Android

Is your old iPhone slow? Change the region!

Do you feel that your old iPhone is slow? Or at least slower than before? That could be, because to protect the battery, Apple makes the processor of old models slower. But with a different region setting you can get around this. iPhoned show you how that works.

Read on after the ad.

Apple makes old iPhone slow

Do you remember the so-called ‘Throttlegate’? Apple had built a secret feature into iOS that could slow down your iPhone under certain circumstances. The reason behind it: with a somewhat worn out battery, the iPhone could fail at peak performance. This applies to iPhone XS, XR and older.

So Apple secretly started slowing down the processor of old iPhones. There was a big fuss about this, causing Apple to apologize and eventually make slowing down an official option in iOS. You can still find this (if active) in ‘Settings > Battery > Battery health’.

In France, a major lawsuit followed over this artificial slowing down, because it would ‘force’ people to buy a new iPhone. In the end, Apple was fined a hefty fine.

Change the region to France

You would think that the discussion around this is already fairly finished, but nothing could be further from the truth. GizChina has found that an old iPhone will run faster in benchmarks if you set the region to France. Apparently, despite the official option under Battery Condition, another form of delay is applied, which is not allowed due to the lawsuit in France.

Changing the region on your iPhone is a snap. You can find the option in ‘Settings > General > Language & Region’. Here, tap on ‘Region’ and choose ‘France’.

Change the region from iOS to France for more speed:

  1. Open the Settings app;
  2. Tap ‘General > Language & Region’;
  3. At ‘Region’, choose ‘France’.

Adjusting the region has no further major adverse effects; your language will simply remain on Dutch. You only have to change region again if you want to configure Apple Pay with a Dutch bank account. In addition, articles from the News widget are now from France.

Not for newer iPhones

The trick no longer works on the iPhone 11 and newer, according to tests by GizChina. Apparently Apple has removed all forms of artificial delay on newer iPhones. So hopefully in the future we will be rid of old iPhones that become slow.

Tips to make your battery last as long as possible (and thus protect it against wear)? Be sure to watch the video below.

6 battery tips for your iPhone: extend your battery life!

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