How to check if Apple is slowing down your iPhone

Flickr/William Hook

Apple recently admitted that it has been throttling the performance of certain iPhones with older batteries to prevent unexpected shutdowns.

For those curious, it turns out that it's not too difficult to see whether your iPhone has been affected.

The reason behind the performance throttling makes sense: As older batteries degrade over time, they can't cope with the high demands of the iPhone's processor. To prevent unexpected shutdowns that sometimes occur when processors don't get enough power, the company dialed down the speeds of iPhone processors in units with those batteries.

Still, critics say the company should have been more transparent about the practice.

When owners of older iPhone models experience slow performance, the usual course of action is to buy a new phone. But had they known the slower performance was due to an aging battery, perhaps they could have opted to replace it, which is much cheaper than buying a new iPhone.

Here's how to see for yourself whether your older iPhone's performance has been throttled.

1. Download an app that tells you the speed of your iPhone's main chip.

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The app I'm using here is the free Lirum Device Info Lite, which provides a lot of information about your iPhone's internal activity.

2. In the Lirum app, check the speed of your iPhone's main chip speed.

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From the app's home screen, tap the options button on the top left (three horizontal lines) > This Device > CPU > and check the CPU Actual Clock against the CPU Maximum Clock.

If both numbers are the same, then your iPhone isn't being throttled.

Here are the chip speeds for the iPhone 6 and newer.

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Apple rolled out its performance-throttling measures for the iPhone 6 and newer models to prevent unexpected shutdowns.

Here are the original "clock speeds" — the measure of speed for a processor chip — for these models:

iPhone 6 and 6 Plus: 1.4 GHz

iPhone 6S and 6S Plus: 1.84 GHz

iPhone SE: 1.84 GHz

iPhone 7 and 7 Plus: 2.34 GHz

Note that your older iPhone may not be throttled if you're running an older version of iOS.

For the iPhone 6, 6S, and SE, Apple's performance-throttling feature was introduced in iOS 10.2.1. If you have one of those iPhones but an older version of iOS, your performance won't be throttled.

For the iPhone 7 generation, Apple's throttling feature was introduced in iOS 11.2. If you have an iPhone 7 model with an earlier version of iOS, then your performance won't be throttled.

Even if your older iPhone isn't being throttled, it could still be worth getting a battery replacement by Apple.

FILE PHOTO: A man tries to repair an iPhone in a repair store in New York
Thomson Reuters

If your older iPhone's main chip is still running at the speed it should, you'd still do well to take advantage of Apple's battery-replacement program, which has been discounted to $29 from $79 for one year.

Chances are the battery capacity in your older iPhone model has degraded over the months and years you've owned it, and you can get improved battery life with the new $29 replacement Apple's offering.

The best way to check your older iPhone's battery life is to take it to an Apple Store.

Battery apps aren't as reliable in reporting the health of your older iPhone's battery. They might give you a general idea that your battery has degraded since the day you bought the phone, but I've seen wildly varying percentage numbers about my iPhone 6S Plus' battery health.

The best way to find out the health of your iPhone's battery is to take it to an Apple Store. Set up an appointment, and an Apple Genius will run your iPhone through the company's tests.

Usually, Apple recommends you get a replacement when your iPhone's battery can retain only 80% of its original capacity. With Apple's discounted $29 battery-replacement program, however, I'd get it replaced even at 90% capacity.

You can get in touch with Apple's support teams remotely over the phone or even on Twitter to find out whether you need a battery replacement, but they won't tell you specific details about your iPhone's battery health — only if your battery is "fine" or not.

In a statement about the performance-throttling, Apple said it would also issue an iOS software update early this year "with new features that give users more visibility into the health of their iPhone's battery, so they can see for themselves if its condition is affecting performance."

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