YOUR iPhone might give off some clues that its battery is severely degraded – and there’s an easy way to know for sure.
If you are having battery problems then getting it swapped out for a new one is easy, but comes with a small cost.
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Most rechargeable electronics – like your iPhone – feature lithium ion batteries.
These degrade over time, and will hold increasingly less charge compared to when they were new.
To protect your iPhone from unexpected shutdowns due to a chemically-aged battery (or when it has very low charge, or is in a cold temperature environment), iOS will sometimes reduce performance.
This lets you keep using your iPhone without it shutting down.
“iPhone performance management works by looking at a combination of the device temperature, battery state of charge, and battery impedance,” Apple explains.
“Only if these variables require it, iOS will dynamically manage the maximum performance of some system components, such as the CPU and GPU, in order to prevent unexpected shutdowns.
“As a result, the device workloads will self-balance, allowing a smoother distribution of system tasks, rather than larger, quick spikes of performance all at once.”
TRUE CLUES
If your device isn’t too hot or cold, then it’s possible the cause is your battery.
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One seemingly odd clue that performance management is active is an overall speaker volume reduction – but that’s not all.
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The list of signs you should look out for include:
- Longer app launch times
- Lower frame-rates when you scroll
- Backlight dimming (you can override this in the Control Center)
- Lower speaker volume (by up to -3dB)
- Gradual frame-rate reduction in some apps
- Camera flash disabled
- Apps that refresh in background may need reloading when you launch them
CHECK YOURSELF
The good news is that it’s very easy to check how degraded your battery is.
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Just go into Settings > Battery > Battery Health.
There you’ll be able to see details about its Peak Performance Capability, as well as its Maximum Capacity compared to new.
If this page warns that your battery is degraded, it may recommend a replacement.
This can typically be purchased for apple for below $100 / £100, but the exact details will depend on your model.
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If you get a battery swap, it will fix these performances issues – and give you much better lifespan per charge.
So if you’ve had the same iPhone for a while, it’s a cheap way to give it new life without having to fork out for an entire smartphone upgrade.
Why do batteries get worse over time?
Here’s what you need to know…
- Most gadgets run on lithium-ion batteries
- Over time, the amount of charge this type of battery can hold gets smaller
- That means you need to charge your device more often because they hold less charge
- Batteries have two electrode points – the cathode and the anode
- To charge a battery, the ions inside the battery are forced from the cathode to the anode
- When you use a battery, it moves in the reverse direction
- This process wears away at the structure of the anode, reducing its ability to function correctly
- But the process also builds up a kind of salt on the cathode when charging
- As this build-up grows, the battery will accept less charge over time
- It’s estimated that between 500 and 1,000 full charge-cycles will reduce a battery’s maximum capacity by roughly 20%
