When should you seek out Apple's new $29 battery replacement? Here are some pretty good indicators.

On Thursday, Apple apologized for failing to tell us the truth right away: The company had been secretly throttling the speed of older iPhones to keep them from unexpectedly shutting down. The fix? A newly inexpensive battery replacement -- just $29 for any iPhone 6 or later, starting in January 2018. (It normally cost $79, but Apple's making it cheaper as part of its apology.)

But how do you know when your iPhone's being throttled? When is it truly worth taking a trip to your local Apple Store and handing over your precious device? 

According to Apple, there are seven signs that a worn battery may be causing Apple's software to slow down your device.

They are:

Longer app launch times 

-- Force-close your apps. Do they take longer than normal to launch from scratch?

Lower frame rates while scrolling 

-- Does your screen seem to stutter when you're scrolling down webpages and through homescreens?

Backlight dimming

-- Does your phone's screen no longer get as bright, even when you set it that way?

Lower speaker volume by up to -3dB 

-- Do your speakers no longer get as loud?

Gradual frame rate reductions in some apps 

-- Try this with intensive games, in particular.

During the most extreme cases, the camera flash will be disabled as visible in the camera UI 

-- Can you not even use your phone's camera flash anymore?

Apps refreshing in background may require reloading upon launch -- Apps that normally pull in new data, even when you're not using them...did they stop doing that all of a sudden?

Source: cnet