying to ask the President a question while you are at a presidential address with twenty thousand other people?
Wouldn’t it be easier to ask one of the people near you, who might happen to know the answer?
In other words rather than go through the ball-ache of figuring out the process of asking Apple quesitons, and then asking it, and then waiting days for them not to answer, I figured I’d ask on a message board that I happen to already be a member of, that contains probable iphone users who might happen to know the answer.
Apple doesn’t usually bother to respond to direct inquiries. They expect people to search the apple forums. Occasionally, if you email Jobs directly, he might respond on a whim, but usually only to snark.
My Nokia 6310i beeps when the battery is running low, which is actually quite handy because it can be weeks until I have to charge it again. I think the modern phone philosophy is that you’re gonna have to charge it pretty damned regularly anyway.
He’s already asked us four or five times. Eventually we’ll give him the answer.
This has also been explained to him a few times. Maybe it’ll stick this time.
I have never seen an official answer to that question and I doubt that there’s an actual official answer because nearly everybody with an iPhone doesn’t want or need that feature. You definitely don’t want people’s phones beeping during a movie or performance because someone’s battery is low in a purse or pocket. My iPhone vibrates when it hits 20% which has only happened maybe twice in three years because I am diligent about keeping it charged.
My old Razr had that - it was AWFUL because that bastard would NOT STOP BEEPING when it was low on battery. Seriously, to tell me it was low on power it would use power nonstop to tell me that. Why on earth don’t you charge it at night like everybody else?
I’ve seen this reply almost word-for-word before. I appreciate your reply, but my phone is not consistent with these claims, and neither has any lithium-ion based device I’ve owned previously. Hence my statement that I am dubious of these claims.
I apologise if I seemed ungreatful. I appreciate the suggestion. It bugs me when people dismiss people on message boards with a “go get an answer somewhere else” type reply. Not that I am annoyed at you, it was just that your post seemed a bit like that.
This wasn’t what I asked this time, and as I have already pointed out I am sceptical of this claim.
You mean wake up, look at energy bar, go to sleep?? No I’m talking about when the phone is not in use. Like when it’s in your pocket or on your bedside table.
The point, which I hoped I had made clear but obviously I haven’t is that you can’t ‘trust’ the phone because it may well have run out of battery without you being aware that it has done so, so you either miss a call because you didn’t know, or you miss an alarm because you didn’t know.
I think what you meant to say was: Anyone who relies purely on a single battery powered device as an alarm clock without making provisions for the possibility of the battery draining before the alarm is due to go off - deserves what’s coming to them.
I stopped reading your post when it seemed like you were being an ass.
But anyway, in answer to your point, why has it been a feature on the majority of other phones? And what’s wrong with having it as a feature that can be turned off by people who don’t want it?
And why is it so unreasonable to ask about it? Anyone would think I’d demanded that Steve Jobs personally give me a blow job.
Not really, given the well known unreliability of batteries, and given that you can get a mains powered alarm clock (with battery backup for power outages) for under $10.
