Apple has pledged to be “clearer and more upfront” about iPhone battery health and performance, following a probe by the UK competition watchdog into a software update that caused the phones to slow.
The Competition and Markets Authority said on Wednesday that the tech giant had agreed to notify customers in cases where an update is expected to have a material impact on the performance of their phones as it closed its investigation into concerns the tech giant had been in breach of consumer law.
The probe had examined concerns people were not warned that their phone’s performance could slow following a 2017 software update to manage the power demands on batteries.
In December of that year, Apple apologised to iPhone owners and offered a discount on buying replacement batteries after it was revealed that the update had knocked the performance of phones with older batteries.
“Today’s announcement locks the firm into formal commitments always to notify people when issuing a planned software update if it is expected to materially change the impact of performance management on their phones,” the watchdog said, adding that Apple had already started to be more upfront on these issues since it had first raised concerns.
Apple has also pledged to provide easily accessible information about battery health and shutdowns, the CMA said.
