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iPhone-6s batt

Apple has come under burn down in recent weeks for its determination to slow down older iPhones with degraded batteries, but information technology wasn't just the deportment that got Apple tree in hot h2o. What really irked consumers is that Apple did it without telling anyone or providing a way to opt out of the "optimization" features. Now, Apple CEO Tim Melt has relented, saying users will be able to turn off the power direction features.

Apple tree's PR nightmare begins a year ago with the release of iOS 10.2.i. That was the first version of the Bone that checked battery health and made changes to system functioning when a battery was non working well. All lithium-ion batteries lose some voltage as they age, and Apple found that some of its phones were unable to keep the loftier-power CPU cluster powered as the batteries got erstwhile. The solution was to throttle performance on these devices to prevent unexpected shutdowns.

After months of increasingly frustrated complaints from iPhone owners, benchmarking firm Geekbench poured over its data and confirmed that, aye, newer versions if iOS had introduced throttling without telling anyone. Apple tree is currently defending itself against several lawsuits related to the incident. It has besides offered to replace the battery in whatsoever affected iPhone for $29. A new battery resets the optimization settings, returning a device to full performance.

Tim Cook

Apple CEO Tim Cook.

In an interview with ABC News, Tim Cook admits the visitor could have been clearer with its customers. That'south a kind mode to put it. In an upcoming version of iOS, Melt says users will exist able to check the settings and see the status of their battery. If problems are detected, they'll still exist able to head over to an Apple shop and have the battery swapped out.

This update volition also include an uncharacteristically extreme user setting. Owners of phones with degraded batteries will be able to deactivate the performance throttling, returning the telephone to full speed without a bombardment replacement. A warning volition remind people that phones with degraded batteries could suffer from stability issues and random shutdowns, though. If Apple had done this in the first place, it probably could accept avoided the PR headache entirely.

We don't know what the new user settings for battery optimization look like yet, just it won't be long. This feature will be included in a new developer preview later this calendar month. It will roll out to users in the following weeks.