The long-awaited Battery Health menu, hinted at since Android 14 QPR2 Beta 2 over two years ago, has finally arrived in Android 16 Beta 3. However, this welcome addition is currently limited to owners of the Pixel 9 series and the Pixel 8a. Surprisingly, even the recently launched Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro are excluded from this new feature.
Google addressed this limitation in an issue tracker thread, stating, “The Battery Health Indicator feature is currently supported in Beta 3 on Pixel 8a and Pixel 9 products including 9 Pro Fold. Due to product limitations, this feature will not be available on older in-market Pixel devices.” This suggests the feature might be exclusive to 2024 or later Pixel models, though Google hasn’t provided a clear explanation for this restriction.
Speculation among users points to the “product limitations” potentially referring to difficulties retrieving battery cycle counts from older Pixel models. This reasoning remains unclear, especially considering the Pixel 8 and 8a share similar lithium-ion battery technology, differing primarily in capacity.
A person taking a photo with the Google Pixel 8a.
Both phones also utilize the same Tensor G3 chip. Given the minimal hardware differences between the two devices, the decision to limit the Battery Health feature to the Pixel 8a has understandably frustrated some users. One Reddit user claimed the feature functioned in a previous beta version on their Pixel 6 Pro, further adding to the confusion.
In contrast, Apple introduced its Battery Health feature in 2017, extending its compatibility to iPhones dating back to 2014, including the iPhone 6.
It’s important to note that the Battery Health menu is currently exclusive to Android 16 Beta 3 participants and hasn’t been publicly released. With the wider rollout of Android 16 expected in Q2 2025, this feature could potentially become available on all compatible devices. Further announcements from Google, perhaps at Google I/O 2025, may shed more light on this.
