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iOS 11.3 Will Allow iPhone Users to View Battery Health and Disable Apple's Power Management This Spring

Wednesday January 24, 2018 4:42 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today announced that iOS 11.3 will provide users with an iPhone 6 or newer with more information about the health of their device's battery, including a recommendation if it needs to be serviced. In the same menu, it will also be possible to see if Apple's power management feature is active and turn it off.


Apple is delivering on its promise to provide iPhone users with more visibility about battery health as part of an apology over its lack of transparency about power management changes it made starting in iOS 10.2.1. Apple is also delivering on its promise of allowing users to disable the feature, although it doesn't recommend it.

The power management changes fueled an argument that Apple intentionally slows down older iPhones at wholesale to encourage customers to upgrade to newer models. Apple denied it would ever do anything to "intentionally shorten the life" of any of its products, but some critics don't believe that to be true.

Apple also reduced the price of replacement batteries to $29 for iPhone 6 and newer through December 31, 2018, as another part of its apology, although supplies are running low for some iPhone models.

MacRumors put together a list of frequently asked questions about Apple's power management changes for those looking for more information.

The first beta of iOS 11.3 will be seeded to developers later today, followed by a public beta soon. The software update will be released to the public this spring for iPhone 5s and newer, all iPad Air and iPad Pro models, the fifth-generation iPad, iPad mini 2 and newer, and the sixth-generation iPod touch.

Apple says the battery and power management features will be coming in a later iOS 11.3 beta release, so they won't be available today. The option to turn off the power management feature will be available on iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, and iPhone SE.

Related Roundup: iPhone 7
Tag: iPhone Slowdown
[ 159 comments ]


Top Rated Comments

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pete2106
10 months ago
Finally. I've been waiting to have a feature that causes my phone to randomly shutdown while I'm in the middle of something.
Rating: 26 Votes
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dominiongamma
10 months ago

Wow, this is huge. Seems like Apple really listens. It's good they are giving people this choice.

The only reason they are doing this is for PR and they got caught. If no one brought this issue up they wouldn’t be pushing an update
Rating: 25 Votes
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WalterTizzano
10 months ago
About time. It’s a shame it took hundreds of lawsuits to push Apple to do the right thing.
Rating: 22 Votes
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MacDawg
10 months ago

Spring? Why wait till March? Make it happen ASAP.


*Pushes update out in a hurry to satisfy outcry... masses react with "why do they push out these updates so damn fast without testing for bugs!"
Rating: 15 Votes
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jmh600cbr
10 months ago
What about messages in iCloud?
Rating: 14 Votes
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Mirice99
10 months ago

Yes, give the people what they want.


People want a phone that actually works as advertised and and a phone that can do what the paid for. How many people would have bought a phone if they where told it would be crippled in a few months. Anyone defending Apple on this issue should be ashamed of their blind loyalty.
Rating: 12 Votes
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GTO
10 months ago
Can't wait more to turn off this throttling mess!!!
My 6S Geekbench score :
Single : 1450
Multi : 2488


Rating: 11 Votes
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Scottsoapbox
10 months ago

No it won't. The only way that would happen is if a very large percentage of devices had this issue, resulting in a significant number of people upgrading. If it's only a small percentage (most likely, but we'll have to wait until the court cases to see), then it won't have any effect on upgrades.

Besides, MR posters keep saying Apple made iOS 11 intentionally slow to get people to upgrade. So which is it?
[doublepost=1516805056][/doublepost]

They did. Apple can't account for 1 out of x batteries actually failing (which all lithium batteries are susceptible to).


You obviously don't understand the issue.

The battery throttling issue effects EVERY iPhone (of the relevant models). Once your battery falls below the threshold from normal use (and recharge) it will throttle your phone. The only question is WHEN not IF it will be throttled. For many people it be within 2 years. (those posting a 'few months' incorrectly believe hyperbole helps their argument)

People aren't upset about the occasional manufacturer defective battery which is unavoidable.

People are upset the Apple didn't adjust the battery and/or the CPU design so that it continued to operate normally after a relatively short time window because of a well known issue with batteries degrading over time. (commonly referred to as manufacturing tolerances)

But hey those leaps in CPU power look great on the keynote graph right?
Rating: 10 Votes
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WannaGoMac
10 months ago

Finally. I've been waiting to have a feature that causes my phone to randomly shutdown while I'm in the middle of something.


Or a feature that tells you it's time to buy a new damn battery rather than slow your iPhone to a crawl while the Apple Support shrugs and says "oh your iphone is just old, buy a new one"

Seriously, I dont get you Apple fans defending apple. This was clearly stupid (or slimy) on Apple's part. How would you feel being told by Apple Support to buy a new phone when it turns out Apple had just slowed the iPhone down??
Rating: 10 Votes
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Scottsoapbox
10 months ago

And everyone sues for their phone shutting down and asks why Apple allowed this to happen.


One does wonder why Apple didn't take the universally known battery degradation into account when designing the CPU's power requirements and tolerances.
Rating: 10 Votes

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