First look: iPhone Battery Health settings in iOS 11.3

AppleInsider

Apple's second beta of iOS 11.3 adds the anticipated iPhone Battery Health section, allowing users to check the longevity and remaining capacity of their device's battery, and also control throttling of it. AppleInsider offers a first look at how it will work when iOS 11.3 ships to the public later this spring.

Upon updating to iOS 11.3 beta 2, users can now access the new Battery Health section within the Battery menu in Settings. It is clearly identified as a beta feature, and is sandwiched between the Low Power Mode switch and Battery Usage list.

Users who select the Battery Health section are presented with two new details not previously viewable by users. The first is a "Maximum Capacity" percentage, which shows the relative capacity of the battery relative to when it was new.

"Lower capacity may result in fewer hours of usage between charges," the section notes.

A second item lets users know the "Peak Performance Capability" of the battery. When a battery is new, accompanying text states that the battery is "currently supporting normal peak performance," meaning it is not throttled.

As device batteries age, the Peak Performance Capability may change, and this is where Apple will disclose such information. For example, on aging devices that have experienced unexpected shutdowns, Apple will note that the issue occurred because the battery was unable to deliver necessary peak power.

With iOS 11.3, users will be able to manually disable performance management protections if they choose. But that could leave an iPhone susceptible to random shutdowns at peak performance.

A disclaimer at the top of the Battery Health menu reads: "Phone batteries, like all rechargeable batteries, are consumable components that become less effective as they age." It also includes a link to an Apple Support page that details the performance throttling options in iOS 11.3.

The changes are being worked on after it was revealed that the company throttles CPU performance on older devices when the battery begins to deteriorate. Apple's throttling is done to ensure smooth operation, but some customers took offense to the fact that slowdowns were occurring without transparency to the user.

Currently in beta, iOS 11.3 is scheduled to arrive this spring with ARKit 1.5 and a new Health Records function. Other features in the release include support for Advanced Mobile Location Support for iPhone location for first responders, four new Animoji for iPhone X owners, a renaming of iBooks into Books, and an Apple Music music video expansion.

lito_lupena

this should have been in ios earlier. apple should also bake it into macos and watchos.

edited February 2018

kevin kee

I sincerely hope people would not just know how to whine and complain when they felt entitled to it but also appreciate when thing was getting done right.

strangedays

lito_lupena said:

this should have been in ios earlier. apple should also bake it into macos and watchos.

Yes, Apple should also develop a time machine so it can go back in time to implement things before the need for them becomes apparent. 

taugust04_ai

Hmmm, I’m on an iPhone 8+, running build 11.3 15E5167F and I’m not seeing the new setting...

tallest skil

StrangeDays said:
before the need for them becomes apparent. 

CoconutBattery has existed since before iPhone OS allowed third party apps in the first place. The user being able to check battery lifespan NATIVELY could save thousands of wasted hours at genius bars while the Apple techs look over something that every user should have already had access to.

mike wuerthele

If you can't see your post, take a minute to re-read the commenting guidelines, conveniently linked at the bottom of the page.

fastasleep

lito_lupena said:

this should have been in ios earlier. apple should also bake it into macos and watchos.

macOS already warns you when your battery starts to fail. 

radarthekat

mike54 said:

I hope this works as its meant to, and the measurements are accurate as possible.
(Just a reminder, the original motive for the secretive throttling was to cover up faulty/defective batteries which should of been replaced under warranty/recall. The ageing battery excuse was for the plebs.)

Never take seriously people who write ‘should of.’

But thanks for playing.

foggyhill

mike54 said:

I hope this works as its meant to, and the measurements are accurate as possible.
(Just a reminder, the original motive for the secretive throttling was to cover up faulty/defective batteries which should of been replaced under warranty/recall. The ageing battery excuse was for the plebs.)

Prove it, or lose it buddy, otherwise this is just a big load of tripe coming out of your mouth: aka big lies.

I've got 30 years in computer, systems and software engineering plus 2 years in physics engineering before switching (yeah, that's a hell of a long time in school), who the hell do you think you are.

Pretty sure I know more about batteries than you for sure bud. So, please spare me your conspiratorial mumbo jumbo. The PLEB IS YOU got that "NOOB" (sic).

Another one who thinks he's telling us some "truth", putting us on the "straight and narrow path" (tm)... Yeah, we've never seen THAT before... Except hundreds of times...

scoot on, go find your cohort of trolls, they're waiting for you somewhere else.

hammeroftruth

foggyhill said:

mike54 said:

I hope this works as its meant to, and the measurements are accurate as possible.
(Just a reminder, the original motive for the secretive throttling was to cover up faulty/defective batteries which should of been replaced under warranty/recall. The ageing battery excuse was for the plebs.)

Prove it, or lose it buddy, otherwise this is just a big load of tripe coming out of your mouth: aka big lies.

I've got 30 years in computer, systems and software engineering plus 2 years in physics engineering before switching (yeah, that's a hell of a long time in school), who the hell do you think you are.

Pretty sure I know more about batteries than you for sure bud. So, please spare me your conspiratorial mumbo jumbo. The PLEB IS YOU got that "NOOB" (sic).

Another one who thinks he's telling us some "truth", putting us on the "straight and narrow path" (tm)... Yeah, we've never seen THAT before... Except hundreds of times...

scoot on, go find your cohort of trolls, they're waiting for you somewhere else.

He can't prove it. He's fos. If anyone wants the truth, hang out for an hour at your local Apple Store and just see how many people who come in for a replacement battery have either,
A. Consumed battery.
B. A healthy battery with software issues which requires an erase and setup as new, or
C. No issues and wants a $29 battery replacement. 

Just give it some time and when Apple has to defend itself in court, you will see the amount of batteries that were replaced because they were consumed which will be dwarfed by the amount of batteries that were replaced and were still above 80%. 

Next he will be saying that the batteries are glued to the iPhone and can't be replaced like that idiot lawyer who is trying to sue Apple. 🙄

rayz2016

taugust04_ai said:

Hmmm, I’m on an iPhone 8+, running build 11.3 15E5167F and I’m not seeing the new setting...

The new setting only applies to the iPhone7 and below. 

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208387

iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X models use a more advanced hardware and software design that provides a more accurate estimation of both power needs and the battery’s power capability to maximize overall system performance. This allows a different performance management system that more precisely allows iOS to anticipate and avoid an unexpected shutdown. As a result, the impacts of performance management may be less noticeable on iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X. Over time, the rechargeable batteries in all iPhone models will diminish in their capacity and peak performance and will eventually need to be replaced.

edited February 2018

jannl

Rayz2016 said:

taugust04_ai said:

Hmmm, I’m on an iPhone 8+, running build 11.3 15E5167F and I’m not seeing the new setting...

The new setting only applies to the iPhone7 and below. 

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208387

iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X models use a more advanced hardware and software design that provides a more accurate estimation of both power needs and the battery’s power capability to maximize overall system performance. This allows a different performance management system that more precisely allows iOS to anticipate and avoid an unexpected shutdown. As a result, the impacts of performance management may be less noticeable on iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X. Over time, the rechargeable batteries in all iPhone models will diminish in their capacity and peak performance and will eventually need to be replaced.

And version 15E5167F didn't have the battery health features built in, just started with build number 15E5178f.

photography guy

Apple has become somewhat of a victim of their own success and standards. They are held to such a standard, a level much higher than any other manufacturer, that when they make a misstep, they get slammed hard in the news media and social media. The PR damage is worse than say, for a company who had to recall an entire line of their product because said product had the potential to catch fire or explode.
Allowing people to tweak the performance parameters on their iOS devices is a step in the right direction, but it also goes against their mission of simple, elegant design. I mean, they could have completely opened up their OS to hacks and modifications; they could have put in removable batteries; they could have put USB ports on their iPads, but that would involve compromising to much on their design philosophy, and their product lines would be big and bulky and ugly.
What Apple needs to do moving forward from this PR debacle, is to develop a better communication strategy that balances their need for secrecy with regard to IP and upcoming products, and addressing customer concerns before they turn into PR nightmares.

[deleted user]

this is all very well and good, but still misses the point of why this only became a "thing" from the iPhone 6 onwards. Why did iPhone 3/3G/4/4S/5/5S batteries last for several years without problems? iPhone 6 onward only seem to last 1-2years before suffering battery related issues? Are the phones now too powerful for lithium-ion tech to keep up with? 

georgebmac

tallest skil said:

StrangeDays said:
before the need for them becomes apparent. 

CoconutBattery has existed since before iPhone OS allowed third party apps in the first place. The user being able to check battery lifespan NATIVELY could save thousands of wasted hours at genius bars while the Apple techs look over something that every user should have already had access to.

"something that every user should have already had access to"

They didn't for the same reason that Steve locked up the internals of the original Mac...

If you want to tinker, if you think you know more and better than Apple, then buy a Droid...

Yes, you can make a case for "Should Have"...  But that case is inconsistent with Apple's general philosophy of closed systems that are highly managed from the tech perspective but very simple from the user perspective.  Systems that "just work" -- as in the original Atari instruction manual:  "Avoid Klingons"

foggyhill

adm1 said:

this is all very well and good, but still misses the point of why this only became a "thing" from the iPhone 6 onwards. Why did iPhone 3/3G/4/4S/5/5S batteries last for several years without problems? iPhone 6 onward only seem to last 1-2years before suffering battery related issues? Are the phones now too powerful for lithium-ion tech to keep up with? 

Because those SOC needed less peak performance than the latest ones, a bigger battery alone does not solve this.

Having higher peak performance also means more heat and that also has an impact on batteries.

Apple has sort of mitigated this by in fact overhauling power management apparatus of the Iphone 8 and X (which is in fact again... "throttling" and babbying the batteries, that's what power management is doing except it will now be doing straight from the start and will thus be baked into the initial performance of the device) AND in creating smaller cores to handle tasks that don't require immediate response (so limiting the draw on the battery)

Other companies like Samsung started to be hit a bit later (after the Iphone 6) cause their SOC were not as powerful and they were using multi-core already. But, in the last two years in has emerged there too and unless they put some work they'll have shutdowns all over the place.

And yes, the problem is the battery technology has not kept up with how powerful those pocket computers are.

They'd need some tech that is more resilient to high loads and heat and not just more energy dense, though that would help too.

Another issue is USAGE of those powerful devices have changed, people in the 3GS days did a lot less thing on their phones than now, there were less Apps (the app store was pretty new) and the apps that existed had less capability. Most people didn't keep their GPS on all the time, which is the case now. Apple had strong limitations on background apps that don't exist now.  Video usage on phones was lower, music streaming was emergent, few used it..

Interconnection opportunities have exploded through blue tooth (headphones, Apple Watch, Speakers, beacons, home automation)  or WIFI (airplay, homekit, etc, AppleTV).

Finally, because those devices are so damn powerful, people don't feel a need to upgrade as quickly than before, so the heaviest users (charging say twice a day) that WOULD have been hit by these things before but had already moved on to a new phone by then, now are keeping their phones.

Those heavy users are using their phones even more heavily.and intensely on phones that have gotten much more powerful and want to keep those phones longer, it's obvious a hell of a lot of people will have depleted batteries after 12-18 months than before because battery tech has barely moved.

For many people, that are not heavy, intense users, the phones will still last 24-36 months before requiring a battery change. In the old days, most people would have changed their phones by year 3. But, now those "normal" users are keeping their phones and thus they will be hit before they buy their next phone, somewhere in year 3-4.

It's like people got used to not changing their batteries because of the fast upgrade cycles (the people that got their phones undoubtedly knew they needed to change that battery and there were battery change shops everywhere to do it).

As for pre 6 not running into this, I did run into this, but a bit later, usually if you kept your phone more than 3 years on those less powerful phones. I had to change my 3GS battery at year 4 cause it was always dying, especially if it was even slightly cold outside.

edited February 2018

gg1

GeorgeBMac said:

tallest skil said:

StrangeDays said:
before the need for them becomes apparent. 

CoconutBattery has existed since before iPhone OS allowed third party apps in the first place. The user being able to check battery lifespan NATIVELY could save thousands of wasted hours at genius bars while the Apple techs look over something that every user should have already had access to.

"something that every user should have already had access to"

They didn't for the same reason that Steve locked up the internals of the original Mac...

If you want to tinker, if you think you know more and better than Apple, then buy a Droid...

Yes, you can make a case for "Should Have"...  But that case is inconsistent with Apple's general philosophy of closed systems that are highly managed from the tech perspective but very simple from the user perspective.  Systems that "just work" -- as in the original Atari instruction manual:  "Avoid Klingons"

Great comment/reference, especially the hidden Steve Jobs connection.

FYI: https://atariage.com/forums/topic/190077-1-insert-quarter-2-avoid-klingons/

tipoo

I'm going to be very interested to see what this looks like on mine. 

My iPhone 7 is under a year old, even with a full cycle a day it should be far from the 500 they rate them at before hitting 80% capacity, but it drops frames everywhere around the UI and is rather frustrating that way. I can't tell yet what's iOS11 and what's the battery. 

crowley

kevin kee said:

I sincerely hope people would not just know how to whine and complain when they felt entitled to it but also appreciate when thing was getting done right.

Appreciation is measured in $

dewme

The battery health information is helpful to me. The current presentation could probably be simplified a bit for general consumption. It’s good to know that my 3+ year old battery is at 97% capacity with no peak reductions but it would be even nicer to see numerical ranges, perhaps with green-yellow-red shading to let people know when they should consider getting a battery replacement to prevent potential issues. Pushing notifications when thresholds are crossed would also be nice.  But overall, it’s a nice first step and welcome diagnostic.