The new Android 15 battery status icon has terrible accessibility

I got the new update for Android 15. There’s many things I dislike about it, but there’s one particular change that I not only passionately dislike, but I think it’s terrible for accessibility and for the environment, and thus for Fairphone’s mission.

The old battery status icon when in battery saving move was solid red. It was obvious, visible, urgent. I usually set battery saver mode when the battery is below 40% to remind me not to let it go down below 20%.

The new battery status icon is white, like the normal icon, white a yellow background. And it has a plus sign inside it. Yellow and white should not mix in UIs as there’s very little contrast between them. This makes it really, really hard to notice that the battery saving is enabled, because “battery half full” and “battery is 10% yellow and a plus sign” look very similar, unless I look really closely.

Before the update I very rarely let my phone die, as that’s terrible for battery life. Since the update this happened routinely. This is killing my battery. So I beg Fairphone to consider patching the default battery icon with a more accessible one. I can’t be alone in having this problem.

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In the mean time it might help to adjust your battery icon a little. like showing the battery percentage..

Would that help?

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It helps a little, but it’s not ideal, as then that’s too distracting.

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Changing the mode into dark theme does not help?

Actually the problem is because of dark mode, as in light mode the battery icon is black, so it has enough contrast with the yellow background. But anyway, since this update, dark mode is forced when the phone enters battery saver mode. Another ridiculous anti-accessibility feature that can’t be disabled.

I understand this isn’t Fairphone’s fault btw. I’m just really pissed with Google’s increasingly terrible design practices.

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