Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#11

Post by sjwright » Thu, Aug 08, 2019, 7:35 AM UTC

GhostVII wrote: post #5

To be clear, you can replace the battery with whatever battery you want, it will just show a message saying it can't be verified as an Apple battery. The only user impact is being unable to see battery health. I don't even think I can see my battery health on my Android so I don't see it as a big deal, but definitely not great if they are hiding this functionality for no reason.

It won’t be for no reason.

If their battery health tightly calibrated to report on Apple’s OEM battery, it could provide misleading information about third-party batteries.

My guess is that Apple is bored of dealing with complaints about devices which have been modified by third parties.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#12

Post by Niksko » Thu, Aug 08, 2019, 7:36 AM UTC

rolph wrote: post #2

>>"Technically, it is possible to remove the microcontroller chip from the original battery and carefully solder it into the new battery you’re swapping in, restoring the Battery Health feature—but the procedure isn’t for the faint of heart, and it’s an unreasonable requirement for any repair, much less something as simple as a battery swap." it seems a razor and a low wattage solder iron will fix it. and im guessing…

I wonder if micro fluctuations in battery output voltage and current (due to manufacturing variations) could be used to 'fingerprint' a battery. Encrypted transmission of this fingerprint between the battery chip and the OS = invalidate the battery if the fingerprint suddenly changes.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#13

Post by sjwright » Thu, Aug 08, 2019, 7:38 AM UTC

soganess wrote: post #9

Betelgeuse90 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, you'll get the "service battery" message even if you place an original Apple battery in the iPhone. A used device that was serviced perfectly well but not by Apple will still display this message. All this means is that the battery wasn't replaced by Apple themselves.

Good catch! I will adjust my original message with an edit. That is straight up anti-competitive. Egg on my face for giving apple the benefit of the doubt.

How is it anti-competitive if the swapped battery works perfectly fine? Who cares about what the battery status page says?

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#14

Post by eridius » Thu, Aug 08, 2019, 7:55 AM UTC

I'm willing to bet Apple has seen counterfeit batteries that claim to be Apple batteries and this is a reaction to that.

The other stuff this article claims was designed to stop third-party repairs, such as the stuff to do with Touch ID, was actually security-related (basically, the device couldn't trust Touch ID anymore after the repair). I hadn't heard about True Tone disabling before, but that's probably because AIUI each device's screen is individually calibrated in the factory, and if you swap the screen yourself then you've lost that calibration.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#15

Post by Nextgrid » Thu, Aug 08, 2019, 1:16 PM UTC

rolph wrote: post #2

>>"Technically, it is possible to remove the microcontroller chip from the original battery and carefully solder it into the new battery you’re swapping in, restoring the Battery Health feature—but the procedure isn’t for the faint of heart, and it’s an unreasonable requirement for any repair, much less something as simple as a battery swap." it seems a razor and a low wattage solder iron will fix it. and im guessing…

The chip could keep encryption keys in RAM (since it’s always powered by the battery and there’s always gonna be enough juice in there to power it given its tiny power consumption) and if the chip loses power (due to being desoldered) the keys are lost preventing the phone from authenticating it.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#16

Post by mebo » Thu, Aug 08, 2019, 2:03 PM UTC

sjwright wrote: post #13

soganess wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good catch! I will adjust my original message with an edit. That is straight up anti-competitive. Egg on my face for giving apple the benefit of the doubt.

How is it anti-competitive if the swapped battery works perfectly fine? Who cares about what the battery status page says?

A company that cares about eroding trust in third-party repairs shops getting blamed for ripping off their customers when the battery still reports as broken.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#17

Post by mnm1 » Thu, Aug 08, 2019, 5:48 PM UTC

If one doesn't want such "user hostile" hardware one shouldn't buy Apple products. They are legendary, especially lately in the last few years for such choices. Until a right to repair law is passed, there's nothing we can do and Apple will fight that tooth and nail. The best thing for people who care about such things to do is not to buy Apple products and fight for the law.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#18

Post by sschueller » Thu, Aug 08, 2019, 5:52 PM UTC

sjwright wrote: post #11

GhostVII wrote: post #5

To be clear, you can replace the battery with whatever battery you want, it will just show a message saying it can't be verified as an Apple battery. The only user impact is being unable to see battery health. I don't even think I can see my battery health on my Android so I don't see it as a big deal, but definitely not great if they are hiding this functionality for no reason.

It won’t be for no reason. If their battery health tightly calibrated to report on Apple’s OEM battery, it could provide misleading information about third-party batteries. My guess is that Apple is bored of dealing with complaints about devices which have been modified by third parties.

Well, if they made the batteries easily replaceable without the device having to go to service they would not have this many issues. Of course their replacement batteries would need to be reasonably priced...

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#19

Post by eqtn » Thu, Aug 08, 2019, 5:53 PM UTC

Wanting to repair comes from the thing that iPhone is sold to the user. If US were to pass the right to repair law, will it be possible for apple to stop selling the device and start renting it and circumvent the law? Like, You can rent the iPhone for 3-4 years for $1200 and should return it.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#20

Post by RandomTisk » Thu, Aug 08, 2019, 5:57 PM UTC

GhostVII wrote: post #5

To be clear, you can replace the battery with whatever battery you want, it will just show a message saying it can't be verified as an Apple battery. The only user impact is being unable to see battery health. I don't even think I can see my battery health on my Android so I don't see it as a big deal, but definitely not great if they are hiding this functionality for no reason.

It's a very big deal to me. Apple needs a good smack to their financial jaw. This is ridiculously anti-consumer and it utterly pisses me off.