iBone the Repair industry - Apple locks down batteries, marking own batteries as degraded

[rcmaehl]

Source:
iFixIt (Quote source)
Rossmann Repair Group (media source)

 

Summary:
Apple has embedded a micro-controller in batteries themselves, linking them to a single iPhone. Replacing the battery will any battery, including from another iPhone will mark the battery as degraded

Media:

 

Quotes/Excerpts:

Quote

Apple is effectively announcing a drastic new policy: only Apple batteries can go in iPhones, and only they can install them. If you replace the battery in the newest iPhones, a message indicating you need to service your battery appears in ...Battery Health. The “Service” message is normally an indication that the battery is degraded and needs to be replaced. our lab tests confirmed that even when you swap in a genuine Apple battery, the phone will still display the “Service” message. It’s not a bug; it’s a feature Apple wants. Unless an Apple Genius or an Apple Authorized Service Provider authenticates a battery to the phone, that phone will never show its battery health and always report a vague, ominous problem. This only affects the iPhone XR, XS, and XS Max for the time being. The only way around this is—you guessed it—paying Apple money to replace your iPhone battery for you. There’s a Texas Instruments microcontroller on the battery itself that provides information to the iPhone, such as battery capacity, temperature, and how much time until it fully discharges. Apple uses its own proprietary version, but pretty much all smartphone batteries have some version of this chip. The chip used in newer iPhone batteries includes an authentication feature that stores the info for pairing the battery to the iPhone’s logic board. This “Service” indicator is the equivalent of a “Check Oil” light that only a Ford dealership can reset, even if you change the oil yourself. Technically, it is possible to remove the microcontroller chip from the original battery and carefully solder it into the new battery you’re swapping in, restoring the Battery Health feature—but the procedure isn’t for the faint of heart, and it’s an unreasonable requirement for any repair, much less something as simple as a battery swap. Fortunately, your replacement battery will continue to work perfectly fine, and you’ll get all of the benefits that come with a new battery. As of iOS 12 Apple has blocked third-party battery health apps from accessing most of the battery’s details, including cycle count, which is critical information that tells you whether or not your battery is on the brink of degradation. This is an ongoing trend, and Apple is making repair increasingly difficult.

 

My Thoughts:

I can understand embedding a microcontroller to verify battery authenticity, but to lock a single battery to a single phone and mark other authentic batteries as degraded is just plain toxic. Surely this will bring up some lawsuits as if this was a car such as iFixIt pointed out, there would be absolute outrage. I would really love for media to spin this as "Apple may be selling bad batteries, swapping batteries between two iphones will suddenly mark both as bad" but I'm sure that's defamation/slander as it's misrepresenting the truth. Hopefully, the repair community will get some leaked tools to reset these micro-controllers or equipment is made to quickly swap the micro-controllers as well.

[.Apex.]

6 minutes ago, rcmaehl said:

As of iOS 10 Apple has blocked third-party battery health apps from accessing most of the battery’s details, including cycle count, which is critical information that tells you whether or not your battery is on the brink of degradation.

it's iOS 12, not 10

[SenKa]

I smell a lawsuit...

[.Apex.]

This is extremely scummy, what about the countries that don't have Official Apple stores like where I live? I hope there's enough blowback that they revert this

[steelo]

13 minutes ago, rcmaehl said:

Source:
iFixIt (Quote source)
Rossmann Repair Group (media source)

 

Summary:
Apple has embedded a micro-controller in batteries themselves, linking them to a single iPhone. Replacing the battery will any battery, including from another iPhone will mark the battery as degraded

 

And the izombies will continue buying them...

[steelo]

11 minutes ago, SenKa said:

I smell a lawsuit...

Believe me, they have already calculated the risk with their legal advisers. They continue giving the middle finger to their users, yet people remain loyal while making more and more sacrifices to own one. I just don't get it.

 

I owned a iphone 6 and after the throttling issues vowed never to buy another one.

[Guest]

So annoying...

Well... I don't own any iAnything but really annoying...

 

I hope they get their behinds kicked well and sore!

 

And yes, I'm sure the "iZombies" will simply continue to buy the products...

 

Edit: Soon Apple is going to make them buy the vaseline tube along with the product.

Edited August 8, 2019 by Guest

[SenKa]

18 minutes ago, steelo said:

And the izombies will continue buying them...

 

17 minutes ago, steelo said:

Believe me, they have already calculated the risk with their legal advisers. They continue giving the middle finger to their users, yet people remain loyal while making more and more sacrifices to own one. I just don't get it.

 

I owned a iphone 6 and after the throttling issues vowed never to buy another one.

I'm an Apple user myself. I own an iPhone XS Max, Macbook Air, and Apple Watch. I have given Apple exactly 0 of my money, and do not plan on it. I love the hardware and software, but things like this are a true shame. I'm sure Apple will reverse this with a software update that ignores the TI chip.

 

BTW, "Throttlegate" was just a media explosion of a system nearly all smart battery powered devices do, and that is throttling performance to avoid harm to the device and retain battery life.

[steelo]

4 minutes ago, Cora_Lie said:

So annoying...

Well... I don't own any iAnything but really annoying...

 

I hope they get their behinds kicked well and sore!

 

And yes, I'm sure the "iZombies" will simply continue to buy the products...

 

People think it's an 'elite' status symbol to own one, even if it takes them 18 weeks to be able to afford one...

 

Sad.

[Mnky313]

23 minutes ago, steelo said:

And the izombies will continue buying them...

That's the most infuriating part. If people would stop trying to justify Apple's b***s*** and stop buying them they might finally realize they can't treat their customers like s***, any other company and everyone would be up in arms about how they should be boycotted and how it's anti-consumer practices but when Apple does it apparently its Ok for some reason...

[Guest]

I think this is pretty fair, especially with the battery scandal. How can Apple maintain their reputation if they can't allow for regulation of batteries to be put into iPhones. What if someone gets a replaced battery, which is second hand, and doesn't last as long as their friend with another replaced battery? IMO by causing the stir (which was unfair for Apple) with the batteries in the first place, of course they are going to make changes to stop this happening again and losing money. 

[goodtofufriday]

Devils advocate: The psp security was breached permanently through the battery circuitry. 

[steelo]

3 minutes ago, Mnky313 said:

That's the most infuriating part. If people would stop trying to justify Apple's b***s*** and stop buying them they might finally realize they can't treat their customers like s***, any other company it everyone would be up in arms about how they should be boycotted and how it's anti-consumer practices but when Apple does it apparently its Ok for some reason...

People buy into a brand. It's like those jackasses who buy pos foreign sports cars that always break down...they just want to be able to say they own one. LOL

[Guest]

 

Answer:

Quote

 

If you’re worried you’re not getting the battery life you should, the battery may just be old. Over time, batteries degrade, leading to lower and lower life after a couple years—meaning you might be able to solve your problem with an inexpensive battery replacement. Apple rates iPhone batteries at 500 charge cycles, or about a year and a half of typical use–more on that in a bit.

Source: iFixIt - "How to improve Your iPhone's battery life"

 

So no, not 4 years...

[Thaldor]

7 minutes ago, floofer said:

I think this is pretty fair, especially with the battery scandal. How can Apple maintain their reputation if they can't allow for regulation of batteries to be put into iPhones. What if someone gets a replaced battery, which is second hand, and doesn't last as long as their friend with another replaced battery? IMO by causing the stir (which was unfair for Apple) with the batteries in the first place, of course they are going to make changes to stop this happening again and losing money. 

With only affecting actually shit batteries it would be fair. But when it affects even in the case when the battery is taken from brand new iPhone and put into another same model iPhone, it turns into Apple waging war against independent repair shops, because even if those shops were to use authentic Apple batteries, there still would be customers demanding returns and raging over "service the battery" like that shop would have replaced the battery with authentic one and just because they wouldn't have the iProgram to sign off the battery.

And "losing money"... Apple charges 200$ for a battery change and independent repair shop charges around 50$. That is what I call a plain old ripoff (no, the battery itself cannot cost more than 20$ at max for Apple and the needed work takes probably 30 mins at top so as wages that doesn't even make 10$).

[steelo]

9 minutes ago, Thaldor said:

With only affecting actually shit batteries it would be fair. But when it affects even in the case when the battery is taken from brand new iPhone and put into another same model iPhone, it turns into Apple waging war against independent repair shops, because even if those shops were to use authentic Apple batteries, there still would be customers demanding returns and raging over "service the battery" like that shop would have replaced the battery with authentic one and just because they wouldn't have the iProgram to sign off the battery.

And "losing money"... Apple charges 200$ for a battery change and independent repair shop charges around 50$. That is what I call a plain old ripoff (no, the battery itself cannot cost more than 20$ at max for Apple and the needed work takes probably 30 mins at top so as wages that doesn't even make 10$).

This is similar to a Harley motorcycle owner 'voiding' their warranty by not using 'Harley' oil changed at an authorized Harley dealer. 'Regular' oil that is the correct viscosity would work just fine...it's a money grab.

 

Scummy.

[harryk]

Nearly all Lithium battery have some form of control chip so nothing new there.

 

If an iPhone battery is replaced with a non-genuine battery there's no guarantee the control chip is returning correct and safe information so its reasonable that Apple would not want to utilize possibly invalid battery info in iOS when it comes to power management. 

 

Defaulting to a "service required" message when the battery is changed, even with a genuine replacement. I don't really like this but it's possible this is just the way the software works. The batteries are not made to be hot-swapped so its not crazy that it will require some form of software intervention to verify the battery. This could be Apple being <insert choice of adjective> or it could just be the way the engineers wrote the software. 

 

-> if battery info changes:

    -> require verification of battery

 

...is much simpler than writing some kind of script that must run every time the phone boots to verify the battery.

 

I haven't seen any info that this actually changes anything regarding functionality of the phone, just no battery health.

 

Lastly, car manufacturers have been doing this for decades. Ever since computer controlled components made their way into cars, swapping certain parts often requires reprogramming the ECU, which means going to the dealership or a service shop which has the appropriate tools and software. You either figure a way around it or move on, life's too short to really care.

[Guest]

Really??  REALLY???

 

We are at that point??? Already???

 

Unbelievable!

 

 

[steelo]

11 minutes ago, harryk said:

Lastly, car manufacturers have been doing this for decades. Ever since computer controlled components made their way into cars, swapping certain parts often requires reprogramming the ECU, which means going to the dealership or a service shop which has the appropriate tools and software. You either figure a way around it or move on, life's too short to really care.

Not really. For example, when you replace the muffler on your Corolla, you're not having to go to the Toyota dealer to reprogram the ECU each and every time. You can go to your local 'exhaustpro', have them throw on a 'generic' muffler and call it good.

[rcmaehl]

Just now, steelo said:

Not really. For example, when you replace your muffler on your Corolla, you're not having to go to the Toyota dealer to reprogram the ECU each and every time.

I agree. Only things that are usually paired on a car are usually:

ECU
Radio
Alarm system

Instrument Cluster

[steelo]

2 minutes ago, rcmaehl said:

I agree. Only things that are usually paired on a car are usually:

ECU
Radio
Alarm system

Instrument Cluster

I would consider batteries to be 'wear' items like tires on a car. I would be pissed if I had to go to the Toyota dealer and pay twice as much to install 'Toyota' tires for my car, so my headlights continue working...LOL

[harryk]

1 minute ago, steelo said:

Not really. For example, when you replace the muffler on your Corolla, you're not having to go to the Toyota dealer to reprogram the ECU each and every time. You can go to your local 'exhaustpro', have them throw on a 'generic' muffler and call it good.

Maybe for a cheap base model Corolla. Try doing that with a Mercedes which has sensors and controllable baffles inside the muffler. Heck on my VW, I swapped the license plate bulbs for LED's. Before it was reprogrammed, every time I started the car I got a warning that the bulbs were dead.

[harryk]

2 minutes ago, steelo said:

I would consider batteries to be 'wear' items like tires on a car. I would be pissed if I had to go to the Toyota dealer and pay twice as much to install 'Toyota' tires for my car, so my headlights continue working...LOL

Have you ever swapped wheels on a modern car with TPMS? On some systems you have to reprogram the car's ECU to read the pressure monitors from the new wheels.

[steelo]

3 minutes ago, harryk said:

Have you ever swapped wheels on a modern car with TPMS? On some systems you have to reprogram the car's ECU to read the pressure monitors from the new wheels.

Yes I have, and it's right there in the manual how to do it on my Honda. I didn't even need a special tool.  

 

Harley does something very similar with their motor oil...part of the reason why I will never buy a Harley 

 

 

[steelo]

2 minutes ago, harryk said:

Maybe for a cheap base model Corolla. Try doing that with a Mercedes which has sensors and controllable baffles inside the muffler. Heck on my VW, I swapped the license plate bulbs for LED's. Before it was reprogrammed, every time I started the car I got a warning that the bulbs were dead.

I have a motorcycle with O2 sensors, I am still able to install a non-OEM muffler. It's a matter of screwing the existing sensors into the new muffler.