Apple Faces Yet Another Class Action Lawsuit Over 'Secretly Throttling' Older iPhones

[Altis]

And given how evil they are and how much they want to push you towards upgrading, they did the same with all iPhone models before the iPhone 6. Or wait, that only came with iOS 12.1 .... Hm, something must be wrong with that theory.

The iPhone 6 throttled well before iOS 12. Mine did on iOS 10 -- it had become unbearable as even typing letters in the Messages app was slow and laggy.

Nothing wrong with the "theory" -- it's what they did. It's impossible to prove intent without someone coming out and outright admitting it, but it's by far the most logical conclusion given their actions.

 

[IG88]

Apple has always been very clear that only an EOD battery, a battery subjected to cold conditions, or a battery that had low charge was at risk for not supplying enough voltage. In other words, no different than any other phone-sized lithium ion battery.

Ah. Then no need to have been secretly throttling the phones! Oh wait....

 

[I7guy]

Ah. Then no need to have been secretly throttling the phones! Oh wait....

This hasn't been oh so secret for a while.

 

[DenverBob]

Who's surprised? Not me, my older phones always slowed down as have others posted too. Was a matter if time before some intelligent person got into the code.
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Typical response

I have not noticed a slow down on my SE.... I cant keep the battery charged long enough. Phone worked perfectly on 10.3.2 on November 27th, 2019, battery lasting all day and charged by my bed overnight along with my work iPhone (wake up in the middle of night and swap phone charging). On 11/28 I was notified by my bank that as of 12/4, I needed to go to IOS 11.0 or later in order to use the mobile app. Could not select any iOS other than 13.2.3. So I blindly updated to IOS 13.2.3... 1st mistake, did not perform a backup. iPhone bricked - stuck in endless reboot cycle. Only option was to do a forced update via computer. 2nd mistake, last backup was 1/3/2019... lost all messages between then and now. Photo's going to cloud storage - Notes too - they were safe, but all else lost.

Currently, phone was plugged into a computer all night and the battery was about 78 or 79 %. Phone hot (bad for battery). Unplugged phone, drove to work (15 minutes) checked battery after 1/2 hour - 46%...NO apps running in background except mail. it keeps racking up the unread emails that I have ignored and let fall of (after 2 weeks)... was at 0 emails at 8:00am, now at 10:00am 1,530 emails.

this new OS (13.2.3) is prematurely aging my battery - phone is plugged back in to charge and fetching email every 15min (4 accounts).

Apple has blacklisted all other IOS versions except iOS 13.2.3 - so I cant restore back to iOS 10.3.2 (I have the original downloaded from Apple version that I upgraded the iPhone from.

They have effectively killed my phone by having to tether it to a power source. By the way, with the new battery app, the battery is 87% (13% aged).

 

[DenverBob]

I'm sure in the alternative universe there are lawsuits about aged iPhones shutting down due to excessive power draw on the battery. The point is that Apple cannot win here. They can either allow the device to exceed what an aging battery can deliver and have a very unpleasant experience of the phone shutting down on the user or they can manage the power draw and try to deliver a more user friendly experience and prolong the life of the battery.

Either way... someone will be pissed and an army of lawyers will stand by with their wallets open.

if my iPhone tells me that it is at 20% - and I continue to use it, I expect at some moment it will say "I give up".... I know it will shutdown. when it does... My bad, not Apple's.... unless their iOS screws with the battery and what was working one day, becomes useless then next after an "update"..... I am in that category - Happy on Wednesday, Charged overnight, Applied the latest (13.2.3) update, phone bricked. forced the update, restored from a year-old backup, battery lasts a few hours - Thursday - iPhone charged overnight, battery dies in a few hours - WTF.

 

[C DM]

I have not noticed a slow down on my SE.... I cant keep the battery charged long enough. Phone worked perfectly on 10.3.2 on November 27th, 2019, battery lasting all day and charged by my bed overnight along with my work iPhone (wake up in the middle of night and swap phone charging). On 11/28 I was notified by my bank that as of 12/4, I needed to go to IOS 11.0 or later in order to use the mobile app. Could not select any iOS other than 13.2.3. So I blindly updated to IOS 13.2.3... 1st mistake, did not perform a backup. iPhone bricked - stuck in endless reboot cycle. Only option was to do a forced update via computer. 2nd mistake, last backup was 1/3/2019... lost all messages between then and now. Photo's going to cloud storage - Notes too - they were safe, but all else lost.

Currently, phone was plugged into a computer all night and the battery was about 78 or 79 %. Phone hot (bad for battery). Unplugged phone, drove to work (15 minutes) checked battery after 1/2 hour - 46%...NO apps running in background except mail. it keeps racking up the unread emails that I have ignored and let fall of (after 2 weeks)... was at 0 emails at 8:00am, now at 10:00am 1,530 emails.

this new OS (13.2.3) is prematurely aging my battery - phone is plugged back in to charge and fetching email every 15min (4 accounts).

Apple has blacklisted all other IOS versions except iOS 13.2.3 - so I cant restore back to iOS 10.3.2 (I have the original downloaded from Apple version that I upgraded the iPhone from.

They have effectively killed my phone by having to tether it to a power source. By the way, with the new battery app, the battery is 87% (13% aged).

Sounds like something might be off with your install. You might want to try reinstalling as new (without backup) to see if that might make a difference.

 

[DenverBob]

Your old iPhones are a drag on software development. Apple has to spend time and resources on making sure there’s compliance with older devices.

aww .... too bad - live with the older phones - or make the new ones cheaper...

 

[DenverBob]

Sounds like something might be off with your install. You might want to try reinstalling as new (without backup) to see if that might make a difference.

did a backup, forced another update, did a restore.

everything cleared, Then the same problem again this morning -

The problem as I see it is it wants to continuously download emails... previous versions had a limit you could set of like 200, or the last two weeks - I cannot seem to find that.

I suspect that previously my SE was being throttled and would only download emails when I looked at the phone, even though it was set to fetch every 15 minutes. Now it appears to continuously fetch emails. What used to be 200-300 "unread" emails is 2754 and climbing. If I want to find an email later, many times I will mark it as "unread" because I can filter for that. I will also "flag" it as I have already read it and that will display - so I know I have already seen the "unread" email.....

I will head over to the apple store in a few minutes - to see what those Geniuses can find and fix. I suspect that stopping the unending download of emails will "solve" or drastically improve the battery life.

I just wish they would not have blacklisted the older versions. I'd be restoring 10.3.2 this afternoon in a heartbeat. I'd even try 11.1.2 or 11.2.6 but again - blacklisted.

I have those versions on my computer - just can't install them as iTunes won't let me... maybe it is time to jailbreak MY phone - it is paid for.

 

[C DM]

did a backup, forced another update, did a restore.

everything cleared, Then the same problem again this morning -

The problem as I see it is it wants to continuously download emails... previous versions had a limit you could set of like 200, or the last two weeks - I cannot seem to find that.

I suspect that previously my SE was being throttled and would only download emails when I looked at the phone, even though it was set to fetch every 15 minutes. Now it appears to continuously fetch emails. What used to be 200-300 "unread" emails is 2754 and climbing. If I want to find an email later, many times I will mark it as "unread" because I can filter for that. I will also "flag" it as I have already read it and that will display - so I know I have already seen the "unread" email.....

I will head over to the apple store in a few minutes - to see what those Geniuses can find and fix. I suspect that stopping the unending download of emails will "solve" or drastically improve the battery life.

I just wish they would not have blacklisted the older versions. I'd be restoring 10.3.2 this afternoon in a heartbeat. I'd even try 11.1.2 or 11.2.6 but again - blacklisted.

I have those versions on my computer - just can't install them as iTunes won't let me... maybe it is time to jailbreak MY phone - it is paid for.

Try a restore as new (perhaps even a DFU restore) without any backup being used and perhaps not even connecting email accounts for a bit just to see how it behaves. If the battery issue is no longer there then you can perhaps try to add email to see if that plays a role.

 

[DenverBob]

The way I see it is this lawsuit is indicating one of two things:
1. Any time a company comes out with a less-than-stellar product, they should be sued for selling it.
or
2. No, no that's pretty much what it comes down to.

There are almost a BILLION iPhones being used, and you expect them as a company to do something other than what they did? They can't make software that addressees the specific needs of each individual 5 year old phone, sorry. They can make software that addresses the status quo. Period. And they did that.

Honestly, I think they weren't super forthcoming about it because they didn't see it as a big deal, it didn't stick out to them. They are releasing software constantly with new optimisations and such, so this wasn't anything special, but some blood-suckers are convinced it means something.

I just paid off my SE as I bought it 2.25 years ago... and being someone that has done software development AND software testing (regression testing) professionally, I understand. - Apple Screwed up on their software development. I understand the need to launch new products all the time - and with a new product, comes a new software roll out. Just don't break the existing product line to sell the old user the newer product. Tell them that "widget" won't work with the older phone, so if you want one, you would/should look at upgrading your phone. make it the customer's choice, not forced obsolescence, by hidden means of breaking a device that is NOT theirs and the customer has rightly purchased.

 

[C DM]

I just paid off my SE as I bought it 2.25 years ago... and being someone that has done software development AND software testing (regression testing) professionally, I understand. - Apple Screwed up on their software development. I understand the need to launch new products all the time - and with a new product, comes a new software roll out. Just don't break the existing product line to sell the old user the newer product. Tell them that "widget" won't work with the older phone, so if you want one, you would/should look at upgrading your phone. make it the customer's choice, not forced obsolescence, by hidden means of breaking a device that is NOT theirs and the customer has rightly purchased.

Given that what you are experiencing in particular doesn't appear to be a widespread issue of some sort it's quite possible that something else is in play there rather than a generic software development type of issue. It also seems to be fairly different and unrelated to the particular battery management that this particular thread and and discussion has been about.

 

[DenverBob]

Try a restore as new (perhaps even a DFU restore) without any backup being used and perhaps not even connecting email accounts for a bit just to see how it behaves. If the battery issue is no longer there then you can perhaps try to add email to see if that plays a role.

Yeah, thought of doing that - DFU'd the device 3 or 4 times since last Thursday,

Just to see the "standby" draining, or not ... and I am sure the constant mail downloading is an or the issue.

Want to see if there is a way of limiting the emails from the "geniuses" first....
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Given that what you are experiencing in particular doesn't appear to be a widespread issue of some sort it's quite possible that something else is in play there rather than a generic software development type of issue. It also seems to be fairly different and unrelated to the particular battery management that this particular thread and and discussion has been about.

actually there have been numerous complaints that this latest software release has bricked many phones.

and since I am one of those, I am biased in that direction.... hoping that it is some simple obscure fix.

 

[C DM]

actually there have been numerous complaints that this latest software release has bricked many phones.

Certainly a variety of people having some issues with iOS 13 in general when it comes to different things, but it doesn't seem that there's much in relation to the latest update bricking many phones. It sounds like this is all likely more for an iOS 13 discussion thread like the one at iOS 13.2.3 ― Bug Fixes, Changes, and Improvements

 

[VulchR]

Yeah, thought of doing that - DFU'd the device 3 or 4 times since last Thursday,

Just to see the "standby" draining, or not ... and I am sure the constant mail downloading is an or the issue.

Want to see if there is a way of limiting the emails from the "geniuses" first....
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actually there have been numerous complaints that this latest software release has bricked many phones.

and since I am one of those, I am biased in that direction.... hoping that it is some simple obscure fix.

Are you sure the phon eisn't just cataloguing the contents of memory, or perhaps the battery calibration needs to be reset?

 

[DenverBob]

Yeah, thought of doing that - DFU'd the device 3 or 4 times since last Thursday,

Just to see the "standby" draining, or not ... and I am sure the constant mail downloading is an or the issue.

Want to see if there is a way of limiting the emails from the "geniuses" first....
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actually there have been numerous complaints that this latest software release has bricked many phones.

and since I am one of those, I am biased in that direction.... hoping that it is some simple obscure fix.

just returned from the Apple store - Tech support said I should have my battery changed ($50+tax) - had to go to genius bar and they took the phone. come back at 3pm - they handed me a new phone "broke the battery terminal" was the official statement - but they powered up the phone and had me reset it.... hmmm .

found out from Tech support that they removed the email limitations (which I thought were voluntary) no longer sync to one week - now it is download EVERYTHING.... that's why mail in background was sucking the battery down.
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Are you sure the phon eisn't just cataloguing the contents of memory, or perhaps the battery calibration needs to be reset?

reset the battery 0-100% - same problem.