iPhone 17 Does Apple install malware to slow your old phone down?

[HouseLannister]

Two different devices: one still runs iOS 10, the other one was forced by Apple out of iOS 9 into the malware that is iOS 13.

And the one at 60% battery health should return noticeably worse Geekbench scores because it is being throttled by the OS to stop unexpected shutdowns or rapid discharging. That's why your perception of battery loss is less than it really should be. But I also stand by the fact that there is more substantial loss than you are admitting to, yet perception is reality. You've done no testing and submitted no solid metrics. Just your two cents. While I disagree, I would still be interested if you could do anything actually scientific to back up the claims.

 

[FeliApple]

And the one at 60% battery health should return noticeably worse Geekbench scores because it is being throttled by the OS to stop unexpected shutdowns or rapid discharging. That's why your perception of battery loss is less than it really should be. But I also stand by the fact that there is more substantial loss than you are admitting to, yet perception is reality. You've done no testing and submitted no solid metrics. Just your two cents. While I disagree, I would still be interested if you could do anything actually scientific to back up the claims.

It isn’t being throttled: Apple introduced throttling with the iPhone 6s on iOS 10.2.1. My 6s runs iOS 10.0.

 

[HouseLannister]

It isn’t being throttled: Apple introduced throttling with the iPhone 6s on iOS 10.2.1. My 6s runs iOS 10.0.

I don't know if we know that for sure. It became public knowledge that some 6S phones had a manufacturing defect and 10.2.1 stopped accidental shutdowns by improving their battery algorithms, but that doesn't mean they weren't always tweaking performance since iPhoneOS 1.0. Better power management features in 10.2.1 doesn't mean there were zero power management features in 10.0. But again, we have no data. Just old news stories and release notes. Nothing from a court discovery and no one doing the testing.

 

[SGSfanboy]

Another feeble attempt by an Android fanboi to smear iOS most likely. Various Mac forums are filled with them. Funny, I never see Apple customers start trash talk in Android forums…

 

[minik]

Surprised this thread is still opened. In 2026, people are still using this argument? Sure iOS can only be found on iPhone and some of the services are pretty sticky, but the end user can ditch the platform and move onto other rival devices if one is not happy with it.

 

[bluecoast]

Hanlon's razor

I think Apple’s philosophy is this;

‘We optimise new iOS for this year’s iPhones.

Its performance steadily gets worse on phones from preceding years, until its barely acceptable on the last set of devices that we support.

But that’s working as intended. It’ll entice most users to get a new phone because now their old phone ‘runs slow’.

And we tease new and exciting features to both reassure existing users that their Apple hardware is getting better each year via software - but also to entice them to upgrade to the new version of iOS. Oh and do devs and ourselves don’t have to support too many old versions of iOS.

Also their phone battery has probably not been replaced either, so that adds to the general feeling that their phone is old.

Eventually, most users will then upgrade to a newer iPhone…

…And the cycle continues.

 

[CrapShack]

I wouldn't put it past Apple. They were sued previously, and lost, for throttling older phones. Has everyone forgotten about that already?

That was a software update meant to prevent the phones from shutting down while in use (a possible safety issue in an emergency) due to the owners refusing to replace the naturally weakening battery in the phones they were keeping for years. At the very worst Apple did not explain it properly; but they were NOT intentionally slowing the phones to make you buy a new one.

 

[CrapShack]

You would have to be an idiot to think this is real.

 

[Rychiar]

unless your phone is 5+ years old who's phone even feels laggy anymore?

 

[HouseLannister]

unless your phone is 5+ years old who's phone even feels laggy anymore?

Might I direct you to every thread about Liquid Glass for the last 9+ months?

 

[Corefile]

I wouldn't say it's malware but iPhone OS is a bloated sack of potatoes. What I mean is that faster hardware means more layers of junk introduced by Apple for all their updates. It is optimized for the most recent phones so looks awful on older phones. It'll get worse when Apple starts shipping phone updates programmed via AI slop.

 

[maxoakland]

Yeah, it’s called liquid glass. My iPad was so slow on it I downgraded and never updated any of my other devices

 

[maxoakland]

You’re missing a key detail there.
Apple didn’t lose. They settled due to the bad PR it was generating.

Or maybe they settled because they knew they’d lose. Lots of things have generated bad PR that Apple didn’t settle

 

[I7guy]

What? No. I can maintain battery life when I don’t update and when I update I can’t. It’s that simple.

iPhone 6s on iOS 9, new, 100% health: 8 hours of SOT.
iPhone 6s on iOS 10, 10 years old, and 60% health: 8 hours of SOT

iPhone 6s on iOS 13, 3 years old, 94% health: 3-4 hours of SOT, same usage.

Very simple.

SOT means different things go to different people. In one case using your phone in bright sunlight watching YouTube with a terrible cell signal. In another case watch YouTube videos 3 inches away from the router in a darkened room. Two very different scenarios.

I’m the former case a new battery will handle it better than abused battery in the latter case.

 

[maxoakland]

A mentioned, Apple doesn't need to do that nefarious, they just write software with yet MORE features, need it or not, which will require a faster/newer cpu.

My question is why is it slowing down our cpu if we aren’t using the new features? That’s a little suspicious.

Like, why would it slow down the Home Screen if it didn’t have new features added?

 

[maxoakland]

As features get added, the code base expands greatly and gets more complicated. It's the result of the yearly release cycles for major updates. The public constant need for updates has degraded software quality for years. As a general society, we need to slow down and allow these companies to perfect what they have.

We have been clamoring for Apple to end the yearly upgrade cycle for several years. Apple is the one imposing that on themselves. No one was mad that Apple didn’t launch major updates every single year

It’s super annoying, honestly. We deserve better quality software

 

[I7guy]

We have been clamoring for Apple to end the yearly upgrade cycle for several years. Apple is the one imposing that on themselves. No one was mad that Apple didn’t launch major updates every single year

It’s super annoying, honestly. We deserve better quality software

We have not been clamoring for Apple to end the yearly upgrade cycle and we want yearly updates. Whomever the universe of “we” are.

There is nothing wrong with the quality of software being released from Apple.

 

[thelion7]

This (unsubstantiated and unverified) former Apple software engineer says that Apple installs malware on your phone for the purpose of slowing it down during a software update to entice you into upgrading to the latest model.

Fake propaganda or true?

https://twitter.com/x/status/2052015524549398589

Very unlikely.

1. It’s super illegal.
2. Apple have already messed up in the past by slowing the phone down to preserve aging batteries without telling customers.

It’ll be a combination of an aging battery and or OS bugs.

Apple have been slipping with their OS stability over the years and iOS 26 made things worse.

Especially for older phones trying to render the Liquid Glass animations and even the newer ones due to an unoptimised OS.

 

[Paul1964]

Another feeble attempt by an Android fanboi to smear iOS most likely. Various Mac forums are filled with them. Funny, I never see Apple customers start trash talk in Android forums…

I saw plenty of it when I was an Android user.

 

[numberfive]

This (unsubstantiated and unverified) former Apple software engineer says that Apple installs malware on your phone for the purpose of slowing it down during a software update to entice you into upgrading to the latest model.

Fake propaganda or true?

https://twitter.com/x/status/2052015524549398589

she is incompetent, she doesn’t know what malware is, and the whole tweet is garbage.

 

[Rychiar]

Might I direct you to every thread about Liquid Glass for the last 9+ months?

I've had zero problems with Liquid Glass either visually or performance wise so I dunno what anyone is whining about there either 🤷‍♂️

 

[HouseLannister]

I've had zero problems with Liquid Glass either visually or performance wise so I dunno what anyone is whining about there either 🤷‍♂️

I have zero problems hiking in Colorado Springs. Doesn't mean elevation is a myth.

 

[FeliApple]

SOT means different things go to different people. In one case using your phone in bright sunlight watching YouTube with a terrible cell signal. In another case watch YouTube videos 3 inches away from the router in a darkened room. Two very different scenarios.

I’m the former case a new battery will handle it better than abused battery in the latter case.

But even if that ridiculously heavy usage would also drain an original version device (which is true), who cares about it?

I’m not watching YouTube with one dot of cellular signal at full brightness. Ever. At most I can use my phone as an outdoor camera with cellular, in some moments of the day.

You’ve frequently used that argument in discussions with me as if it proved anything. Yes, sure, that usage will make the iOS version less relevant (battery life will be garbage either way), but it will also make battery health less relevant (battery life will also be garbage either way).

As I’ve stated throughout this thread, that also applies to device where software is far less relevant, like Bluetooth speakers. I’ve even given the numbers:

40 hours at 30-40% volume. 24 hours at 44% volume, and 5 hours at 100% volume. That means that a degraded battery would give me three hours at full volume.

But that is not my use case. I don’t use my speakers at full volume, I don’t use my iPhone with one bar of cellular at full brightness. I don’t care about that.

99% of the time, I use it normally with 5G with varying brightness (in which case the iOS version is key), or I use it indoors with Wi-Fi (in which case the iOS version is also key).

You keep using that use case as if it proved anything. All it proves is that devices (ALL devices, including speakers), have batteries that can be killed quickly if you push them. And? Who cares? That’s not a regular use case, and if it is, there’s nothing you can do.

How many times have you seen me give battery life advice here when the user describes their usage pattern that is simply “you either use it more lightly or battery life will always be garbage”. Hundreds of times. For this discussion, it is an utterly irrelevant use case.

Again, you keep saying that over and over again as if it proved anything or as if it were relevant. It doesn’t, and it isn’t.

 

[FeliApple]

I think Apple’s philosophy is this;

‘We optimise new iOS for this year’s iPhones.

Its performance steadily gets worse on phones from preceding years, until its barely acceptable on the last set of devices that we support.

But that’s working as intended. It’ll entice most users to get a new phone because now their old phone ‘runs slow’.

And we tease new and exciting features to both reassure existing users that their Apple hardware is getting better each year via software - but also to entice them to upgrade to the new version of iOS. Oh and do devs and ourselves don’t have to support too many old versions of iOS.

Also their phone battery has probably not been replaced either, so that adds to the general feeling that their phone is old.

Eventually, most users will then upgrade to a newer iPhone…

…And the cycle continues.

Finally some common sense. This is what happens. It is a continuous and irreversible degradation that ends when the user upgrades.

And the funny thing is… that users keep falling for it! “No, battery life and performance are bad either because the device is old or because the battery is degraded”.

No, battery life and performance are awful because you installed Apple-made malware onto your iPhone that cannot be removed. Next time, either stay behind (you won’t), or update again and tolerate garbage like you always do until you upgrade and the cycle repeats.

 

[I7guy]

But even if that ridiculously heavy usage would also drain an original version device (which is true), who cares about it?

I’m not watching YouTube with one dot of cellular signal at full brightness. Ever. At most I can use my phone as an outdoor camera with cellular, in some moments of the day.

You’ve frequently used that argument in discussions with me as if it proved anything. Yes, sure, that usage will make the iOS version less relevant (battery life will be garbage either way), but it will also make battery health less relevant (battery life will also be garbage either way).

As I’ve stated throughout this thread, that also applies to device where software is far less relevant, like Bluetooth speakers. I’ve even given the numbers:

40 hours at 30-40% volume. 24 hours at 44% volume, and 5 hours at 100% volume. That means that a degraded battery would give me three hours at full volume.

But that is not my use case. I don’t use my speakers at full volume, I don’t use my iPhone with one bar of cellular at full brightness. I don’t care about that.

99% of the time, I use it normally with 5G with varying brightness (in which case the iOS version is key), or I use it indoors with Wi-Fi (in which case the iOS version is also key).

You keep using that use case as if it proved anything. All it proves is that devices (ALL devices, including speakers), have batteries that can be killed quickly if you push them. And? Who cares? That’s not a regular use case, and if it is, there’s nothing you can do.

How many times have you seen me give battery life advice here when the user describes their usage pattern that is simply “you either use it more lightly or battery life will always be garbage”. Hundreds of times. For this discussion, it is an utterly irrelevant use case.

Again, you keep saying that over and over again as if it proved anything or as if it were relevant. It doesn’t, and it isn’t.

All this stuff about Bluetooth headphones and the like is a diversion. I have AirPods og released in 2016 and still get decent life out of them. I have an anker power bank bought in 2016 that can charge my phone 5 times instead of 6 times. But so what?

None of that changes the fact that SOT is a moving target that means nothing except the screen is on. It doesn’t mean the phone is doing any useful work.