Battery % Viewer - Windows App

People with visual impairments (VI Community) usually find it difficult to read the Task bar information on the windows Computer. The Taskbar shows vital information with the most important being the time and battery percentage. There are very few options when it comes to viewing the battery percentage of the computer. This makes it hard for people from the VI community to know the computer’s battery percentage whenever they desire.

The battery is the most important element in any Computer, and it is usually important to monitor how much charge is left on your computer at any point in time. For example, if you have 20 percent of battery left and you are still a few hours away from home or any power source, you may want to save the battery and keep your computer alive till you can charge it next.

Currently people with visual impairments rely on the computer’s low battery system notification (Usually when the computer reaches 10%) and by then it is often too late to act. This app aims to show the battery percentage in large font and announce the same using the device’s speaker.

Also, only few computers have a sound notification

when the computer starts charging and it is difficult for people with visual impairment to confirm whether the computer is charging or not. This app also announces the charging status (Charging/Not charging).

Screen Readers

Most Screen Readers on Desktops like NVDA (Windows), JAWS(Windows), Voice Over (Mac) have a built in command for announcing the critical system information such as the Time, Battery Level and the Network Connection status (Wi-Fi). But people with low vision who don't use a full time screen reader do not have any option to view the system information in large font. This application aims to provide the Battery Information to such users in large font as well as Speech.

Keep it simple

The app has been specifically designed to only show the battery percentage and charging status and does not provide any optimisation features. The aim is to keep it simple and easy to use and to display the most crucial information to the VI users without bombarding the users with a lot of information. The VI community and senior citizens can benefit from the app.