By Kate O’Neal
For all the iPhone users out there, how many of you have noticed a slowdown on your iPhone when you update to the newest operating system? You might have heard the conspiracy theorists who believe Apple intentionally slows down older phones in order to sway users to shell out some money and purchase new phones. It turns out those conspiracy theorists were not too far off.
In recent news, Apple has confirmed they did, in fact, throttle performance. However, not for the reason of getting users to purchase new phones. Apple says they throttled performance on older phones in order to extend the battery life in these phones as they start to age. As you can imagine, when this news broke, there was outrage. Dozens of lawsuits were filed saying that Apple was secretly and intentionally throttling older models of phones.
To make things right by their customers, Apple has slashed the price of their replacement batteries, available if you have an iPhone 6 or later. Originally $79, the discounted price is $29. If you’ve noticed a difference in your phone and believe it’s been affected by the throttling, the only way around it is to either buy a new phone or replace the battery.
So, what do you do? First, you can check the performance of your battery. There are plenty of free apps available in the AppStore, and I’ve used one called Battery Life. I have a relatively new phone, and it shows my battery wear life is “perfect,” with 0% battery wear level. At 1% battery wear, it will say “very good,” and at 35% wear level, for example, it will say “very bad.” In a new operating system to be released at some point this year, Apple is adding a built-in battery health checker so you won’t need to install additional apps.
If you want to pursue a new, discounted battery through Apple, visit Apple’s Support page (https://getsupport.apple.com/). From there, click iPhone > Battery, Power & Charging > Battery Replacement. It is highly encouraged to go this route and have Apple install the battery for you; installing a new battery in your iPhone is not as quick and easy as one would think. The easiest way to get a new battery is to schedule a Genius Bar appointment at your local Apple store where they can replace it for you; simply choose “bring it in for repair” on Apple’s website. If you’re not near an Apple store, you could choose “send in for repair,” but then you would be without your iPhone for about a week as they repair it.
Keep in mind, the battery discount program will run through at least 2018. Since we don’t know a specific end date, I recommend pursuing it sooner than later, especially since there is currently a bit of a wait.
If you get a new battery, let us know if it seems to help bring some speed back to your iPhone!
Kate O’Neal
With multiple years’ experience working with clients in many industries, Kate brings her skills and positive attitude to Network 1’s team, clients and partners. She strives to provide the best service and solutions to her clients so they can achieve greatness through Worry-Free IT.
koneal@network1consulting.com or 404.997.7653
Network 1 Consulting is a 19-year-old IT Support company in Atlanta, GA. We become – or augment – the IT department for law firms and medical practices. Our IT experts can fix computers, but what our clients value most are the industry-specific best practices we bring to their firms. This is especially important with technology, along with regulations and cyber threats, changing so rapidly. We take a proactive approach to helping our clients use technology to gain and keep their competitive advantage.
