Customer Reviews

Battery Stats Plus Pro

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(44)

 

 

Update 7/21/13:
After weeks of testing, it appears things have changed for the better and I cannot find any evidence this app mines your personal data. You can voluntarily upload your statistics if you want to compare to other users with the same phone, etc. by using the "cloud" button. Because of this I raised my original 1 star review to 2 stars.

The reason its only 2 stars is for three reasons:
1) The whole point of this app is to provide statistics regarding battery life, which apps are using the most battery, how much time is left, etc. - in my testing after weeks of use none of these estimates or statistics are accurate. The estimated time remaining is so far off it is almost funny, saying things like, "empty in 3 days, 15 hours, and 41 minutes" when I have 30% battery left on my original Kindle Fire... I don't think so!
2) There is a major issue with the app licensing - I keep getting a message that I may have an unlicensed copy of the app and then it shuts down. I have deleted, re-downloaded, cleared cache/data numerous times but it keeps happening and essentially makes the app unusable.
3) The app does not provide significant additional benefits from the built in Android battery app. However, for a Kindle tablet there are some benefits, as what Amazon has provided is not very informative.

Original review:
Despite the developer saying in the description that sharing your devices' information is optional it is NOT. When you first open the app, you have to agree to a privacy policy/terms of service that states the developers WILL collect data from within their app and store it on their servers. What they mean by "optional" in the description is really just the ability to post your battery information publicly on their website (see website mentioned in description). In fact the app won't even run if you are not connected to the internet! I tried running the app after turning off data/wifi and a dialog pops up that says, "Internet Needed: please connect to the Internet to run this app" which promptly closes the app immediately after you click "Okay." I do not like this - both for privacy reasons, and because sometimes, especially on my Kindle Fire, I don't have 24/7 access to the internet.

Note that anything the app can "see" (or is displayed within the app) like all the applications you have installed, how often you use them, etc. can and will be collected by the developers. They say in their privacy policy that they only use this information to improve their app, that they won't sell it to anyone, and that it is totally anonymous... but only you can decide whether you trust them or not.

Even if you do not care whether or not they are collecting your data, this app provides very little more than what Android already has built in: you can find it under settings → battery. There are a few minor things that are not easily accessible in stock Android that this app shows such as voltage, temperature, and apps that use the most cpu resources but honestly I do not find those things terribly helpful.

Most likely this app will get uninstalled and never used again. Perhaps IF in the future the developer changes the terms of service and permissions so that they do not collect and share my information I will give them another chance, but I have a feeling that's not going to happen.

UPDATED 7/2/13
After the app finally collected enough data (which took LONGER than the "1-2 days" for me), I'm now adding in some more stuff into my review.
Yes, I understand that you must hit the cloud button to collect AND share your info into their website (so that you can compare stats and whatnot). However, I'm not sure that they aren't still collecting our information WITHOUT sharing it publicly--as the description says you have the option for data collecting AND sharing. I don't have a problem with it, truthfully, but I don't think the devs are clear about this (as I got the impression they still collect the info from the agreement you get upon first starting the app). I'll give the app one more star if and when the devs get back to us on this issue.

The reason I'm not giving the app 3 stars (bumped it up to 2 from 1 after the app collected enough data) was because the main reason I wanted this app was for its battery draining info. However, after seeing what's on there, I just don't think it's accurate enough--like you might need to wait a month or longer for the thing to be accurate. You actually need to USE the apps on your device for this app to see if it's draining your battery AND it all depends on how long you use them. So, on mine, it doesn't show half of what apps I have (as I haven't opened/used them) and the ones that are showing drain my battery the most are silk (internet) and a game I had found myself playing for the past few days. I know that my kindle stays on longer when I use silk versus another (different) game, when the app said THAT game didn't even use as much battery as the first game, simply because I didn't play it long enough.

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Right now, I'm giving this app four stars since the app states it may not be accurate for at least 1-2 days until "enounght data" (yes, there's a typo) is collected. I did get a bit worried when it says, in the agreement, that our cloud data will be (to sum it up) collected and sent to their site and all that good stuff. However, they said that they won't be using that info and whatnot. Let's hope they're honest.

Now, onto the app. As far as I can tell, it looks great. There's a ton of different information it gives us, such as an average summary of the device, CPU usage, wake usage, etc. There's also a list that shows the level of battery drainage from your apps--however, you have to wait until the app collects enough data. Which is the main reason I wanted this app.

Overall, I've never used any other battery status app, so I'm not sure how this fares in comparison. So far, it looks and seems to work great. So, for now, I'm giving this app four stars.

EDIT, after reading other reviews, I saw the description does say that sending the info is optional. After looking around in the app, I found NO option to change this. Dropped my rating to one star for deception. If anyone else can find the setting to change this option, please let me know.

"Cloud" is an euphemism which basically means "somebody else's server". The description lies and says that it is optional but in practice the app will not let you use it unless you agree to giving them your data. No thank you. 1 star for the deception.

Could not get the app to open unless the privacy policy which allows them to upload statisical data is accepted. The decsription says this is optional....

There are other battery apps that are much more useful and cheaper or free. Look at the G5 utility, it's easier to use and understand.

I saw this and thought, "Another battery meter to try!" Fortunately I didn't install it. Who knows what pernicious components might be left behind, uninstallable and unnoticed, especially on a rooted device.

Amazon has been offering more and more "free" apps that come with a big price: your privacy. I couldn't imagine paying a cent for this. How many have been duped into paying $2 to have their personal data stolen?

Why do developers say one thing and do another. You have to have the internet to use this app.. why do I have to have my internet on to use this thing? One star for you.

Upon running the app for the first time, you are presented with a screen to accept pilfering of your usage information. Deny that, and the app closes. Uninstalling now.

The trend of Amazon's "free" daily app really being crippleware, adware and/or spyware continues, only this time it isn't even offering anything you don't already get out of the box with recent versions of Android.

Why do you 'need' an internet connection to monitor your battery? Hint: you don't. Avoid this spyware junk like the plague it is.

This could have been a good app -- and that's taking into consideration that I'm not overly concerned with the data collection which others have gotten worked up over. The app hasn't required any permissions which could allow it to collect anything especially sensitive.

So why I'm giving it such a low score is because I've uninstalled and reinstalled it *twice* now after it has insisted that I do not have a valid license. I do. Obviously, I obtained this today for free as the "free app of the day". I have never had this problem with any other app, nor am I having any other app purchased or downloaded through the Amazon appstore complaining about not having a valid license right now. This app must therefore have some defect which is causing this. I see that at least one other reviewer is having the same issue. This is really inexcusable. A paying customer who received this sort of error would find it horrifying to be told that they had no valid license for the app which they had just purchased. How can this be recommended if tomorrow a paying customer is likely to run into this?

I can't proper evaluate and report on the functionality for those potentially paying customers if the app isn't going to believe that my license is valid. Sorry, developer, but this is a pretty severe bug. I don't believe this is Amazon's problem. This is only your app -- I have dozens of apps from this appstore and none of the others are reporting a licensing problem. You've screwed up somewhere. Your app looks really nice, but this is a really serious bug.