assault a battery —

Apple will give users the option to control their own battery’s destiny

Battery health will be much easier to understand in future iOS software updates.

Apple will give users the option to control their own battery’s destiny

Apple announced big economic plans yesterday, but CEO Tim Cook also touched upon what the company will do in the future to address the grievances brought by users about its recent iPhone performance-slowing controversy. In an interview with ABC News, Cook said that new software updates will allow users with older iPhones to turn off the power management feature that intentionally slows down device performance.

"We will tell someone we're reducing your performance by some amount in order to not have an unexpected restart," Cook said. "And if you don't want it, you can turn it off."

Cook's disclaimer is that Apple doesn't recommend turning off this feature, as the company initially came out with it to stop unexpected shut-downs. At the end of 2017, Apple admitted to intentionally slowing down iPhone performance to prevent shut-downs related to the device's deteriorating battery health. Users had suspected Apple's practice for quite some time, and despite Apple's reasoning, many users were furious and a number of class-action lawsuits have been filed against the company.

Apple released an apology and Cook reiterated in this ABC interview, saying that the company should have been clearer when first implementing the slow-down feature.

"When we did put it out, we did say what it was, but I don't think a lot of people were paying attention and maybe we should have been clearer as well," Cook said. "And so we deeply apologize for anybody that thinks we had some other kind of motivation."

Just before the start of 2018, Apple announced it would lower the price of out-of-warranty iPhone battery replacements to $29 in an effort to make amends with customers and offer new, cheaper batteries to older iPhones. The company also promised new UI features in forthcoming software updates that give users more insight into the health of their device's battery.

Cook said some of those features will debut in a developer release next month. It is likely that the debut of the option to turn off the controversial power management feature won't be far behind, but it typically takes anywhere from weeks to a few months before Apple pushes a software update out of beta and to all users. However, it is clear that Apple wants to quell any more concerns about its performance and battery management methods by quickly releasing new user-facing tools.

Listing image by Samuel Axon

Channel Ars Technica