The somewhat horrific news that Apple is degrading performance on old iPhones is tough to swallow if you're an iPhone fan. While many keep their iPhones for years without too much problem, more recently older models such as the iPhone 6 haven have practically ground to a halt for many people and it seems that Apple decided to focus its efforts with this device as well as the iPhone 6S and the iPhone 7 too.
The issue will be most keenly felt on the iPhone 6 for one simple reason; its battery is likely to be in a poorer state than a more modern iPhone. This, critically, means that the battery won't be able to dish out the peak power it could when it was new and as a result, unless you're still running iOS 9, you'll likely have noticed your device is running a lot slower.
I certainly have, owning an iPhone 6 since launch - it's hideously slow, but there is a way you can improve the situation. Benchmark website Geekbench and the Reddit community have found that simply replacing the battery on your iPhone 6, or indeed any other iPhone model that's affected can drastically increase your iPhone's performance. My iPhone 6 was a prime candidate - I had actually replaced the battery myself a couple of years ago, but I'm a heavy user and already noticed its longevity had started to decrease again.
So, to try and confirm the issue on my own device, I downloaded the Geekbench benchmark and ran the CPU portion with my phone at 75% battery and WiFi enabled - all other radios were turned off. I then powered down the device, rebooted it and ran the test again to make sure that this cycle didn't impact the score, which it didn't.
Finally, I replaced the battery with a new one from Amazon, charged it to be well away from the low power mode level and re-ran the test. The difference was incredible. The single core score rose from 1038 to 1562 - an increase of precisely 50%. The multi-core score also rose by a huge amount - 1800 up to 2680, which is 49%. I touched no other settings - just replaced the battery, and my iPhone 6 is also far more responsive. The camera app took anywhere from 5-10 seconds to load beforehand, now it loads within one second. Control Centre flips up with no lag and there's also little to no lag swiping through home screen pages.
To replace your battery follow my guide below - it's actually quite easy so head over the page to see how.
1.Buy a battery and tool kit
You'll need a screen sucker, iPhone tool, mini crosshead screwdriver, and plastic pick. The kit costs just $24 on Amazon (£22 from Amazon UK) and I used this very battery to complete the tests above.
2. Remove the case screws
There are two tiny case screws at the base of the iPhone 6 - the star-head tool in the kit will allow you to remove these
3. Use the sucker to lift the screen
Place the sucker on the screen just above the home button. This will allow you to lift the screen from the bottom out of the case. Do not lift the top end of the screen out as this is attached by cables.
4. Remove battery screws
There are two screws and a protective metal cap on the battery connector. Remove these and note which one goes in which slot so you can replace them in the correct order later.
5. Unpick battery connector
Using a plastic pick, detach the battery connector. It should pop out quite easily.
6. Remove the old battery
This can be tricky as the battery is held in with adhesive. use the plastic pick to work the battery loose from underneath. It can help to use a hair dryer on the rear of the case to loosen the glue.
7. Install new battery.
Install the new battery and attach the connector. If there's some adhesive left, use that, if not, most kits come with a replacement adhesive strip. You can now screw in the battery cap, close the case and secure it with the two screws.
You'll not only see an improvement in battery life, but many tasks will hopefully feel much quicker than they did before plus this costs significantly less than Apple's battery replacement service and takes about 15 minutes.
