Getting up to speed on solutions for slow iPhone.

WHEN Kathryn Schipper discovered in December that her iPhone had slowed down because it needed a new battery, she unknowingly walked into the middle of a growing Apple controversy — and is now mired in the continuing fallout.

Late last year, Apple said a software feature was slowing down iPhones that had aged batteries, immediately drawing accusations that the company was trying to force people to upgrade to its newest iPhones. In response, Apple said customers could get their iPhone batteries replaced at its stores for a discounted price of $29, down from $79.

Yet when Schipper, who lives in Seattle, took her iPhone 6 Plus, purchased in 2014, to an Apple store in early January, she was told the store was out of replacement batteries for at least two weeks. An Apple representative later left her a voicemail message with a new estimated wait time: up to four months.

“I feel like I’m waiting outside of a club and the bouncer won’t let me in because I’m not fashionably enough dressed,” Schipper said in a phone interview. “I’m at the back of the line because I don’t have a fancy phone.”

For iPhone owners, Schipper’s experience does not have to be the way forward. Even as Apple appears to be struggling to keep up with customers asking for new batteries, there are other ways to make sure your smartphone is still running. The workarounds include finding a reputable third-party repair shop, using a battery pack or replacing the battery on your own.

Apple may be dealing with the fallout for a while. The company published a lengthy memo in December saying that smartphone batteries became less effective over time and that its software was intended to prevent iPhones with older batteries from unexpected shutdowns. Apple also apologized to customers for the slowdowns, offered discounts for its battery-replacement program, and said it would introduce software to gain visibility into the health of an iPhone battery.

Yet since then, consumer advocacy groups have filed lawsuits against the company for failing to disclose that the software would throttle old iPhones. The U.S. Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission have also started an inquiry into the matter, according to a person with knowledge of the situation, who asked not to be named because the details were confidential. Bloomberg earlier reported the inquiry.

Early Wednesday, Apple said in a statement that it had received questions from some government agencies and that it was responding to them; the company did not specify the agencies it had heard from. The Justice Department declined to comment.

As for the wait times that Schipper and others are experiencing for a battery replacement, a spokeswoman referred to Apple’s support webpage, which states that battery supplies at its stores may be limited.

Let’s not wait around. Here’s a guide to other solutions to keep an iPhone running in the absence of an Apple battery replacement.