Apple Responds to iPhone Battery Lockdown Reports, Says It’s a Safety Measure

Apple spokesperson said, “We take the safety of our customers very seriously and want to make sure any battery replacement is done properly."

By Tasneem Akolawala | Updated: 16 August 2019 14:08 IST

iPhone XR users cannot replace batteries on their own

Highlights

Apple is discouraging DIY replacement due to safety issues
Replacements at an Apple authorised service provider won't see the issue
There are now over 1,800 Apple authorized service providers in US

Apple recently came under the scanner for locking batteries of select iPhones. If a user replaces the iPhone battery through third-party retailer - a ‘service' message now shows up in the Battery Health section. Furthermore, the Battery Health data is not shown, and an error message is displayed instead. This happens even if the user replaced it using an original Apple battery on the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR. Now, the company has finally broken its silence, and has released a statement regarding the matter.

An Apple spokesperson told The Verge, “We take the safety of our customers very seriously and want to make sure any battery replacement is done properly. There are now over 1,800 Apple authorised service providers across the US so our customers have even more convenient access to quality repairs.”

The ‘service' warning in the Battery Health section appears even if a genuine battery is used for replacement. The company triggers the warning if it doesn't detect a specific micro-controller configuration, that only authorised technicians are trained to deal with. The statement goes on to read, “Last year we introduced a new feature to notify customers if we were unable to verify that a new, genuine battery was installed by a certified technician following Apple repair processes. This information is there to help protect our customers from damaged, poor quality, or used batteries which can lead to safety or performance issues. This notification does not impact the customer's ability to use the phone after an unauthorised repair.”

The Verge report adds, "Apple says anyone who thinks their iPhone battery is authorised and genuine should return to the business that installed it so it can be verified, at which point the battery health feature will return to working normally again." While this does give a glimmer of hope for those who had their iPhone battery replaced at a third party service provider, DIY (do it yourself) repairs will not get the benefits. Apple's latest move has attracted heavy criticism, as many users have spoken against this lockdown. As we mentioned, the move makes DIY repair difficult for even those users who are used to it, and battery replacement will require users to go to an Apple Authorised Service Provider and possibly pay a higher fee than at other third-party service providers.

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