iPhone users left disappointed after Apple announces iOS 18 'downgrade' coming next week that slows down popular feature

Apple fans have been eager to get their hands on the iPhone 16 this month with the latest iOS 18 installed.

But that's not all they have to look forward to as two versions of Apple's fourth-generation AirPods are expected to drop as well as the Apple Watch X.

But Apple has thrown a cog in the works and caused some major disappointment among fans.

The iOS 18 update is reportedly dialling back on Apple’s Live Activities feature.

Live Activities widgets were introduced with iOS 16 in 2022 and were designed to show live updates on your lock screen or Dynamic Island. It would show second-by-second information which was helpful for football score updates or flight trackers.

However, according to 9to5Mac, Apple is limiting how often these widgets will refresh.

So it is official now. LiveActivities were never designed for real-time experiences :/ https://t.co/Zc1musx6ae pic.twitter.com/IjOq8uV2J7

— Nico - NFC.cool (@dubdubcool) August 28, 2024

Now, it's expected to cause problems for apps that want to show real-time information, like tracking personal metrics.

Apple went on to say that Live Activities were 'never intended to be used to create real-time experiences', despite the tech giant mentioning real-time fitness metrics on the official Live Activities guide for iOS developers.

On the Apple website, it reads: "A Live Activity displays up-to-date information from your app, allowing people to view the progress of an activity, event, or task at a glance."

According to the company, each update from a Live Activities widget writes data to the iPhone's storage which can degrade the battery and other hardware components.

With iOS 18, updates will be restricted to every 5 to 15 seconds.

However, this change won't affect timers or notifications that don’t need constant refreshing, like a countdown for a delivery.

Safe to say, fans haven't held back frustration in response to the announcement.

'I used it for speed tracking of my bike. This metric is worthless with iOS 18,' the app developer, Nico, wrote on X.

'I don’t need to know my speed from 10 seconds ago. Apple clearly says “real time” in their user interface guideline.'

Another added: "Disappointing. You’d think by 2024 our phones would be as powerful as a clock from the 1800s"

One viewer questioned: "our technologies being limited to battery in 2024. or is it because apple just wanted thinner and thinner phones?"

Apple had promised a lot of new features with iOS 18 during its WWDC 2024 event in June and once its beta is finished, the software is expected to roll out on all compatible iPhones in the near future.