Apple iOS 11 Has A Nasty Secret Feature

Want to upgrade your iPhone or iPad because of poor performance?
Close your wallet! New research suggests the fault actually
likes with Apple, which has hidden a secret power mode deep
inside iOS that deliberately slows your device as it ages…

Credit for this unpleasant discovery is split between two
sources. Firstly Primate Labs researcher John Poole who first
discovered telltale performance readings in iPhones and iPads.
And secondly acclaimed iOS developer Guilherme Rambo? who
followed up Poole’s work and managed to unearth Apple’s secret
power mode in iOS code.

Poole’s breakthrough came after he earlier discovered changing
the battery on his iPhone 6S caused performance to almost double
- something he confirmed with multiple tests - and it behaved
like a new phone. Poole had done this on a hunch as iOS only
indicated his iPhone 6S had a battery wear level of 20%.


Consequently Poole went back and plotted the kernel density of
Geekbench 4 scores for the iPhone 6S running different versions
of iOS. With iOS 10.2.1 (which Apple released to combat the long
running 40% Bug - a problem I broke in November 2016)
performance suddenly showed signs of being throttled. This
effect become “even more pronounced” in the recently released
(and controversial) iOS 11.2.

Poole redid these tests with an iPhone 7 and discovered Apple
had repeated the trick. Nothing much happened with iOS 10.2.1
(the iPhone 7 was only four months old at the time) but
significant impact showed up in iOS 11.2, which came two months
after the launch of the iPhone 8. Based on his research, Poole
states his believes “the problem is widespread”.

Intrigued Guilherme Rambo? followed up and found the power mode
Poole theorised was there. Buried in iOS code is ‘Powerd’. In a
series of tweets he revealed Powerd is “responsible for
controlling the CPU/GPU speed and power usage based on iPhone
battery health”. More virtuously Powerd has a failsafe which
makes sure your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch doesn’t catch fire,
but it also will increasingly slow your device as your battery
degrades and operates independently of the official Low Power
Mode.

The problem here is not that Powerd exists, the problem is
iPhone and iPad users are being kept in the dark about it and
that their devices are slowing significantly because of it.

So why would Apple do this? I reached out to the company for an
explanation, but no response has been given at the time of
publication. I will update this article should that change.

Poole makes the point that until Apple speaks up, “This will
likely feed into the ‘planned obsolescence’ narrative.” And
while it may not be good publicity to tell a customer their 12-
18 month old iPhone or iPad is now having its performance
throttled because of battery wear, I’d argue there is a moral
responsibility to tell them a new battery can fix things and
there’s no need to spend circa $1,000 on new model.

At it stands this leaves iPhone and iPad owners in something of
a mess. Third party replacement batteries can be dangerous while
official replacements carried out by Apple are expensive and
customers must not fall into the trap of believing a new battery
is the answer to any and all problems they are experience.

All of which means this famously secretive company now really
needs to find its voice…

https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonk.../apple-ios-11-
battery-life-slow-iphone-performance-ipad-problems

In article , Wolf K
wrote:

At it stands this leaves iPhone and iPad owners in something of
a mess. Third party replacement batteries can be dangerous while
official replacements carried out by Apple are expensive and
customers must not fall into the trap of believing a new battery
is the answer to any and all problems they are experience.

The Gillete business model: ensure the customer continues paying forever.

not even close to correct.

In article
nospam wrote:

In article , Wolf K
wrote:

At it stands this leaves iPhone and iPad owners in something of
a mess. Third party replacement batteries can be dangerous while
official replacements carried out by Apple are expensive and
customers must not fall into the trap of believing a new battery
is the answer to any and all problems they are experience.

The Gillete business model: ensure the customer continues paying forever.

not even close to correct.

anyone who buys two consecutive iphones proves the point.

On Sat, 23 Dec 2017 05:24:18 +0100 (CET), Nomen Nescio
wrote:

In article
nospam wrote:

In article , Wolf K
wrote:

At it stands this leaves iPhone and iPad owners in something of
a mess. Third party replacement batteries can be dangerous while
official replacements carried out by Apple are expensive and
customers must not fall into the trap of believing a new battery
is the answer to any and all problems they are experience.

The Gillete business model: ensure the customer continues paying forever.

not even close to correct.

anyone who buys two consecutive iphones proves the point.

Apple are extending the battery life which is a good thing.