[Closed] Apple apologises for slowing older iPhones down

The company now says it will replace batteries for less and will issue software in 2018 so customers can monitor their phone's battery health.

Some customers had long suspected the company slowed older iPhones to encourage customers to upgrade.

Apple admitted slowing some phones with ageing batteries but said it was to "prolong the life" of the devices.

In a statement posted on its website, the firm said it would reduce the price of an out-of-warranty battery replacement from $79 (£58) to $29 (£21) for anyone with an iPhone 6 or later.

Going to be interesting to see how the suggested law suit will go there.

"At Apple, our customers' trust means everything to us. We will never stop working to earn and maintain it. We are able to do the work we love only because of your faith and support - and we will never forget that or take it for granted," it said.

I feel a little queasy.

non story really

non story really

C’mon. Give Mike this one. He needs a win.

But I do agree to a degree. Apple made this all worse by being all Apple about it. I see why they did it, but they left themselves wide open for the accusations of planned obsolescence. All they had to do is publish what they were doing/notify users when CPUs were being throttled.

Personally, as a owner of a 18month-ish iPhone se, I am mildly happy about getting a new battery for £29 sometime next year. Phone works fine for me, so to extend its life for a relatively modest amount is ok. Not great, but ok.

The story should be Apple apologises for getting caught.

They've been denying they slow down older phones for ages...

Great. Just after I ordered a diy battery change kit for my 6 for £21.95, they offer to do it for £21.
Harrumph...

Excellent news, my iPhone 6 battery is definitely tired afer 3+ years (co**** battery app on the mac says so) so a cheap genuine replacement is on the way in late Jan 🙂

https://www.apple.com/iphone-battery-and-performance/

I have no issue with Apple slowing the phone as battery ages/gets low on charge. Would rather have a slow phone than one which suddently switches off. Yes IMO a non-story

What about those who upgraded due to the CPU being throttled, tho? Apple removed the choice the end user should have had.

Interesting! (As COMPLETELY opposed to being a "non-story" 😕 )

What about the iPads? I have one completely ununsable iPad and another which is just about ok to watch films on but not much else. Must be loads of people who've ditched iPads cos Apple updates have deliberately slowed them down! Where's the apology for that?

Jamie I’d be most surprised if many users really did upgrade due to tje throttling as it only occurs at low charge levels and a new battery fixes the issue

This is going to kill unofficial battery replacement sellers. Tjry’ll get no iPhone business for a year

DezB my iPad1 battery is just fine. Air 2 must be 4 years old and feels like new battery life wise

Tablet batteries have an easier life as they're charged less frequently as a rule.

[i]DezB my iPad1 battery is just fine.[/i]

Nothing to do with the battery - it's the OS they slow down with the updates. That's what makes them unusable. The battery on my 1 is fine too.

Nothing to do with the battery - it's the OS they slow down with the updates.

Evidence?

AIUI that’s not what this story is about. FWIW my five year old iPad 3 is on the newest iOS it can take and runs fine.

I was also running an iPhone 4S up until a few months ago and that also ran acceptably (I replaced the battery twice).

New OSes have new features, these can require more horsepower. That is unavoidable. There is a good reason that Windows 10 doesn’t work to well on a 286 with 512KB ram.

But Apple do a pretty reasonable job of supporting old devices with iOS updates that only enable features they can handle.

That's a touch cheeky. I'm pretty sure iOS whatever would struggle on a 1980s Macintosh too.

However win10 is fine on my GF's 10 year old laptop.

But that's getting off the point. And the poster above is right, if Apple had been less Apple about this, then it would've been a non-issue. And it's not just at low battery levels, if the battery is degraded enough it throttles the phone continuously, without telling you why. So people have been assuming their phone is outdated and paying for a new one, I don't think that approach is an oversight on apple's part...

[i]it's the OS they slow down with the updates.
Evidence?[/i]

Well, the actual [i]story[/i] is about how they slow down the [i]iPhone[/i] with the O/S updates... the [i]iPad[/i] gets the same updates and mine most definitely have slowed down each time an update has installed (some more than others), so that's enough [i]evidence[/i] to suggest to me that they are [i]slowing down[/i] the iPads in the same way as the iPhones to make users upgrade. I must be stupid though.

I'm also fairly pleased by this news, my iphone 6 is 3 and a bit years old now (got it in October 2013) and I've just had the screen replaced a couple of weeks ago under the EU consumer laws.
A new battery in it will mean I don't need to buy another new phone for a couple of years, which would be frankly incredible. I've never been able to stick a phone for much more than a year before.

If you buy a phone it is YOUR property.
Apple should ask before doing anything to it.
I’m sure if apple said before hand that they were going to slow them down and then set fire to them they would still be lauded as the most wonderful people in the world.

New OSes have new features, these can require more horsepower. That is unavoidable. There is a good reason that Windows 10 doesn’t work to well on a 286 with 512KB ram.

Actually Windows has been getting lighter and better on old kit since Vista. It's remarkably efficient now. If Microsoft can do it then Apple should be able to as well.

I've just had the screen replaced a couple of weeks ago under the EU consumer laws.

I'll repeat what I put on the other post. The OS becomes more and more sophisticated with each update and slower phones with slower and less capable processors struggle to run the newer OS's. You're old phone is going to slow down whether Apple does anything deliberate or not.

This could be done in a deliberate and controlled way to improve the user experience on older phones, which is what Apple has done. the only problems as far as I can see is stye have not advertised that that is what they are doing so people are 'outraged' and 'offended' and 'feel used and abused' with Apple. If they had advertised it and maybe given people a button to choose wether they wanted this functionally or not then this would;nt have been an issue. Maybe in the next updates we'll see that.

My iPhone 5 is chugging along nicely, it's a bit slow and clunky, but it can do a hell of a lot more than it could when it was new, the battery life is a lot worse than it was (was never good on the 5) and it gets red hot when it's doing something so the processor is obviously struggling to cope.

Software developments always outpaces hardware developments so hardware will always be the limiting factor. At least Apple are trying to actively manage that to extend the life of older devices. I still know a couple of people on iPhone 4's.

Apple are not the only tech people doing this. Whats'App have just announced they are ceasing to support any phone from the iPhone 3 and older. The app will just cease working on those older devices, so devices earlier that 2009. Where's the hullabaloo around WhatsApp? Forcing people to buy new phones if they want to continue using WhatsApp.

In any other product old things slow down and can't perform like they used to. It's a fact of life. It's a big problem for tech companies about what to do with older devices and the continuation of support for software for them. Nobody complains when their 1963 Jag can no longer run with the new Jags, or they can't buy parts any more for them. People don't slate Jaguar for no longer supporting their older models. We just accept it, but some people just love to slate Apple whatever they do. There are the fan boy's who love Apple whatever, and their opposites who will hate them no matter what they do. But take an objective view on it then it's pretty standard behaviour for any technology company. It really is a non-story.

As the the headline "Apple finally admits....." they probably were asked the question by a journalist for the first time and said yes, so no cover up or conspiracy for years that journalists have been struggling to uncover.

I don’t really see what the problem is.

I don’t really see what the problem is.

In order to negate battery life being an issue for older phones, Apple throttle off the CPU.

This make phone slower.

People may buy new phone due to slow old phone.

Apple probably knew this would happen, yet didn't publicise issues (which would make this a non-issue)

People find out.

Lawsuits.

Apple hold hands up after being caught, and introduce the things they should have been doing anyway.

The end.

Well, the actual story is about how they slow down the iPhone with the O/S updates...

No it isn’t?

The story is that about a year ago they made a change to iOS to prevent phones with old batteries suddenly shutting down when they experience a current spike.

They do that by throttling the CPU when the battery is old.

AIUI replacing the battery with a new one removes the throttle.

That in itself seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to do. As others said, they should have just been less Apple about it.

People may buy new phone due to slow old phone.

Or people may buy new phone due to poor battery life.

People love to complain.

Americans love class action lawsuits for perceived ‘losses’

Personally I’ll get an good quality battery fitted in my wife’s 6, and next year my 7 for a great price.

The OS becomes more and more sophisticated with each update and slower phones with slower and less capable processors struggle to run the newer OS's. You're old phone is going to slow down whether Apple does anything deliberate or not.

That's just lazy software engineering. The OS knows what hardware it's running on and should be able to modify its feature set to suit. It's what Windows does. But that's not what Apple do - it's their way or the highway.

The OS knows what hardware it's running on and should be able to modify its feature set to suit.

OMG, Apple are forcing me to upgrade because I don’t get the latest features. Etc etc etc...

Or people may buy new phone due to poor battery life.

Or they may buy a new phone due to the ghost of Steve Jobs leaving a message on a piece of burnt toast. The fact is people may have had an option they were denied.

Personally, I don't really give a shit. I just love to complain. I'm off now to slag off Newman's Own Ranch Dressing as it tastes all fizzy.

Apple hold hands up after being caught, and introduce the things they should have been doing anyway.

The way it's being presented is 'Apple deliberately slow down old phones because they're evil bastards' whereas actually it's 'Apple slow down phones as the battery ages so the phone operates more effectively'. Yeah I guess they should have told people they were doing it sooner.

It's what Windows does. But that's not what Apple do

Yes it is.

Older models don’t get all the features when a new iOS comes out and very old models don’t get the new iOS at all.

But of course then people complain about planned obsolescence. 🙄

They literally can’t win.

It's what Windows does. But that's not what Apple do

How is Windows mobile operating system working out for them?

The way it's being presented is 'Apple deliberately slow down old phones because they're evil bastards' whereas actually it's 'Apple slow down phones as the battery ages so the phone operates more effectively'. Yeah I guess they should have told people they were doing it sooner.

As I said. If Apple had just said that's what they're doing it's a non-story. It coming out like this adds credence to those who touted those rumours of planned obsolescence. As it's hard to argue against, even if untrue.

iPad1 is on iOS5. Battery preservation software was introdiced for iOS 10.2 (?) for iPhone 6 onwards

They slow doen the devices when battery gets to low to avoid a system shutdown

You are never going to please all the peolple all the time. For me this episode is a result as I will be getting a new Apple original battery for £20+

As it's hard to argue against, even if untrue.

It's not hard to argue against if people were able to look at actual facts and not blindly follow misleading headlines designed to stir controversy. I guess you can blame Apple for not managing that better but people are ****ing idiots.

There's plenty of annoying/cynical things that Apple do but I don't really see how this is one of them.

[i]The story is that about a year ago they made a change to iOS to prevent phones with old batteries suddenly shutting down when they experience a current spike[/i]

Oh, see, I read that as Apple's [i]excuse[/i] for screwing up the old devices. Whereas it's actually to force people to upgrade. Hence the lawsuits. (The reverse of what grum said). If they admit they're slowing the devices then they will lose the lawsuits, won't they.

Well as excuses go it sounds like a pretty valid one. They’d prefer phones with old batteries to run slightly slower but reliably, rather than being faster but flakey. Makes sense. Flakiness is bad for their image, especially on business contracts, and costs them money in customer support.

If the idea was just to throttle old phones to evilly force upgrades then they could just throttle based on the phone model, not the battery age.

it's actually to force people to upgrade.

Or just replace their battery, which now costs £20.

How easy is it to book an appointment to get your battery changed?
If I remember it was quite difficult to get one to have my Mac looked at.
£20 is a good price and fair play to them for doing it.
All we need now is a back button and an expandable memory and I’d think about one.

They’ve had a software back button since iOS 9 zippy:

[img] [/img]

Agree on the expandable memory though!

Apple should ask before doing anything to it.

They do. Unless you accept automatic updates.

I’ll get a ladder so you can get off your high horse.

There's plenty of annoying/cynical things that Apple do but I don't really see how this is one of them.

The point is that it should've been optional. You should have been able to decide if you wanted it slowed down for increased reliability.

Well as excuses go it sounds like a pretty valid one. They’d prefer phones with old batteries to run slightly slower but reliably, rather than being faster but flakey. Makes sense.

Would make much more sense if it was an option, or if the software was written to dynamically test actual battery performance. As per their statement:

"Apple said it slowed down phones that have older batteries, batteries with low charge or that are cold."

So basically if you have an older iPhone where the battery is totally fine, it will still be throttled.

With the back button on my iPad you have to scroll down half a page to get it.
Can you make it stay on screen all the time?
If you’ve never had an Android you probably don’t find it as annoying as someone who does.

The point is that it should've been optional. You should have been able to decide if you wanted it slowed down for increased reliability.

Very much this. I wonder how many people upgraded their devices without being fully aware of the facts.

I’ve never heard of this. When my MAC was being looked at everybody at the geek bar was having a new screen fitted at around a £100 a go.
I see so many cracked screens when my customers place their phones on the counter how would they go about getting a replacement screen?

I should have said, this was because the screen was going a tiny bit dark in one corner, so a hardware fault, it wouldn't have been free if I'd dropped it and smashed it. Still well out of warranty though, and they replaced within 2 hours for me a couple of weeks before xmas. I was impressed.

(Am i first, am I first...just once?! )

No.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/why-is-my-old-iphone-so-slow
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/so-apple-admits-its-updates-intentionally-slow-older-iphones

[i]Or just replace their battery, which now costs £20.[/i]

Except they've already bought an iPhone 8 😉

Kinda good I waited to upgrade, might now miss out the iPhone 8 and wait until next years 8s .. and keep my 6s and possibly get the battery changed FOC as it’s part of thier free upgrade.. 😀

Essentially if Apple had been open and said as your battery degrades CPU performance will be throttled and the fix is as simple as getting a new battery fitted - yes it's a non-story.

However they have been denying for some time that this is the case even though people have suspected it (albeit not necessarily the reason) for ages.

It's taken an it blogger to expose the truth as Apple simply haven't been honest. That's the story here as is always the case with them.

Remember the iPhone 4 antenna problems?User error according to Apple. The Apple maps disaster - apparently not their fault etc.

They have form for misleading their customers.

Yup, and if anyone thinks for a second that there wasn't a conversation at Apple along the lines of 'so we'll slow old phones down to preserve the battery, but then owners will think it's their phones age causing the slowdown and upgrade, well that's a happy coincidence' then they're being incredibly naïve.

Meanwhile Samsung have put out an ambiguous statement confirming that they don't do the thing that people are inaccurately accusing Apple of, while not actually confirming that they don't do the same as Apple.

We do not reduce CPU performance through software updates over the lifecycles of the phone.

So basically if you have an older iPhone where the battery is totally fine, it will still be throttled.

So basically if you have an older iPhone where the battery is totally fine, it will still be throttled.

Nope.

From [url= https://www.apple.com/iphone-battery-and-performance/ ]the Apple statement:[/url]

[i]“Of course, when a chemically aged battery is replaced with a new one, [b]iPhone performance returns to normal[/b] when operated in standard conditions.”[/i]

And from [url= https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT208387 ]the more detailed support statement[/url]:

[i]”This power management works by looking at a combination of the device temperature, battery state of charge, and the battery’s impedance. [b]Only if these variables require it,[/b] iOS will dynamically manage the maximum performance of some system components, such as the CPU and GPU in order to prevent unexpected shutdowns.”[/i]

My battery has been crook for a while, phone would die usually mid ride when taking a photo on top of a hill somewhere. Cold weather and high load. Clearly needed a new battery. Had also started to get noticeably slow when opening apps etc.
I didn’t fancy paying £79 for a new battery from Apple (and waiting a week for it to be done) so I got a battery case for £25. Made no difference to the performance but it meant that if it did shut down I could switch it in again by starting to charge it from the case (or just leave it charging which usually stopped the shut downs).
Interesting to read the post by graham above though as the OS could obviously still tell the battery is on its last legs so my phone has been throttled.
I get the same scores on Geekbench whether or not the case battery is charging the phone battery. A bit like testing it while it’s plugged in to the mains I suppose.
I might pop into the Apple shop at Meadowhall on the way home to see what the situation is regarding a new battery. Expect I’d need to let them have it for a week though. And it’s too late to cancel the one I’ve irdered from amazon.
Sorry for the long rambling post

Just going from Press articles I was looking at Graham. Probably why they've clarified. The above sounds pretty much like what I've suggested. And they're adding something to actually tell you when your battery is a bit borked. So they've learned 🙂

Just downloaded and ran the Geekbench4 app on my 6s and have some results, quite what to make of them I've no idea... 😆

Bikebouy there is a useful page on their website. I’ll see if I can find it
Edit: [url= https://browser.geekbench.com/ios-benchmarks/ ]Here you go[/url]

😀

https://browser.geekbench.com/ios-benchmarks/

Ta.
Well looks like my Single and Multi Core scores are down by 800 and the CPU down 150..to the benchmarks given by Geekbench, that I guess its within tolerance and 43% battery charged..

Haven't done the battery one yet because from full charge to outage it says it'll take upto 20hrs... 😆

“Up to” 😆
Mine died after 1hour 54 minutes. That seems to be the problem...
Sounds like yours will be similar.
Interestingly while my single and multi scores are down (800-1000) and (1400-1800) the “metal” one is as it should be (4200). Not sure what that means.

Hmmm
Just ran Geekbench again, whilst charging in the battery case. Numbers now as expected for iPhone 6
Have Apple unthrottled my phone??

Just running the iPad through GB, and will do the phone again in the morning on full charge..

😀

With the back button on my iPad you have to scroll down half a page to get it.

Think you are confusing the back button which I pictured (that appears top left and lets you flip back to the previous app) with the Safari back button that goes to the previous web page.

In Safari you don’t really need a back button, youcan go back just by swiping the left edge of the screen towards the middle.

A optional toggle to maximise performance or battery life would of been best, but I'd be pretty happy knowing that even though my phone is slow, the battery isnt going to suddenly die on me. A phone with a shot battery is as useless as a slow one. So I can't say I'm upset with them. The denials haven't helped them any though.

A optional toggle to maximise performance or battery life would of been best

But it’s not really about “battery life” - it’s about old batteries developing high impedance, causing a larger voltage drop when there are sudden current demands, that can then cause the protection circuits to cut in and shut the phone down.

So the toggle setting would be [i]“Enable Maximum Performance and Random Shutdowns For No Reason”[/i] 😀

If I try and take a photo with my Moto G3 in subzero conditions, it often just switches itself off.

I'd be happy enough if it stayed on but ran a bit slower (be nice if I knew why it was slow though, guess that's the main issue here)

So why is the reduced battery price only for iPhone 6 or later? I have a 5S, which was perfectly fine until the latest update, but the battery is just starting to show signs of needing to be replaced. Apart from the fact that I’m happy with the features, I don’t like this idea of generating so much electronic waste. A smart phone should last a good few years without millions of people getting replacements every year or 2.

So basically if you have an older iPhone where the battery is totally fine, it will still be throttled.

Nope, mine still scores 100% (>2540) on Geekbench 4, so no slowing down as the battery is still ok.

So why is the reduced battery price only for iPhone 6 or later?

Don't know. But third party high street guys usually charge around the same for a battery replacement (and must be mightily annoyed at this news). Or if you are good at fiddly things you can do it yourself:

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iPhone+5s+Battery+Replacement/19239

A smart phone should last a good few years without millions of people getting replacements every year or 2.

5S was released over four years ago (September, 2013). And I agree with you, I was still using a 4S until a few months ago.

But I’ve only had my 5S for a couple of years because the guy in the shop admitted that spending twice as much on a 6 wasn’t worth it!

A smart phone should last a good few years without millions of people getting replacements every year or 2.

Most Li-ion battery packs only last for about 500 full charge / discharge cycles before showing an appreciable drop in capacity.

Well nothing has changed. You've still got the same phone. It still works fine.

The only difference is now you know that if it does start to feel a bit tired as it gets older then replacing the battery may help. Which you would probably have done anyway.

How is Windows mobile operating system working out for them?

Not really the issue here but FWIW it was working well up until they just gave up on it when they realised nobody was interested in developing anything for UWP. Since then it's been less than stellar which is disappointing to say the least. Especially Edge which is a buggy mess.

But such is life as an "early" adopter, some you win some you lose.

Most Li-ion battery packs only last for about 500 full charge / discharge cycles before showing an appreciable drop in capacity.

I don’t mind replacing batteries, that’s fair enough if you want something to last. I mean the phones themselves. The amount of electronics waste we’re generating isn’t sustainable.

Just replaced the battery on my iPhone 6. Despite 2 pints at lunch time it was very easy and took about 10 minutes. Phone is much faster now.
Wish I’d done it months ago.
Now I won’t need to buy a new iPhone for a long time.

It’s all a bit naughty isn’t it.

I personally believe Apple have always tried different things to make their ‘old’ phones seem obsolete when they bring new ones out, my old-school 3G was a thing of wonder until the 3GS came out, I remember quiet vividly that they ‘dropped’ the new OS with notes promising new features, but they were mostly hardware reliant so 3G owners simply ended up with a phone that went from great to crap overnight.

I’m slightly surprised by posters sayin non-story or no issue here, really? If it was a feature you could toggle or dare I say it, they actually said that’s what they were doing then maybe - but they didn’t, call it want they want, but they’ve got the perfect method to slow phones down about the time they’re getting to the end of their 2 contract cycle and best part is that because of the throttling users wont know it’s the battery running out, just that it’s getting slower.

Really can’t see how they could make it a toggle without it being an extra support headache.

I think they should just have had a periodic pop up notice that said something like [i]“Your battery is nearing the end of its lifetime. To prevent this causing issues your phone speed will be throttled until the battery is replaced. Tap for more info”[/i]

I’m slightly surprised by posters sayin non-story or no issue here, really?

[img] http://images.memes.com/meme/919169 [/img]

Who is the Apple battery supplier of choice now?
There must be 10000 sellers on ebay with the same product. I'd suspect a lot of those are pretty poor quality, so would rather know before buying one that it is going to last longer than 6 months, and preferably close to 2 years.