Why are some people changing their iPhone's location to France?

Apple, the well-known tech giant, is famous for its groundbreaking innovations, from Steve Jobs' iconic iPhone to their recent creation, the Apple Vision Pro mixed reality headset.

However, Apple has also faced some less favorable moments in its history, like the controversial iPhone 6, which could bend easily, and the admission that they intentionally slowed down older iPhones.

It was revealed that an update in 2017 deliberately reduced the performance of older iPhones, a practice known as battery throttling, to prevent them from unexpectedly shutting down.

Customers were not given the option to disable this feature, nor were they informed that Apple was intentionally slowing down their devices.

In response to these allegations, Justin Gutmann, a consumer rights advocate, filed a lawsuit against Apple in 2022. If they lose the trial, the company may have to pay over £700 million in damages.

Apple explained their actions by stating that older batteries are less capable of providing the necessary power for new systems, which is why battery throttling was implemented.

They provided this explanation on their website. "Electronic components require a minimum voltage to properly operate."

"When the operations can no longer be supported with the full capabilities of the power management system, the system will perform a shutdown to preserve these electronic components. While this shutdown is intentional from the device perspective, it may be unexpected by the user."

"When the operations can no longer be supported with the full capabilities of the power management system, the system will perform a shutdown to preserve these electronic components."

"While this shutdown is intentional from the device perspective, it may be unexpected by the user."

Even though Apple has admitted to this issue, some customers are still searching for ways to prevent their older iPhones from slowing down. A Reddit user may have discovered a straightforward solution.

Shared in the r/technology subreddit, someone posted that changing your iPhone's location to France can make older iPhones run faster.

According to a report from GizChina, people speculate that because the lawsuit is in France, Apple may have deliberately stopped affecting the performance of older devices in that country.

So, if you change your old iPhone's region to France, it should disable the slowdown.

To do this, go to your device's Settings and select your name. You'll be prompted to enter your password or use your fingerprint. Then, choose "Media & Purchase." From there, tap "View Account" and then "Country/Region," and simply pick France.

Please note that newer phones running iOS 11.2 and above already have the option to disable battery throttling, so this advice mainly applies to older devices.