Apple slowing down your iPhone? Here’s what you can do to fix it

Before you freak out about Apple’s slowing down older iPhones, here’s what you need to know.

By: KUL BHUSHAN
| Updated on: Dec 22 2017, 15:01 IST
Here’s how to fix battery and performance issues on your iPhone.
Here’s how to fix battery and performance issues on your iPhone. (REUTERS)

Apple on late Wednesday made a big revelation that it does throttle performance of some of the older iPhones with worn out batteries. Before you start to flip out, you should know that not all iPhone users are affected by this problem.

Of course, Apple is controlling the performance which may be 'slow', but it's not what exactly the company had actually intended to. Apple in fact is looking to "smooth out" instantaneous peaks only when needed to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down in circumstances such as cold conditions and worn out batteries.

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"Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices. Lithium-ion batteries become less capable of supplying peak current demands when in cold conditions, have a low battery charge or as they age over time, which can result in the device unexpectedly shutting down to protect its electronic components," said Apple in a statement.

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Apple is battling an age-old technology limitation with Lithium-ion batteries which become less and less capable of supplying peak current demands in extreme conditions or as they wear out in time. And this includes your Android phones as well. In simpler words, Lithium-ion batteries have a limited lifespan. Period.

Know which iPhones have this problem

As said earlier, not all iPhone models are affected by this problem. According to Apple, this power management feature was rolled out to iPhone 6, iPhone 6S and iPhone SE, and recently to iPhone 7 running iOS 11.2. The company added that it's going to be a stable feature on other Apple devices as well.

But it does not mean all these iPhones have throttled performance. In fact, it's probably applicable for those devices with battery that have well exceeded their complete charge cycles.

According to Apple, an iPhone battery has 500 complete charge cycles before they hit 80% of their capacity. So, if you are charging your phone from 0% to 100% every day, it's roughly one and half years. Note that if you charge 0% to 70% at one point, and another say 30-40% at another, it's still counted as one complete life cycle.

So,if you have recently purchased any of these iPhones, you should not be worried.

Also, Apple started implementing this feature with iOS 10.2.1 for select models. To check your iOS version, go to Settings > General > About.

Optimise your iPhone battery, performance

If you intend to draw more battery life from your iPhone, you can download various third-party battery monitoring applications, such as Battery Doctor and Battery Life. These apps will help you keep an eye on the applications that are draining your battery.

And some of the common battery-saving practices are disabling location services on apps you don't use frequently, background app refresh, Wi-Fi Assist, and reducing screen brightness.

If you're sure that your older iPhone has slowed performance, you might consider getting the battery replaced. According to some users, the performance gets back on track after the replacement.

But, be sure that the performance is throttled not because of your usage patterns. You can download benchmarking application such as Geekbench to check the processor performance.

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First Published Date: 22 Dec, 14:59 IST
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