Tim Cook Says Power Management Feature In Older iPhones Will Be Able To Be Turned Off In Future Update (macrumors.com)

In an interview with Rebecca Jarvis of ABC News, Apple CEO Tim Cook touched on the ongoing controversy over power management features in older iPhones. He says that a future update will allow customers to turn off the power management feature that has caused older iPhones to slow down. Mac Rumors reports: According to Cook, when the power management features were first introduced in iOS 10.2.1, Apple did explain what was going on, but following the controversy, he believes Apple should have been clearer. The company did indeed mention that the shutdown issue was caused by uneven power delivery and explained that its power management system had been tweaked, but there was no clear notice that it could cause devices to operate more slowly at times. Cook says Apple "deeply apologizes" to customers who thought the company had other motivations. Apple is introducing better battery monitoring features in a future iOS update, and Cook says Apple will also allow customers to turn off the power management feature, which is new information that the company has not previously shared. The majority of the interview was focused on the announcements that Apple made today. The company plans to contribute $350 billion in the U.S. economy over the next five years, as well as issue employees a bonus of $2,500 of restricted stock units following the introduction of the new U.S. tax law.

Comments

Very useful

[pubwvj]

What Apple did is a very useful feature. I would rather have my iOS device slow down than crash because the battery is over taxed by surging processor power needs. Empowering the user is even better so that people who want their devices to crash can be satisfied too. All for that!

Re:Very useful

[AvitarX]

Even better, have a toggle.

It's a feature I'd love to be able to turn on even on a brand new phone, and turn off on an old one, depending what I'm doing and my charger situation.

Re:Very useful

[Pseudonym]

My mother, who has spent a lot of her life on committees of one form or another, taught me something when I was very young that I have never forgotten: The problem is often not what is done, but the way it is done.

Probably over half of all first world disputes can be traced to this.

Re:Very useful

[Paradise Pete]

It's a feature I'd love to be able to turn on even on a brand new phone

They do have Low Power Mode, which kinda does that now.

Re:Very useful

[hcs_$reboot]

What Apple did is a very useful feature.

Stop that. Please. Apple injected a hidden function that slows down iPhones little by little, over time. To the point the user wonders: that thing is barely usable, maybe it's time to purchase the next newer model. That could have been a "feature" if users were made aware of it, and were able to disable it ; the slowness had side effects (the GPS became less accurate for instance) and the user might have chosen to utilize their device at full speed for a day, rather than a crippled phone for two ; also, people, if they'd know, could have chosen to replace the battery ; since the function was hidden, users didn't even know they could just buy a new battery to basically get a new phone. That's definitely not a feature ; this is an intentional hack to make people think their phone is "too old and needs to be replaced with a new one".

Re:Very useful

[Freischutz]

What Apple did is a very useful feature.

Stop that. Please. Apple injected a hidden function that slows down iPhones little by little, over time. To the point the user wonders: that thing is barely usable, maybe it's time to purchase the next newer model. That could have been a "feature" if users were made aware of it, and were able to disable it ; the slowness had side effects (the GPS became less accurate for instance) and the user might have chosen to utilize their device at full speed for a day, rather than a crippled phone for two ; also, people, if they'd know, could have chosen to replace the battery ; since the function was hidden, users didn't even know they could just buy a new battery to basically get a new phone. That's definitely not a feature ; this is an intentional hack to make people think their phone is "too old and needs to be replaced with a new one".

Oh, users were made aware of 'the 'feature' all right. The power management feature was introduced in one of those Apple keynote events and every user got a splash screen with 'new features in macOS ' so there is little justification to complain about a power management feature in a mobile device being 'hidden' with some kind of malicious intent. Furthermore it is entirely predictable that while you don't notice it on newer phones in normal use when CPU performance is degraded by the energy saver algorithm to extend battery life, you will notice it on older phones who are getting close to barely being able to run the latest OS smoothly even with a new battery and no PM algorithm active. You have a point about being able to switch the PM algorithm off though. I carry a spare battery and a 5 cm lightning cable with me and I don't really care about a slightly shorter batter life, I'd rather have the performance as long as the phone charge lasts me a day (which it usually does and if it stops doing that I'll take it in for a battery replacement). Furthermore, Apple have now removed the ability to see the battery cycle count which is pretty annoying.

Re:Good grief, settle down.

[Anonymous Coward]

Wrong. 5S is not included in the cheap batteries, despite being still supported with IOS 11. Only 6 and newer are getting cheap batteries and there is already a 3 month wait time.

Re:And so it is

[AvitarX]

An example may be I'm in an office with chargers, and I find the snow down irritating. I can keep it in high performance mode (also called performance I thought I'd have when I tried it in the store and purchased it, except maybe it feels less snappy as the newer apps want even more), but also, if I'm out all day, I can put it in low performance mode.

Why would your personal preference of battery over performance only apply to a degraded battery?

Re:And so it is

[edwdig]

The issue isn't about how long the battery lasts. It's about how much power the battery can supply at a given moment. There's a huge variance in how much power the phone needs depending on what you're doing at the moment. Accessing flash memory, enabling GPS/camera/bluetooth, downloading data, stressing the CPU, are all things that will make the power draw go up. You need to make sure the battery can handle the power spikes. If the battery can't handle the load, the phone just shuts off with no warning.

The update slows the phone down any time the battery can't output enough power. Most of the attention is focused on old batteries, but cold weather can trigger it too. The original reason for the change was to deal with new phones with plenty of battery power remaining abruptly shutting off in winter weather. The phones wouldn't turn on again until you got them indoors in warmer air, at which point they'd realize they had plenty of power remaining.

They didn't make it configurable because their main concern was making sure people outdoors with ice & snow on the ground had functional phones.

My experience with Apple re: the batteries

[Anonymous Coward]

I went in and said I wanted a replacement battery. This lousy hipster tried to guilt trip me by saying I should "consider the ecological impact" of taking advantage of the offer. I said okay...I still want the replacement.

I didn't cause this problem; Apple did. I don't need some tree hugger trying to guilt trip me. Apple can recycle my old battery. Just replace the battery and fix the problem YOUR company caused without the Greenpeace pitch.

Then he asked for my passcode so they could run diagnostics. I said no, you're not getting my passcode.

Needless to say he and I didn't get along.

Re:Sidestepped the point

[Camembert]

I actually had my 6Plus battery replaced at the Apple store shortly before this situation blew up (out of proportion).
I missed my phone less than 2 hours, meanwhile I did some household shopping nearby.
2 hours in 4 years use, that is not too bad, even very acceptable for having a thinner device, and in the case of more recent iphones than mine also having decent water resistance.
Hence I don't miss the user replaceability.

Re:Good grief, settle down.

[TheFakeTimCook]

Yep. And if Tim Cook wants to make an impression, he'd let users make their own decisions about what version of iOS they want to run, and give them the ability to side-load apps. This is just simple pandering in an attempt to avoid regulation.

1. You are free to run whatever version of iOS you want to LEAVE on your Device (there actually are NO "Forced Upgrades"). But, I will CERTAINLY agree that you SHOULD be allowed to "Downgrade" to an earlier version of iOS, if you Upgrade and then decide it doesn't suit you or your Device. But, that's why I never Upgrade an older Device until I let a few months go by to see what the performance issues, if any, affect those who do Upgrade. For example, I am "avoiding" Upgrading my iPhone 6 Plus to iOS 11, because of reports of performance issues with iPhone 6 and iOS 11.

2. You have been able to Side-Load ANY App you want on an non-jailbroken iOS Device running iOS 8 or later, using a couple of different methods:

    a. If you have a Mac, you can use XCode to Compile and Install any number of "Open Source" iOS Apps written in Swift and Obj-C (and possibly other languages) sprayed all over the intarwebs (or, uh, you can WRITE your Own!). XCode is a Free Download (again, if you already have a Mac), and you only need to be a Registered Developer if you are going to submit your Glorious App to the App Store.

Slashdotters should be familiar with this distribution method, because it is PRECISELY how thousands of Open Source packages are distributed for Linux and other platforms.

Here's a list on Github:

https://github.com/dkhamsing/o...

And while you MUST use XCode, due to Code-Signing Requirements to submit to the App Store, (and also because it is probably still the best overall IDE for iOS Development), there ARE a few non-XCode iOS Development toolchains available. Caveat: I know NOTHING about these, what platforms they run on/support, etc. But here they are:

https://www.jetbrains.com/objc...

https://www.xojo.com/

https://www.visualstudio.com/v...

https://coderunnerapp.com/

    b. Using the Freeware Cydia Impactor utility, you can use a Mac or Windows (and maybe Linux?) PC to Install pre-compiled ".ipa" Files, WITHOUT needing to Jailbreak the iPhone... Then, all the User has to do is "Trust This Publisher" ONE TIME, and VOILA! The onus is on the USER (just like any good Slashdotter would want, right?) to decide whether they want to do this...

http://www.cydiaimpactor.com/

Here's a list of some sites that host free iOS .ipa Files:

https://www.gocydia.com/free-i...

BOTH of these methods have been available and officially-supported since iOS 8 was released in September, 2014.

But by all means, do keep up your mindless Apple-Hatred.

Oh, and you Apple Haters and other Slashtards can ALL STFU about "Walled Garden", FOREVER, got it?

Re:Good grief, settle down.

[MrDozR]

I think you need to vent your frustration at your bank for them developing an app that can't be supported on older OS'.

Re:And so it is

[upl8n87447]

That's actually pretty funny. They tout how much faster their phones are than other companies', but after months of use they suddenly slow down. Has anyone done tests on just how much this was slowing phones down?

Re:And so it is

[beanpoppa]

It's not just about the battery life being shorter in full power mode on an old battery. It's that during high drain situations, the battery couldn't provide the amperage necessary and it would cause instability and the phone to crash.