Why does apple slow down old devices?

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It does slow down the device for all of the time, eg. when fully or near fully charged performance should be as before.

Read more here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/12/19/apple-does-slow-older-iphones-n ot-reason-think/

Apple is often accused of deliberately slowing down older iPhones, with conspiracy theorists claiming it is a ruse to force customers to upgrade.

Now, it appears that the theory is true, at least in part. Apple admitted that it deliberately limits the performance of iPhones when a battery ages, to stop them shutting down without warning.

It added the "feature" to the iPhone 6, 6S and SE in 2016 in a software update last year and the iPhone 7 was updated earlier this month, with the release of iOS 11.2. New devices will have their processing power zapped in the future, Apple confirmed.

“Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices,” an Apple spokesman said.

Older iPhone batteries struggle to supply the required maximum current needed to power the phone processor at full speed, causing it to shut down unexpectedly, Apple confirmed. In some cases, customers reported powering off even when a phone had 40 per cent battery left.

By slowing the performance, the phone does not need the maximum current, and will no longer switch off without warning.

While smartphone battery capacity decreases as it ages, processing power is not meant to be affected in the same way.

Phlac wrote:

The current power management solution is silent and model specific, not age specific.

It IS age specific. It is all about the “age” of the battery measured in remaining capacity,

it it is also about the shutdown issue, which is caused by a degraded battery.

It it is about anything and everything that is a symptom of a failing battery. It is an alternative to random shutdowns and jumping state of charge, and what it does is extend the useful life of the phone as determined by the battery. The choice is to replace the battery or use the phone in a useful, but degraded mode.

The truth is, devices age over time. This causes batteries to degrade and apple is limiting performance for that reason, to ensure the device can actually work without dying after 2 minutes.

As for the macbook, it could be old hardware or some 3rd party software installed. I have a MacBook Pro that is a 2011 model, and it too was really slow a few years back. This was because of new software releases and things I was asking the computer to do, were simply too much for the HDD to handle. Due to this, I installed a SSD and voila, I have a fast computer!

Hi edwinpc29

the reason behind this is apple is pushing people to buy new products. but may be you can do factory resetting to avoid the unnecessary application. after doing that my I pad worked very fast.

Well we now know this not to be true. Apple does indeed throttle old devices

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2017/12/20/16800058/a pple-iphone-slow-fix-battery-life-capacity

Currently the claim is it is iPhones and related to the battery but we’ll see if more if falls out as law suits roll in.

This said, I agree with most of the other explanations for why devices slow with updates BUT the issue is we are kind of forced to update to keep getting security updates, which are crucial to avoiding exploits. Please correct me if I’m wrong and Apple keeps providing parallel security updates to old versions of iOS. The problem isn’t just Apple though...same forced deprecation is in the Android world too.

I like and agree with your post, but there is one statement that you make that should be discussed:

Phlac wrote:

are you constantly connecting and disconnecting it from usb charging ports at work, in the car or at home all day? That "ages" the battery faster

That is not true. What ages the battery is the number of full charge/discharge cycles. A Full cycle is 100% to 0% to 100%. So charging from 50% to 100% is 1/2 of a charge cycle. Charging from 40% to 50% ten times is 1 charge cycle. It's not a good idea to let the battery go to a low value (close to 0%) frequently, because this will reduce the capacity over time, and allowing it to go below 0% (letting it go to 0%, then not charging it immediately) will severely damage the battery.

Apple's new battery guideline is very helpful: iPhone Battery and Performance - Apple Support

This is the first time I have seen mention of increased internal resistance being a factor. It is true of all batteries; a battery degrades by losing electrode surface. But the "dead" electrode surface adds to the battery's internal resistance. That's why a weak car battery can't start a car. I was about to write a user tip about it, but Apple beat me to it.

One attribute that affects this instantaneous power delivery is the battery’s impedance. A battery with a high impedance is unable to provide power quickly enough to the system that needs it. A battery's impedance can increase if a battery has a higher chemical age. A battery’s impedance will temporarily increase at a low state of charge and in a cold temperature environment. When coupled with a higher chemical age, the impedance increase will be more significant. These are characteristics of battery chemistry which are common to all lithium-ion batteries in the industry.

There is NO way to revert to a earlier iOS version once you upgrade/update to a new iOS.

Have you tried a hard reset of your iPad by holding down both the Home and sleep/wake buttons simultaneously until your iPad goes to black and restarts with Apple logo, then release the buttons?

In Settings app, General settings panel, turn OFF Background App Refresh.

In Settings app, under General settings, Reset panel, at the right bottom of the list, Reset All Settings.

In Settings app (NOT from the iOS Control Panel) turn OFF Bluetooth when not using any Bluetooth devices.

There is still a Control Panel glitch with turning ON/OFF WiFi OR Bluetooth.

Also, in general, if you want a faster IDevice, on all of my iDevices, I turn off most of the iOS motion graphics eye candy, by simply turning ON Reduce Motion in Settings app, General, Accessibilty settings.

Make sure you aren't running scads and scads of background apps in the iOS 11 Control Panel/App Switcher.

If you are, you need to quit the bulk of these background running apps by tap and hold a finger on an app window in the switcher and slide your finger upwards to quit an app. You should be able to use more than one finger to quit more than one app window simultaneously.

Also, make sure you don’t have scads and scads of active website tabs running in the web browser.

If you do, greatly reduce the amount of active website tabs your web browser.

Also, tap the link below and see/try my other iOS/iDevice performance tips here.

Slow iPad on iOS 9, 10 or 11!

Good Luck to You!

I have a two year old iPad Air 32Gb (bought in Canada where they are a LOT cheaper) and have seen it updated through versions 8 (I think it started here), 9, 10 and now 11. On each occasion the performance has degraded due entirely to the changes in OS. I don't keep a lot a data on it - that is not what its for - it still has 25.91Gb free. There are two reasons why updating is necessary:

1. The march of the hackers. All OS's are vulnerable - that is their nature and each update will try to keep us safe. But this comes at a cost - the software is hampered by security.

2. The march of what I call "gee wiz" improvements. This is the rubbish that the manufacturer things we need - more and more emojis, more connectivity, more...

You could avoid updating (although Apple's endless nagging to install the latest is annoying) but this does make the device exposed to new attacks. You have a choice - risk a hack or slowly make your device redundant. The latter is of course preferred and encouraged by companies like Apple and Microsoft. Even the free Linux systems available are not immune - but at least it's free to upgrade them and curiously doesn't age the device. I have a 20 year old Toshiba that originally came with Windows XP installed and it is now happily running Lunux Fedora even faster than it ever ran XP!

This applies to all devices, not just iPads and iPhones.

I think you may have missed the point. Any device is initially loaded with an OS system that is the cutting edge of design at that time. Subsequent revisions place more demand on the device architecture until it begins to creek. You are partially right in as much that the device can no longer cope - but this is because the OS has been updated beyond the abilities of the device. Hence my view that all updates (for security reasons or whatever) will always make the hardware out of date.

Apple’s move to degrade performance to avoid crashes is something else. The design fault - and it is a fault- is in not making it easy to replace the rechargeable battery. If an android phone battery needs replacing it costs peanuts and the user can do it 2 minutes. If an Apple iPhone needs it the phone must be taken to the shop for experts to put a new expensive battery in. Not good.

I agree with you Jeremy...

But, the trouble with the IT industry generally (and this goes for both MS and Apple) is two fold:

1. They have to make a profit by always "enhancing" the product. This means you have to make old hardware redundant by ensuring that the new software degrades performance. Many of us would prefer not to upgrade because the "enhancements" are unwanted and unneeded.
2. Updates are needed because the software is vulnerable to various forms of criminality and therefore this is used as an excuse to provide the "enhancements" in item 1. Why is software so vulnerable? Because it was never designed (as a complete system) to resist attack.

If security updates were kept separate from "upgrades" we would not have this issue. Eg: Word for Windows 97 would still be a useful and powerful tool and who cares if we can't insert emojis into the text or share it (insecurely) with half the planet! Sorry to use a Windows example but Apple doesn't provide software of that caliber.

I have lost count of the number of PC's (and now Apple equivalents) I have sent to the scrap heap because the software made them redundant. You are right - It is irresponsible to the consumer and the environment. Did they ever have any reputation?

Hello. I have been having the same issues on my mid 2010 mac book pro. I have not changed anything I do since i purchased it. However, since to upgrade to el-capitan my mac book has been almost unusable. It takes ages to boot, it runs very slow, opens programs, browser and applications very slow.

I then once reinstalled the original mac osx, that came with it ...which was hassle, it was like the system didn't want to allow a downgrade, but I somehow tricked it and was eventually able to reinstall the old version of the OS that my mac book came with.

After this, my mac was running smooth again, unfortunately, I was not able to install and run vital software that I had been using and also upgraded perviously.

Not sure if this is deliberate or not. However, I have come accross like minded people, when searching the tearm "apple deliberately slowing down..", after my wife pointed out that she had found an article about this.

I am hoping that an extra 4Gb of ram and a SSD drive will do the trick for a wile.

If you know of a crack to unchain the mac, please let me know.

We do not have any details on the specs of your computer. We have not information to diagnose the issue. What you need to do is to install a copy of el cap on an external hd. Run and see how it goes. Run

Download etrecheck. Click on the download link at the bottom of the screen.

http://etrecheck.com/

Run etrecheck. Post complete output.

click on the export icon. click on "Copy Report". Paste into your ASC Reply

Using EtreCheck by etresoft, the author

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-11591

create a new discussion in el cap discussion.

Your machine is getting a little old to run El Cap.

R

robinrjm wrote:

Hi edwinpc29

the reason behind this is apple is pushing people to buy new products.

Really? You have some special insight into the nefarious workings and plottings of Apple? Here's the reality. Technology moves at a lightning pace. You cannot expect a device or Mac you purchase to be able to keep up with the newest innovations, apps, bells, whistles, all the goo-gaw that everybody is clamoring for. My iPhone 1 and Origianl iPad both function extremely well. They are limited in their capabilities, since they not only lack the new technological advances in hardware, chips, speed, etc. but they are running very old version of the iOS that developers no longer support.

But the original version of the apps, and the original functionality of the device do exactly what they were designed to do with the knowledge and advancements that were available at the time.

In the mean time, I have wanted to take advantage of advances, so I eventually moved to an iPhone 4, iPhone 5s, and now iPhone 7. I don't feel the need to get a new phone every time one comes out, and, in fact, I would still be able to fully participate in the Apple biosphere with my iPhone 5s.

So, no. It is not some great conspiracy to get you to keep buying new devices. If you want to keep up with the latest and greatest, then face the reality that technology moves fast, and you are going to get the best performance and most satisfying experience by using a device that is at least no more than one or two releases behind the current new iPhone.

GB

Its too bad that “Devepment” keeps adding “capabilities” to the base OS that continue to put a greater and greater load on the existing h/w that at some point the devices become near unusable !

You either abandoned the platform and move to some other platform or because of the investment in the platform yo7 shell out $$$$ to get a current device !

They should develop an Index of performance for each H/W level where they evaluate the response time of basic functions, and not let you upgrade past that version for you own good !

Yes some would certainly whine about not being able to upgrade, but I would rather have a Functioning IPad 2 vs. brick !