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IOS Software Apple

Apple Will Soon Let Users Turn Off its iPhone-slowing Software (cnet.com) 124

Posted by msmash from the fixing-things dept.
Following an uproar from customers last month, Apple on Wednesday said it's adding a feature to its latest iOS update that will let customers turn off software that slows down their iPhones. From a report: Apple in December revealed that it released software a year earlier that makes your phone run more slowly to prevent problems with its aging lithium ion battery, such as unexpected shutdowns. As part of the new iOS 11.3 update, iPhone users will get a recommendation if a battery needs to be serviced. Plus, they will be able to see if the power management feature that slows the phone's performance is on and can choose to turn it off, the company said Wednesday.
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Apple Will Soon Let Users Turn Off its iPhone-slowing Software More

Apple Will Soon Let Users Turn Off its iPhone-slowing Software

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  • So will apple start servicing batteries then? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by NumbDr9 ( 601117 ) on Wednesday January 24, 2018 @11:46AM (#55993379)
    Every time I've taken an iphone into an apple store and requested battery service, they have come up with an excuse not to do it. They instead heavily pushing me to exchange for a refurbished phone of the same model. If Apple is going to start telling people when their batteries need to be serviced, maybe they will actually start servicing batteries.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I don't understand why you wouldn't just tell them to stop talking and service the fucking battery. Were you scared or intimidated somehow? Do they have pictures of you with your mistress?

    • My experience was similar. Basically they ran some diagnostic that claimed that the battery was a 93% performance of a new one, and poked around looking for settings and apps that might be causing battery drain. They came up with a few things I could tweak, and just kept saying that a newer battery wouldn't perform much better than the one in the phone.

      Which is odd, as after two+ years I've definitely noticed my 6se+ dropping to lower percentages during the day than it used to, but I also go more frequent

      • Yeah. Apple should have a policy of a $29 replacement of any battery, no matter what the diagnostic says!

        • This would certainly save on recharging...

          As soon as your battery is empty, get Apple o putt in a new, partially charged battery.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by phayes ( 202222 )

          All supported devices can get a one time battery replacement for $29 but phones models old enough to be out of support, Samsung phones, cars, boats, planes rocket ships, etc, are out of luck. With the extra demand caused in large part because Apple proposed that special offer, supply is currently tight so Apple is trying to get people that still have >85, 95 and even 95% of initial capacity to wait a little for supplies to be better and not have people with phones have to wait.

          And yes, while waiting for

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by oic0 ( 1864384 )
        It's likely just a PITA to replace one and they probably destroy a phone on accident every now and then. The things weren't made to be changed. They were made to be disposable.
        • Yes, one of many rationales they may have. Whether my phone's pristine condition would survive being cracked open for a battery replacement, even by a certified Apple tech, was definitely a question in my mind at the time. Which was partly why I decided to not push back hard this first time around. If the current battery really is in OK shape and can be improved via some settings, then there's one fewer incursion into a device that's not designed to be serviced.

        • It's likely just a PITA to replace one and they probably destroy a phone on accident every now and then. The things weren't made to be changed. They were made to be disposable.

          While it isn't a completely-trivial task, Apple doesn't use glue, per se, anymore (they use adhesive strips that are similar to the 3M "Command" adhesive (designed to release when "stretched")); so replacing the battery in the affected iPhones is not even close to a destructive process, especially for someone who has done a few of them before.

          • Apple doesn't use glue, per se, anymore (they use adhesive strips that are similar to the 3M "Command" adhesive)

            In other words, after saving the world from the DOS prompt back in 1984, Apple is back to using the DOS prompt [command.com].

    • they are doing you a favor. Most phones have more than one thing wrong. If your battery is that used then the phone is well used too. it probably has an abraded lens cover making your photos foggy in harsh light, it probably has lint in the speakers, it probably has some dents and scratches too. If you are going to shell out $120 for a new battery then for a $100 more you could get a whole new-to-you phone. It's a steal from nearly every apple owners point of view. For a few people maybe not. And the

      • Yeah, but what if the battery was $29, not $120? It might make sense to replace it, rather than throwing it in the garbage. Nah, just throw it away and replace it.

        • Naah, just put a sticker on your Macbook Pro saying you care about the environment and hate capitalism and go on chucking perfectly good phones and laptops in the trash where they poison otters and then getting Mum and Dad to buy you a new one. Similarly put a "I respect wamen" sticker on but keep having drunken one night stands of dubious consensuality and buy goatee oil made out of rendered otter fat even though the North American River Otter is endangered by mercury and organochloride runoff from e-waste

        • How much is technician time worth? How much is the warrantee worth? how much is the risk they take on opening up a phone and breaking something else? How much was having the minder in the store run through some other diagnostics for you to avoid an unneeded battery change? (they do that for "free" for most people-- i've been told I don't need a new battery too.) A street corner vendor bypasses all that and takes no risk on using a lowbidder battery. So yeah they cost less and for somepeople they do j

          • According to Apple it is $29. They are offering $29 battery replacements. Apparently you didn't know.
            • Yeah but not getting sued is also worth something, which is why it's now $29, whereas it used to be $79 before the bad-battery-throttle-the-hardware fiasco started.
    • Maybe someday they will start replacing batteries for a reasonable cost (like $29). Yeah, right! I wish.

    • It is called the up-sale.

      If you go to the Car Dealership with a 12 year old junker, They will try to sell you a new car vs. Trying to service the old one.

      However sometimes the up-sale would be a better value, so you may want to consider it. You can always say "no" and get the battery fix.

      Like the dealership you are going to the Apple Store, not the Apple Repair shop.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by zifn4b ( 1040588 )

      Every time I've taken an iphone into an apple store and requested battery service, they have come up with an excuse not to do it. They instead heavily pushing me to exchange for a refurbished phone of the same model.

      Then learn how to be more assertive. They are required per Apple's corporate policy to replace your battery for $29.99. Tell them if they don't do what you ask you'll call the corporate office and complain right in the middle of the store and ask them to give you their Employee ID so you can complain specifically about them. I guarantee you'll get your replacement battery for $30. If that doesn't work threaten to make a State Attorney General complaint. You need to grow a pair. Don't let those high pr

    • Every time I've taken an iphone into an apple store and requested battery service, they have come up with an excuse not to do it.

      When was the last time you did this? Before or after the $29 announcement? And how many times is "every time"?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by antdude ( 79039 )

      Also, they need to stock those batteries faster! Even Best Buy's Geek Squad guy said May 2018 as of late Monday morning PST! :(

  • Of course, the real question is: why didn't they do this when they put the slowdown software in in the first place? Treating your customers like milk cows makes it harder, not easier, to sell next-generation hardware.

    • Re:Good of them, I suppose. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by sycodon ( 149926 ) on Wednesday January 24, 2018 @11:59AM (#55993497)

      Just wait. People will turn it off, and then be right back to bitching when the phone suddenly dumps because the battery is dead.

      • This. A sudden voltage fluctuation will crash the phone, and then they'll be mad about that.

      • If Apple makes the throttling the CPU an opt-out feature and warns people of the system stability issues before they can opt out I doubt there will be too many people bitching. And the people who do bitch will probably drowned out by the Apple fanatics I guess that works out.

    • Of course, the real question is: why didn't they do this when they put the slowdown software in in the first place? Treating your customers like milk cows makes it harder, not easier, to sell next-generation hardware.

      Apple has spent years making their products so idiot-proof that a 3-year old can operate them. They cater to the milk cow generation of technically inept, which has made them a shitload of money.

      And the only thing that would ever make it harder to sell is if making a fashion statement with overpriced iHardware suddenly went out of style.

    • Of course, the real question is: why didn't they do this when they put the slowdown software in in the first place? Treating your customers like milk cows makes it harder, not easier, to sell next-generation hardware.

      I can think of two reasons: 1) It admits there is a problem. (even if it is a problem that affects every brand) 2) It adds "choice" to the consumer and Apple's philosophy is or was "it just works" by making the consumer decide something the consumer has to think. Apple wants to be seen as a company that thinks for you so that you don't have to.

      Yeah, they screwed up here and should have given a choice- but their reasoning probably was "let's do this to help out Granny McNubbins; she doesn't want to thi

    • That is simple answer. For the majority of the computing user base. You can slow down the processor speed and people will not notice it much, however if you lower the battery life they will.

      For the most part you can slow down a computer device by a large percentage and under normal use most people will not notice. 1ms vs 3ms for a task is still nearly instant to them. The fact that other factors such as bandwidth of a network connection, comes into play as well. However if you are use to your battery l

      • You can slow down the processor speed and people will not notice it much, however if you lower the battery life they will.

        I reckon they notice both. The main reason people replace phones is either 'it got slow' or 'the battery life got really bad'.

        Also the Apple thing about how old phones 'died in the cold weather' is something that only affects iPhones

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by zifn4b ( 1040588 )

      Of course, the real question is: why didn't they do this when they put the slowdown software in in the first place? Treating your customers like milk cows makes it harder, not easier, to sell next-generation hardware.

      Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by stupidity.

      More likely sequence of events:
      Customers keep calling complaining that their batteries are dying too fast because they don't understand the science behind Lithium Ion batteries
      Customer support keeps logging cases with this issue and eventually creates a Jira ticket titled "iPhone batteries are dying too quickly" because they are sick of being bitched at by customers
      Eventually the issue gets escalated
      The Product Owner be

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by zifn4b ( 1040588 )
        Oh and just so you know. There was probably another part of this conversation:

        Product Owner: Shouldn't we give them a way to control this behavior in settings?
        Developer: Probably but this is a bug that came in out of band that we didn't plan for in sprint planning. If you want to do that it probably won't go out in the next release.
        Product Owner: Ok, let's do the quick solution for now and get it in the next release. I'll create a new ticket for adding the setting in a future release

        I kid you not.

        • [Shutdowns due to power fluctuation from an aging battery] is a bug that came in out of band that we didn't plan for in sprint planning.

          Then why wasn't it planned for in AT&T planning?

  • Will GM, Ford and Fiat, issue a patch that kills the engine instead of reducing the performance when the octane isn't high enough? What could go wrong?

  • Making cell phone batteries non-removable is the problem. When my wife hiked the Appalachian Trail she took an old phone with a replaceable battery and a second $7 generic battery she could swap out. (A external battery pack is very inefficient, would have weighed well over 10x as much to get one recharge, as well as costing more.)

    I wonder when car-makers are going to build non-user-replaceable batteries into the engine? They are missing big profits in making the battery a $2000 dealer-only replaceable it

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mark-t ( 151149 )

      Making cell phone batteries non-removable is the problem.

      Exactly this. is there actually any technical or practical reason, beyond being just a money grab for Apple, for them to make batteries in future devices removable?

      • ...we must make the phone thinner...

        • People apparently like to buy thinner phones, for whatever reason. I certainly wouldn't want one much thicker than the 7mm I've already got, and thinner would fit into my pocket better. Apple likes to build things people buy.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by dgood ( 139443 )

      I wonder when car-makers are going to build non-user-replaceable batteries into the engine?

      Like Tesla?

    • Are there cell phones with non-removable batteries? I haven't heard of them.

      There are batteries that take a little extra effort to replace, and if you're replacing one every three years or so that's no big deal.

      The external batteries I've seen for iPhones are fairly small, and reasonably convenient. My son's is built into his iPhone case.

  • Please please please (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Let some of the slow down software be the bloody gif/emote reaction box that's been added to SMS. I do not need it!

  • They'll complain anyway (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Rick Schumann ( 4662797 ) on Wednesday January 24, 2018 @12:20PM (#55993667) Journal
    They'll turn it off, then complain about their battery life being shitty and sue Apple for that. Never mind that the feature existed to keep the phone operating as long as possible with the battery capacity it has. Sure, who needs power management, right? Just run everything balls-out all the time and who cares if your phone only runs for 15 minutes before dying, right?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by crtreece ( 59298 )
      If only there were someway to easily replace the battery, none of this would be an issue. But that would make the phone 1mm thicker and apple wouldn't get to sell a new phone instead of new battery.
      • Making the phone 1mm thicker would be a significant increase, and would probably reduce sales. Apple makes their money primarily by selling stuff.

        There's people on Slashdot whose desires in a phone or laptop are actually unusual, and they don't seem to realize it. I'm not even sure many of them have the Apple products they love to complain about.

    • Sure, who needs power management, right?

      Power management you can't control? No one. Would you be happy with your screen permanently at 0% brightness? Would you be happy if your V8 car was permanently set to ECO mode with a speed limiter? Would you be happy with Microsoft capping your CPU performance at 75% to save your energy bill?

      • Hyperbole much? Cut back on the coffee maybe?

        • Hyperbole much?

          Yeah it's hyperbole if an eye surgeon fucks up your surgery due to a crappy tech support call and you can't see the obvious point in front of you.

          • You have no idea what you're talking about and need to shut up.

            • You have no idea what you're talking about and

              That's a very good explanation about why my phone which was advertised as one of the best performing on the market should be permanently gimped in a way that isn't in my control but my car should have a button to allow it to edge out performance. Thankyou for your insight and the value you brought to this discussion.

              need to shut up.

              Yes you really really should.

          • My eye surgery didn't involve telephones of any sort. I don't see why one would. That stuff's normally taken care of outside the operating area.

            You have apparently proceeded from hyperbole to irrelevance.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      If your phone is less than a couple of years old just get them to replace the battery under warranty. If not, it's $25 to get another 12-18 months of full performance.

  • Maybe there's a reason to reduce performance. (Score:3)

    by Walter White ( 1573805 ) on Wednesday January 24, 2018 @12:27PM (#55993725)

    I'm not an Apple defender. I only own one Apple product, an old Macbook I borrowed.

    I have a Motorola 360 Smart Watch - first generation. When the battery got old, it began shutting down at anything below about 30% battery capacity. This was often provoked by any action that would turn the screen on - a significant battery draw - along with extra radio and processor operation.. I wonder if Apple was trying to prevent this issue by reducing processor power draw. I might have appreciated a similar feature that made my Moto 360 more useful as the battery got weaker.

    Of course this would also cause sluggish performance which would also motivate users to upgrade to the latest and greatest H/W.

    • If only Apple would provide some explanation of why they did it, and post it somewhere on their website so we could read it.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      I have a Motorola 360 Smart Watch - first generation. When the battery got old, it began shutting down at anything below about 30% battery capacity. This was often provoked by any action that would turn the screen on - a significant battery draw - along with extra radio and processor operation.. I wonder if Apple was trying to prevent this issue by reducing processor power draw. I might have appreciated a similar feature that made my Moto 360 more useful as the battery got weaker.

      Of course this would also c

    • wonder if Apple was trying to prevent this issue by reducing processor power draw

      You don't have to wonder! That's exactly what has always been the stated purpose of this has been since the very beginning, and their public statement makes that very clear!

      I don't mean to attack you on this point. The whole is situation is frustrating. I think that most rational people, if they understood why the phone was being throttled, would think - "Thanks, Apple! Would've been nice if you had explained this ahead of time, but it seems like a good way of handling the reality of li-ion batteries." Ins

    • So what you're saying is you had great performance for 70% of the time and yet you don't want the ability to have that anymore and instead want the your device permanently in limp mode? Do you run with 4G turned off? Do you always have 25% brightness on your screen? And how would you feel about both those not being optional and in your control?

    • I only own one Apple product, an old Macbook I borrowed.

      Interesting. What other things have you "borrowed"?

  • Why dos Apple have to turn off the slowing?

    Haven't people always been able to remove the Facebook App themselves?

  • Silly silly (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Mr_Silver ( 213637 ) on Wednesday January 24, 2018 @12:42PM (#55993879)

    As part of the new iOS 11.3 update, iPhone users will get a recommendation if a battery needs to be serviced

    The silly thing is that if they'd actually done this the day they implemented the throttling (thereby being upfront and honest about it) then there probably wouldn't have been any uproar.

    Yet again, it's Apple's reluctance to share anything but the bare minimum with their customers (who then go on to make assumptions about their motives) which has bitten them on the backside.

  • I wonder if this means Apple will learn from this and stop making fundamental changes to existing devices without first notifying it's users.

    *pfff*BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

    Sorry, I tried to keep a straight face... I really did.

  • ...Customers have a filed a class action lawsuit claiming "They allowed me to turn off the feature that prevented my phone from lighting on fire while playing Candy Crush, now all I have is 3rd degree burns, and no way to play Candy Crush!".

    • A "feature" that allows your phone to catch fire? No, you fucking idiot. If your phone catches fire, it is a defective product, you dumb piece of shit. You Apple fans are pathetic. Truly, truly stupid. SMH
  • I read about this update just the other day, and I got to wondering "I wonder how aged the battery is in my 3 year old iPhone 6?" So I grabbed a copy of CoconutBattery and gave it a spin. Much to my surprise, after more than 900 charging cycles, my battery was nearly 90% of the original design capacity!

    I could understand cranking up the power management to the extreme if my phone's battery was in really bad shape, or disabling certain features that won't run really well on an older device. But according

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