Getting the battery level of a Bluetooth headset on Mac OSX

Question

I would like to know if it is possible to get the battery level of a connected Bluetooth device (for example, a headset) on Mac OSX.

I'm looking for a command line or a library that would offer this possibility.

Thanks.

Roseroseann

There are not easy solutions if we don't know what are we dealing with. But generally, haven't you tried with ioreg? For example, here are some uses for the OS X's Magic Mouse and Magic Keyboard. – Newhouse

Interesting to have such feature in iOS (battery level next to the bluetooth headset icon) but not in macOS. – Mccarley

This application claims to do it (have not verified): bjango.com/mac/istatmenus – Sollie

@TheMatt User of iStat Menus, it does seem possible to add Apple AirPods (I don't own that so can't verify). My Sony WH-1000XM3 bluetooth headsets don't show up. – Sharronsharyl

Answer 1

There is no easy way to get this information without special application.

There is an app especially designed for this only purpose - called AKKU.

It worked with Bose and Sony's headphones (checked)

https://github.com/jariz/Akku/

Remember to download version 0.1.0-beta.10.

The app works after restart.

Ferbam

I'm on Catalina 10.15.4. Akku blocks other bluetooth devices to connect if it is configured to load itself at startup. And there is not way to remove it in easy way: you have to kill the app, unload daemon and unregister it in launchctl. – Radiolocation

It worked with Oneplus Wireless earphones too. Thanks. – Finical

Worked with Oneplus Earbuds too. Thanks. – Reggiereggis

Answer 2

Just follow this guide: http://osxdaily.com/2014/05/18/how-to-check-bluetooth-keyboard-battery-levels-from-the-command-line-on-mac-os-x/

Basically:

You just need to know the name of the device and then use ioreg, like this:

ioreg -c <devicename> |grep '"BatteryPercent" ='

Additionally, you could retrieve broader battery information with:

ioreg -c BeatsBluetoothHeadset |grep Battery

Next time, just google ... Since a similar question was already answered https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/215256/check-the-battery-level-of-connected-bluetooth-headphones-from-the-command-line

Mandie

That's for keyboards only, not headsets – Podolsk

Nope this one is specially written for headsets in mind. – Mandie

Doesn't work with JBL 450BT. On the iPhone i get the small battery-indicator when connected – Religiose

Does not work for Sony WH-1000XM3 headsets. @MDK, you could verify your google search before posting an answer as well. – Nadia

Not finding the property even for the keyboard under Mac OS X Catalina (10.15.1) – Christen

Your solution does NOT work for Sennheiser HD 4.40BT. Most of us have "just googled" - that's how we landed here after all. The similar answer you linked to also does NOT work. That's why we're here. So can you help us answer the question instead of chastising us for not doing work that we have already done? :-). Thanks! – Botanize

Don't work on another devices like bose qc 35, the command line returns nothings – Ferbam

This solution does not works for Sony headphones. – Dom