iOS 11.3 introduces one of the most important changes for the iPhone battery: from now on you can control whether and how the performance of the iPhone is limited. In this tip, you can learn how iOS 11.3 battery management and peak performance works in the latest iOS version.
iOS 11.3 battery management explained
Once you install iOS 11.3, a new option will be added to the battery settings. You need an iPhone 6 or higher to use the function. You activate the ‘Battery condition’ setting as follows:
- Open the Settings app;
- Tap on ‘Battery’;
- Choose ‘Battery condition’
In the next window, two options are displayed: Maximum Capacity and Peak Performance. We explain below what these two terms mean.
Maximum capacity: This option indicates the capacity of your battery in percentage since it was first started. Every iPhone starts at 100 percent and will slowly decline as the health of the battery decreases. The lower the percentage, the shorter the life of the iPhone. According to Apple, a normal battery is made to hold 80 percent of its capacity after 500 complete charges. By checking this option every now and then, you will know better about the status of your iPhone battery.
Peak performance: If the percentage of your battery reaches a certain point, it will affect peak performance. This is the term that Apple uses to indicate the artificially slowing down of iPhones: by making the iPhone slightly slower, the battery is less taxed and the device fails less often. If your battery is still healthy, you cannot adjust these peak performance settings because they are not yet enabled.
Pay attention: All iPhones that are updated to iOS 11.3 will have peak performance disabled by default.
iOS 11.3 battery management statuses explained
If the maximum capacity of your iPhone is no longer 100 percent, the peak performance function will be switched on. In total there are five different notifications that your iPhone gives in this window.
1. Peak performance: normal
The power management features are turned off by default when you buy a new iPhone. The capacity is still high enough and there is no danger that your device will fail spontaneously. You cannot make any changes here.
2. Peak performance: spontaneous battery failure
As soon as your iPhone suddenly shuts down for no reason and restarts, the Power Management feature will be activated automatically. In these settings you will see a brief explanation under ‘Peak performance’. At the end of this notification, you can tap the blue word ‘turn off’ to manually turn off the performance limitation.
3. Peak performance: battery severely deteriorated
Older iPhones that have been charged countless times can have an extremely deteriorated battery. In addition to the message that also appears in the above situation, an extra warning has been added. This tells you that your iPhone battery has deteriorated considerably and it is best to go to an Apple Store to have it replaced. You can still turn off the performance throttle in this case.
4. Peak performance: status unknown
If iOS cannot determine the maximum capacity of your iPhone, this message will appear. Because the device does not know whether your battery is deteriorated or healthy, you cannot activate or deactivate power management functions. A notification below the message suggests contacting Apple Support. This error can be caused if a battery is not installed correctly or if an unknown part is missing or not working properly.
5. Peak performance: disabled
As soon as you manually turn off the Power Management, this message will appear in the ‘Battery Condition window’. The performance of your iPhone is not limited, but you do run the risk that the device will spontaneously shut down again. Once this happens, the feature will be turned on automatically. You can then manually turn it off again.
Does it appear that your iPhone battery needs replacing? Check out the FAQ below to see what your options are.
Also read: Apple’s cheap iPhone battery repairs: 10 questions and answers in a row