iOS 11.3: Apple reveals iPhone update that will let people stop their phone being slowed down
A number of new features will arrive in the updated software. But one of them is very important indeed
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Your support makes all the difference.Apple will now let people stop it from slowing down their phones.
A new update coming to iOS will give people the option to turn off the battery throttling tools that are built into it. That will get rid of the controversy about iPhones being slowed down if their batteries aren't working properly – though it could also lead to iPhones shutting down apparently for no reason.
The update includes a whole range of features: new updates to augmented reality, easy ways for doctors to store health records in your iPhone, and new animoji. But the biggest announcement was the battery change, intended to address the ongoing controversy about how iPhones handle older batteries.
The controversy erupted when it emerged that Apple had built tools into iOS that would slow down or turn off certain features as phones got older. That was added because before phones would undertake intensive tasks but the batteries would be too old to power them – accordingly, the phones would switch themselves off.
Despite the fact the feature was intended to allow older phones to keep going, many people claimed the revelation had confirmed the conspiracy theory that Apple intentionally slows down older phones to make people buy new ones.
To address that outcry, Apple has already offered a number of changes, including much cheaper and easier battery replacements to get phones back to their old performance. And now it has said it will allow people to switch the feature off entirely.
It will also allow people to see the health of the battery and see whether they need their battery servicing. Those options will be found in the Settings app, under the Battery option.
The features will be rolling out soon in iOS 11.3, first in a beta release of that software.
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