Apple has finally released its long-promised Battery Health menu, following the scandal when it emerged that the company was deliberately throttling the performance of some iPhones as their battery capacity declined. The new feature is included in the iOS 11.3 update which was released this week.
The Battery Health menu, which is accessed from the Battery section of the Setting app, indicates when an iPhone battery should be replaced and allows users to turn off performance throttling on iPhone 6, 6 Plus, SE, 6s, 6s Plus, 7 and 7 Plus devices. The company has launched a $29 battery replacement program which lasts until the end of 2018 in response to the scandal.
iOS 11.3 also introduces an update to Apple’s ARKit augmented reality (AR) development platform, allowing apps to deliver AR experiences that use vertical surfaces like walls and doors, in addition to horizontal surfaces like tables and chairs, and more accurately map to irregularly shaped surfaces like circular tables, the company says.
The update also offers four new Animoji (for iPhone X users only) and introduces Business Chat — a new way for users to communicate with businesses in the retail, finance, and hospitality industries using the iPhone’s Messages app. This feature is available in beta to U.S. users only.
