Apple releases iOS 11.3 so you can check how bad your iPhone battery is
If you've ever had concerns about your iPhone's battery, you're going to want to download the latest iOS update.
Apple just released iOS 11.3, which adds the new "battery health" feature that allows you to check whether your iPhone's battery has degraded. It also lets you see if Apple is throttling your device due to a bad battery.
The update is available now in Settings --> General --> Software Update.
Once you've installed it, you can find the new battery features in the "battery" menu in your settings. Here's what it looked like in the iOS 11 beta:
But battery-monitoring features aren't the only reasons why you'll want the new update. It also adds new Animoji characters (the lion, skull, bear, and dragon) for iPhone X owners, as well as improvements to ARKit.
In addition, it includes Apple's new "Business Chat" feature, which lets companies use iMessage much like the way Facebook allows businesses on Messenger.
And in a surprise move, Apple also added a new "Data & Privacy" feature in the wake of concerns about Facebook and other companies' use of personal data. (It could also be timed to the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which also goes into effect in the next few weeks.)
It doesn't look like it materially changes Apple's approach to data in any way, but it adds a new "privacy icon" that will appear whenever Apple asks for access to personal information to enable features, secure Apple services or personalize an iOS experience.
Karissa was Mashable's Senior Tech Reporter, and is based in San Francisco. She covers social media platforms, Silicon Valley, and the many ways technology is changing our lives. Her work has also appeared in Wired, Macworld, Popular Mechanics, and The Wirecutter. In her free time, she enjoys snowboarding and watching too many cat videos on Instagram. Follow her on Twitter @karissabe.
