Any website and app can do it. Zoom / Google Meet / YouTube / Bandcamp / Spotify already does this. I don't think it needs to be hidden behind walls. Maybe a user override can be added.
In Linux, KDE's power manager PowerDevil shows if something is blocking device or display sleep for example. I don't think it's hard to add an indicator in macOS, too.
Visibility isn't the problem. As OP mentioned, you can go into Activity Monitor to easily see what application is doing this. The user just doesn't seem to have any control over it or any way to stop a particular application from doing it.
I find something, presumably a Safari tab, blocking sleep regularly and not actually showing up in activity monitor.
Why is this not an opt-in thing? Heck, why can’t I turn it off? I can could the number of tabs that I want to allow to function when “sleeping” on zero fingers.
It's buried too deep. Clicking on battery and seeing a line saying "There are apps preventing sleep >" and hovering on it to see a list is way better than digging activity monitor.
Another option might be another section for apps preventing sleep, like power hungry applications.
Or, when apps try to intercept sleep the OS can pop an Allow/Don't allow dialog before the app can actually achieve this
That'd create a lot of interruptions for the user. Some apps use it temporarily in critical sections, web media players enable/disable when play/pause events happen, etc.
An indicator and selective overrides is the way, IMHO. Invisible if you don't look, but it's there when you need it.
>Invisible if you don't look, but it's there when you need it.
so, like a white picket fence vs an invisible fence™ for your dog: white picket fence (not to mention two kids) is so unsightly people would never use it as a metaphor for bliss, why not just give the dog his unexpected-can't-see-it-coming-shock collar? let him discover through repeated trial and error what he's allowed and what he is not.
sounds about right, you've help me articulate what I don't like about modern so-called design
Actually, the example in my mind was a bit different: "Elegantly invisible", I call it. Let me give a couple of examples.
In Europe, in some cities you see huge planters with blooming flowers. They are well looked after and a bliss to be around them. Look from above, they are strategically placed bollards. Even a tank can't pass through them. Smaller installations are made around banks for example. These "small", ordinary looking planters weigh a couple of tons, plus they're firmly planted to the ground. They are essentially fortified walls, but they don't distract you, and enhance the environment in a way, too.
In Amsterdam Central Station, there is a big locker room, which is invisible if you don't know, but very evident when you follow the signs.
My proposition was similar. A section under battery status menu: No Apps Preventing Sleep. Simple. Invisible, unobtrusive, but bright as day when you know where to look.
I don't like the design you gave examples for. I don't like things which I can't find, and only see if the app seems to be in the mood for it. My proposition is a bit more nuanced. You know where it is, you know where to look, but it's not an eye sore or a distraction.
MacOS has a "apps using significant battery" thing that is quite useful. I think here there's a similar argument for an in your face thing.
That way when the battery goes from 60% to 30% you get told about it, instead of when you go from 30% to 5% and then have other problems as well.
Not so certain about the actual knowability here though
In KDE, user can also override this.
Yes, you can. I forgot to add that, thanks.