How to check if Apple is slowing down your iPhone

iPhone 6

Apple recently admitted that it has been throttling the performance of certain iPhones with older batteries to prevent unexpected shutdowns.

For those curious, it turns out that it's not too difficult to see if your iPhone has been affected.

The reason behind the performance throttling actually makes sense: As older batteries degrade over time, they can't cope with the high demands of the iPhone's processor. To prevent unexpected shutdowns that sometimes occur when processors don't get enough power, the company dialed down the speeds of iPhone processors in units with overly degraded batteries.

Still, it's no secret that the company should have been more transparent about the practice. When owners of older iPhone experience slow performance, the usual course of action is to buy a new iPhone. But had they known that their iPhone's slowing performance was due to an aging battery, perhaps those users could have opted for a battery replacement, which is much cheaper than buying a new iPhone.

Here's how to see for yourself if your older iPhone's performance has been throttled:

1. Download an app that tells you the speed of your iPhone's main chip.

The app I'm using here is the free Lirum Info Lite, which provides a lot of information about your iPhone's internal activity.

2. In the Lirum Info Lite app, check the speed of your iPhone's main chip speed.

From the Lirum app's home screen, tap the options button on the top left (three horizontal lines) > tap "This Device" > tap "CPU" > and check the "CPU Actual Clock" against the "CPU Maximum Clock."

If both numbers are the same, then your iPhone isn't being throttled.

Here are the chip speeds for the iPhone 6 and newer.

Apple rolled out its performance throttling measures for the iPhone 6 and newer models to prevent unexpected shutdowns. Here are the original "clock speeds" – the measure of speed for a processor chip – for the iPhone 6 onwards:

iPhone 6 and 6 Plus: 1.4GHz

iPhone 6S and 6S Plus: 1.84GHz

iPhone SE: 1.84GHz

iPhone 7 and 7 Plus: 2.34GHz

See the rest of the story at Business Insider