Apple claims controversial iPhone low battery warning is a protective feature

Last week, it was discovered that iPhone users will lose battery health features when replacing a battery through a third party service, leaving them unable to see battery diagnostics like day-to-day and more broadly.

iPhone users who have the batteries on their devices replaced by third parties are getting the following frank error message, even if a genuine battery has been installed: “This iPhone could not be verified to have original Apple batteries. Medical information is not available for this battery.”

  • Planning to replace your iPhone batteries? You may lose this feature

Apple is in charge

Apple has responded to criticism that this message is purely intended for direct customers on its own, usually more expensive, replacement program, arguing that this is a user safety issue.

Speaking on facets, Apple spokesman said: “This information is there to protect its customers from damage, low quality or used batteries, which can lead to safety and performance. This notice does not affect the customer's ability to use the phone after an unauthorized repair.”

It can be reasonably argued that the inability to see the health, performance and lifespan of a battery not affects the customer's ability to use the phone to the fullest.

As in the case of Apple, however, it can be argued that the company cannot guarantee that the diagnostic information this display is accurate when a replacement has been made by a third party, even if the battery itself is genuine.

  • iPhone battery replacement by third parties may not void Apple's warranty

Other disputes

The legal implications for Apple if it were to display diagnostic data from a battery replaced by a third party, and unclear, would likely differ from region to region.

Last year in Australia Apple was fined $9 million. nationwide Consumer Watchdog after it told customers they were not eligible for repairs or refunds for their bricked-up iOS devices due to them having undergone third-party repairs.

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The court found that “the fact that an iPhone or iPad was repaired by anyone other than Apple did not and could not, as a result, guarantee the consumer ceases to apply or the consumer’s right to legal protection is extinguished.”

At the end of 2017, Apple also began to offer cheaper batteries to replace older iPhones dubbed BatteryGate due to controversy.

Essentially, more recent versions of iOS will choke the processor on earlier generations to maintain reasonable battery life, but Apple hasn't made this clear enough to users. This is one of the main reasons the tech giant first implemented the battery health feature in iOS 12.

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Solutions?

Regarding the current controversy, Apple said Verge that users who receive an 'unauthorized' warning but believe their battery is actually authorized should take the device back to a service that replaced it to have it checked.

This should re-enable the battery capacity feature, but for those that have had their batteries replaced by a third party business, Apple does not currently offer a solution.

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