Technologies

Do You Need to Replace Your iPhone Battery? Find Out Before Apple’s Price Hike

Replacing your iPhone battery is about to get more expensive.

If you’ve got an iPhone that is slow to charge, has trouble maintaining a charge throughout the day or is unexpectedly shutting down, you might need to get your iPhone battery replaced.

And you probably want to do it sooner than later. Apple recently announced that starting March 1, you’ll have to pay $20 more to replace your battery through Apple’s existing services (except for the iPhone 14 models, since that price is staying the same).

So how do you find out if you really do need to replace your battery? We’ll show you how to check out your battery’s health via your iPhone settings, as well as what you can do to prolong your battery’s lifespan.

How to check on your iPhone battery’s health

Your iPhone battery becomes less effective over time, but you could also have a faulty battery on a brand-new iPhone. To quickly check if there’s an issue with your battery health, go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging. If you’re running anything below iOS 16.1, the latter will appear as just Battery Health.

At the top, you’ll see the maximum capacity of your battery, which should be 100%, or close to it, if you have a relatively new iPhone.

However, what you want to look at is Peak Performance Capability and the sentence underneath that. If you see Your battery is currently supporting normal peak performance, you don’t have any recognized battery issues and you shouldn’t need a replacement.

Do you need to replace your iPhone battery?

If you see any of the following messages, you may need to replace your battery, or at the very least make an appointment with Apple or an authorized service provider to check your battery out:

This iPhone has experienced an unexpected shutdown because the battery was unable to deliver the necessary peak power. Performance management has been applied to help prevent this from happening again, or You have manually disabled performance management protections.
This iPhone is unable to determine battery health. An Apple Authorized Service Provider can service the battery. More about service options.
Your battery’s health is significantly degraded. An Apple Authorized Service Provider can replace the battery to restore full performance and capacity. More about service options.

Depending on whether you have insurance (third-party or AppleCare Plus) or not, you may not have to spend any money at all to replace your iPhone’s battery. If your iPhone is new, you have at least a one-year warranty to replace a defective battery. If you do not have insurance, Apple charges an estimated $49 to $99 to replace your battery. Additionally, you can check out the Apple Service Programs page to see if any replacement or repair programs are available for your device.

Is there anything you can do to prolong your iPhone battery’s life?

The quicker you go through your daily battery life, the quicker your battery’s overall lifespan degrades, so here are some tips to follow, according to Apple:

Update to the latest software available.
Adjust your screen brightness (manually or automatically) as needed.
Use Wi-Fi when available.
Enable Low Power Mode as needed.
Turn off Background App Refresh (overall or an on a per-app basis).
Turn off Location Services (overall or on a per-app basis).
Turn off Allow Notifications.
Turn on Airplane Mode when applicable.
When you charge your phone with your computer, make sure your computer is plugged in.

If you need more battery-saving tips for your iPhone, check out eight ways to improve iPhone battery life, two iOS 16 features to disable to save battery and what happens if you keep your iPhone in Low Power Mode all the time.

Technologies

What a Ban Would Actually Mean for DJI Drone Owners and Holiday Shoppers

What’s the secret to a very un-merry shopping season? A brand new, unusable drone.

With Thanksgiving wrapped up and the Black Friday shopping sales here, if a DJI drone is on your holiday wish list, you might want to hit «buy» immediately. The company has issued a stark warning: Its drones could be banned from sale in the US, and the deadline is looming.

The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-0 at the end of October to «close loopholes» that allow tech deemed a «national security risk» to be sold in the US. In plain English, the US government is clearing the path to give DJI the same treatment it gave Chinese phone-maker Huawei, effectively banning its products from the American market.

The US government has deemed DJI, which is based in China, a security risk. It’s also considering a separate ban on TP-Link routers.

DJI is already sounding the alarm, posting on Instagram that a «deadline that could decide DJI’s fate in the US is just 43 days away» (now 19 days away). The company is warning that without an audit, its products could face an «automatic ban.» The US government has long labeled the Chinese drone maker a security risk, and it looks like the hammer might finally be coming down right before the holidays.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

The vote isn’t the end of the road, however. Future bans would need to target specific products and would require a period of public consultation. But it appears the groundwork is being set for the FCC to block sales of future and some existing DJI drones from US shores, as well as products that use DJI technology.

The government has called for a DJI audit by the end of the year, but if that doesn’t happen, DJI drone products could be banned for sale by default under a national security law.

DJI asks for a security audit before any ban

A representative for DJI told CNET that while the FCC vote references a rule change that doesn’t currently apply to DJI specifically, the National Defense Authorization Act deadline in December would put Chinese companies like it on the FCC’s ban list, «without any evidence of wrongdoing or the right to appeal.»

Adam Welsh, head of global policy at DJI, said the company has repeatedly said it would be open to audit, but that «more than 10 months have now passed with no sign that the process has begun.»

«The US government has every right to strengthen national security measures, but this must go hand in hand with due process, fairness, and transparency,» Welsh said.

Welsh said DJI is urging the government to start the audit process or grant an extension.

Will DJI drone owners need to give them up?

Because the ban would apply to new sales, not drones that have already been sold, a DJI drone you already own would still be legal to use — at least under current rules.

Government agencies, however, are prohibited from purchasing or using drones from Chinese companies, including DJI.

DJI’s drones consistently rank high in their product category. In January, they dominated CNET’s list of best drones for 2025. But some of the company’s newest products, such as the DJI Mavic 4 Pro, haven’t been available for sale in the United States.

Even DJI products that are not yet banned may be hard to find. The website UAV Coach has posted a guide to the bans and reports that, due to inventory issues, most DJI drone models are sold out at retailers regardless of future FCC action.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Nov. 29 #636

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Nov. 29, No. 636.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a real puzzler. Some of the answers are difficult to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: What a piece of work!

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: You can build it in a shop.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

CREW, REAM, LANE, WHEE, DELL, CANE, PULL, REVEL

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

WHEEL, AXLE, LEVER, WEDGE, PLANE, PULLEY, SCREW

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is SIMPLEMACHINE. To find it, start with the S that’s three letters to the right on the top row, and wind over and down.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Nov. 29, #902

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Nov. 29, #902.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is tough. If you need help sorting them into groups, you’re in the right place. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Middle of the body.

Green group hint: Fill-in.

Blue group hint: Nice place to hang out.

Purple group hint: Card game.