A few days ago, Apple announced iOS 11.3 and then released the first developer and public betas. They pack various handy new features but the iPhone battery health indicator and the actual toggle that would let you slow down your iPhone when you feel like it were not introduced in this first beta release.
However, they’re coming soon, Apple revealed in the same statement that confirmed the US government is investigating Apple’s iPhone slowdown mess.
Some owners of iPhones with old batteries may experience a slower overall experience, and that’s because Apple wants to prevent unexpected shutdowns. That’s why so many customers sued Apple, and why various governments around the world are looking into this particular business practice.
Apple has been trying to clean its mess up since December when it introduced the cheaper battery replacement program and promised better software features to assist users with older iPhones. Apple reiterated those measures in the statement that also confirmed that US government agencies have questions for Apple:
We sought to further improve the customer experience in December by announcing a significant discount on replacement batteries for certain iPhones. We also announced that we began developing a new iOS feature to show battery health and which would recommend when the user should consider replacing their battery. These actions were taken to further assist our customers and help extend the life of their iPhones. In addition, users will be able to see if the power management feature is being used to prevent unexpected shutdowns, and turn it off if they so choose. These features will be included in a developer release next month and a user release this Spring.
As you can see in our emphasis above, Apple practically told us that an iOS 11.3 beta version supposed to enable the new battery features will arrive in February. The statement above was sent out to media publications on January 31st.
That means iOS 11.3 beta users will be among the first ones to try out both the iPhone battery health indicator and the slowdown switch at some point later this month. However, if your iPhone is slow, killing the throttle won’t completely solve your iPhone issues. You’d be better off having the battery replaced.
Here’s the full comment, as published by Axios:
About a year ago, we delivered a software update that improves power management during peak workloads to avoid unexpected shutdowns on certain iPhones with older batteries. We know that iPhones have become an important part of the daily lives of our customers and our intention was to improve the customer experience.
We sought to further improve the customer experience in December by announcing a significant discount on replacement batteries for certain iPhones. We also announced that we began developing a new iOS feature to show battery health and which would recommend when the user should consider replacing their battery. These actions were taken to further assist our customers and help extend the life of their iPhones. In addition, users will be able to see if the power management feature is being used to prevent unexpected shutdowns, and turn if off if they so choose. These features will be included in a developer release next month and a user release this Spring.
As we told our customers in December, we have never — and would never — do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades. Our goal has always been to create products that our customers love. Making iPhones last as long as possible is an important part of that.
We have received questions from some government agencies and we are responding to them.
