Getting battery status using Cordova !

There are two plugins to get battery status using Cordova, the first one is called phonegap-plugin-battery-status , and the second one is cordova-plugin-battery-status .

Table of Contents

phonegap-plugin-battery-status

The phonegap-plugin-battery-status plugin is deprecated , but it is still working .

It can be used to get information , such as when the battery is being charged or not : onchargingchange , what is the charge of the battery : onlevelchange , how much time is remaining to charge the device : onchargingtimechange , and how much time is remaining for the device to discharge : ondischargingtimechange . The last two information can be gotten on android only .

Create a demo application :

$ cordova create demo-pg-battery-status com.twiserandom.mobileapps.demo.pgBatteryStatus "Pg Battery Status" 
$ cd demo-pg-battery-status
$ cordova platform add ios
$ cordova platform add android
$ cordova plugin add phonegap-plugin-battery-status

Edit the www/index.html to look like this :

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html>
    <head>
        <meta charset="utf-8">
        <meta http-equiv="Content-Security-Policy" content="default-src 'self' data: gap: https://ssl.gstatic.com 'unsafe-eval'; style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline'; media-src *; img-src 'self' data: content:;">
        <meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=no">
        <meta name="msapplication-tap-highlight" content="no">
        <meta name="viewport" content="initial-scale=1, width=device-width, viewport-fit=cover">
        <meta name="color-scheme" content="light dark">
        <title>Demo Phonegap Plugin Battery Status</title>
    </head>
    <body>
        <div class="app">
            <div id="console">
                <h1>Battery Status</h1>
            </div>
        </div>
        <script src="cordova.js"></script>
        <script src="js/index.js"></script>
    </body>
</html>

And edit the www/js/index.js , to look like this :

document.addEventListener('deviceready', onDeviceReady, false);

function onDeviceReady() {
    let console = document.getElementById("console");
    function logStatusObject(){
        console.innerHTML += `<p>level: ${this.level}</p>`;
        console.innerHTML += `<p>charging: ${this.charging}</p>`;
        console.innerHTML += `<p>chargingTime: ${this.chargingTime}</p>`;
        console.innerHTML += `<p>dischargingTime: ${this.dischargingTime}</p>`;
        console.innerHTML += "<hr/>"; }
    navigator
        .getBattery()
        .then(
            function (battery) {
                battery.onchargingchange = logStatusObject;
                battery.onlevelchange = logStatusObject;
                battery.onchargingtimechange = logStatusObject;
                battery.ondischargingtimechange = logStatusObject;
            }); }

Run , the application using :

$ cordova emulate android

And check the status messages gotten using the plugin .

cordova-plugin-battery-status

This plugin can be used to get information about when when the battery reaches a critical level : batterycritical , or a low level : batterylow , and when the battery charge changes : batterystatus , or when the phone is being plugged or unplugged : batterystatus .

Create an application :

$ cordova create demo-cp-battery-status com.twiserandom.mobileapps.demoCpBatteryCtatus  "Demo Cp Battery Status"
$ cd demo-cp-battery-status
$ cordova platform add ios
$ cordova platform add android
$ cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-battery-status

Edit www/index.html to look like this :

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html>

<head>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Security-Policy"
        content="default-src 'self' data: gap: https://ssl.gstatic.com 'unsafe-eval'; style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline'; media-src *; img-src 'self' data: content:;">
    <meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=no">
    <meta name="msapplication-tap-highlight" content="no">
    <meta name="viewport" content="initial-scale=1, width=device-width, viewport-fit=cover">
    <meta name="color-scheme" content="light dark">
    <title>Demo Cordova Plugin Battery Status</title>
</head>

<body>
    <div class="app">
        <div id="console">
            <h1>Battery Status</h1>
        </div>
    </div>
    <script src="cordova.js"></script>
    <script src="js/index.js"></script>
</body>

</html>

Edit www/js/index.js to look like this :

document.addEventListener('deviceready', onDeviceReady, false);

function onDeviceReady() {
    let console = document.getElementById("console");
    function logStatusObject(status){
        console.innerHTML += `<p>level: ${status.level}</p>`;
        console.innerHTML += `<p>isPlugged: ${status.isPlugged}</p>`;
        console.innerHTML += "<hr/>"; }
    window.addEventListener("batterystatus", logStatusObject, false);
    window.addEventListener("batterylow", logStatusObject, false);
    window.addEventListener("batterycritical", logStatusObject, false); }

Run , the application using :

$ cordova emulate android

Can getting a battery reading be used to track user activity ?

Well probably , by using differential analysis , to a certain degree of certitude it can be known what the user is doing .

Research is made , on how much battery a phone will consume , based on what the user is doing . Like for example , if he is watching movies , then the rate of battery consumption is such , if he’s listening to music , then the rate of battery consumption is such , if he is using social media , then it is such …

Given research is made , it can be analyzed based on the rate of change in the battery level , when the phone is being plugged or unplugged , to construct with a certain degree of knowledge , what the user has been doing .

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