Apple Initiates iPhone 5 Battery Replacement Program
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PsykX
macrumors 68040
Gosh FINALLY, this is good news !
I've had battery issues for at least a complete year here. It's getting worse every winter and I was more satisfied with the battery of my 3GS.
Hell, my iPhone 5 would sometimes die with 40% left. And all my family has this exact same issue often during winter, sometimes during summer.
I've had battery issues for at least a complete year here. It's getting worse every winter and I was more satisfied with the battery of my 3GS.
Hell, my iPhone 5 would sometimes die with 40% left. And all my family has this exact same issue often during winter, sometimes during summer.
Davewithak
macrumors regular
Just asked customer support about this scenario - you are out of luck.
Ugh, that sucks. Another poster reported the opposite a few posts above. I may still try and contact them about a refund.
NovemberWhiskey
macrumors 68040
This must be infuriating the 2011 Macbook Pro owners with GPU issues.
nottooshabby
macrumors 6502
They open up your phone, replace the battery, and give you your phone back. They do not give you a different phone.
what a joke this is. mine had the issue and I contacted support 2 months ago to tell them and they said I had to pay $80 to replace it. Since I was out of warrant I said hell with it I'll buy one for $25 off iFixIt and do it myself. Well now I find out about this today so I called them up. They pretty much told me to go pound salt since I did it myself.
Really thinking about putting old battery in and just taking it into the store.
Really thinking about putting old battery in and just taking it into the store.
PsykX
macrumors 68040
Definitely. Why ? Because they brought too many changes at once. The same thing should happen with the iPhone 6, for the exact same reason. While the iPhone 6 is definitely one of the most exciting iPhone releases ever, yes it's going to be full of component failures.
As for the iPhone 5, everybody around me has had an issue with it, and some people even have had issues on their replacement iPhone 5, and the worst case is my cousin who got an issue on the replacement of the replacement of the replacement of his iPhone 5.
Dimwhit
macrumors 68020
Seems odd, then, that they want you to back up your phone, turn off Find My Phone, and especially erase all data and settings. If we get the same phone back, why erase it?
howardleduck
macrumors newbie
Ex genius bar guy checking in, that's not completely true. For something like this that's a "known issue" (according to apple, not some forum) or obviously hardware, like dead pixels or something, they can service it no matter what software it's running.
The catch is that they may need to run the battery diagnostic on it before repairing it, and the diagnostic is likely not compatible with iOS 8. Also the repair process for this may require them to restore your phone anyway, like the sleep/wake button program. In that case it doesn't matter, because they're restoring it anyway. In the past, at least, beta software policy wasn't clearly communicated to the staff, so you may get someone who thinks they can't touch it as long as it has iOS 8, but if you stay chill and ask them to double check it should work out.
No matter what, always always always make a backup before setting foot in the store.
For everyone else with battery problems, especially if your phone doesn't qualify:
You may very well still have a bad battery, it's just not bad for the reason covered by the program. If your phone consistently dies at ~20-30%, that sounds like a battery that's going to fail the diagnostic. No promises, but make a backup and go in.
If you go in to the store, and your battery passes the diagnostic, that means your battery is physically ok. It may not be what it was when you first got it, but that's normal. Batteries age. If it passes diagnostics, that means it hasn't dropped below the cutoff where Apple will replace it, not matter what your experience with it is. In that case, replacing the battery WILL NOT solve the problem, because... the battery isn't the problem.
Honestly, the combination of short battery life/passes diagnostics almost always comes down to a mix of environmental issues and the usage of the phone. Poor cell reception, max brightness, constantly streaming pandora, etc. You know the hundred times a day you don't know what else to do, so you flip through facebook or play candy crush? That's why the battery is draining.
When customers came in with a battery problem that passed diags, about a quarter of the time auto-lock was turned off. It's things like that that get you.
guitargoddsjm
macrumors 6502
I'm absolutely going to try. For the past 9 months, my battery has been absolutely terrible.
I've been traveling and taking day trips lately, and having a phone that barely lasts half the day is awful. I have a 5S as a company phone, and I've been carrying that around as a backup for the past few months.
The Apple phone support guy scheduled a Genius Bar appointment tomorrow. If they don't make an exception, I'll have to try using my AT&T insurance and having Discover Card pay for the deductible (as part of the extended coverage warranty they offer).
TheIntruder
macrumors 68000
As with the sleep button program, they probably erase it, install some diagnostic software, and run some tests to determine if the phone requires repair.
I'm curious as to what the criteria is.
nottooshabby
macrumors 6502
Good question. Maybe they will treat these differently than a typical out of warranty battery replacement.
PsykX
macrumors 68040
The same thing happens with a Sony PlayStation 3. I took my HD out, put it in my new PS3, and the only choice that pops up when you boot it is to format it. And you know what ? I found it sucked completely because I wasted like 5 hours getting everything back.
So when you take your PS3 for repair, you're supposed to bring back your hard drive home. It's because they don't want any Sony employee to be able to steal or copy your data and put it on their systems. There's login and credit card info in these. And there's also save games. And game demos.
You should not trust Apple employees more than anyone else regarding this. You don't know them, they don't know you, and they don't make a complete career out of this job, so the bad boys won't mind losing their jobs if they're able to rob you.
(This situation has been dramatized for the sole purpose of sensationalism, thus should be taken with a grain of salt)
Davewithak
macrumors regular
Just got off the phone with Apple. The representative told me that since I bought a replacement battery and replaced it myself, it voided my warranty and cancelled my eligibility for the program. Oh well.
yep-sure
macrumors 6502
I'm on my 3rd iPhone 5, the first 2 were replaced under warranty for non-battery related faults.
I lucked out with this 3rd phone, because the battery life, up until about 3 months ago, was better than any other iPhone 5 I've owned, or my friends own, it was really great. These days I get about 2-3 hours usage out of it before I have to charge it.
I wanted to hold onto this phone as long as possible - the upcoming iPhone 6 hasn't interested me much, but the current state of my battery is driving me nuts, not to mention, my 64GB is full - so I really hope for a 128 GB model on the 6.
I lucked out with this 3rd phone, because the battery life, up until about 3 months ago, was better than any other iPhone 5 I've owned, or my friends own, it was really great. These days I get about 2-3 hours usage out of it before I have to charge it.
I wanted to hold onto this phone as long as possible - the upcoming iPhone 6 hasn't interested me much, but the current state of my battery is driving me nuts, not to mention, my 64GB is full - so I really hope for a 128 GB model on the 6.
Medic311
macrumors 68000
yep. my replacement iPhone 5 acted up too, and overheated like a mofo. i had that swapped out again and so far it's been "OK". battery is still pathetic though - it was better on my iPhone 4S to be honest
NovemberWhiskey
macrumors 68040
That's called standard protocol.
If you wanted to find some reason in it, you can reason that in case something goes wrong and your data is wiped, they want you to have a backup handy. I.E. They do NOT want customers complaining about lost data. They probably also do not want complaints about data/security breaches. By having you back up your data, and wipe your phone (or by putting that burden on the customer), they shouldn't really be liable for accusations of "he went through my nude selfies and put them on the internet; he wiped my baby's birthing photos."
Had my battery replaced on my 5 in March. I used the website, which said I was not eligible, but it also stated that if I already had my battery replaced to call support to check if I could get a refund. Sure enough, I can. They're mailing a check which should arrive sometime next week. Not a bad deal.
In retrospect, I thought it was a little strange that this was the only iPhone I ever had to replace the battery on. I chalked it up to the fact that when I came to work everyday, I immediately put it on a charger and left it plugged in all day (which I figured was reducing battery wear, particularly with the weak signal in my office). Nice to know it was the battery after all.
In retrospect, I thought it was a little strange that this was the only iPhone I ever had to replace the battery on. I chalked it up to the fact that when I came to work everyday, I immediately put it on a charger and left it plugged in all day (which I figured was reducing battery wear, particularly with the weak signal in my office). Nice to know it was the battery after all.
DoctorKrabs
macrumors 6502a
My friend's iPhone 5 powers off at around 30% battery, and if you plug it in, it powers right back up, with the percentage still at what it was.
And the left side of the screen has pressure issues because the battery's probably inflating.
It was purchased in FEBRUARY of 2013, so it is NOT eligible.
And it was manufactured in January, but sold in February. It says that phones sold into January are eligible. So being manufactured in January's not good enough even if it has the issue that prompted this whole replacement program?
Outrageous.
And the left side of the screen has pressure issues because the battery's probably inflating.
It was purchased in FEBRUARY of 2013, so it is NOT eligible.
And it was manufactured in January, but sold in February. It says that phones sold into January are eligible. So being manufactured in January's not good enough even if it has the issue that prompted this whole replacement program?
Outrageous.
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snipper
macrumors regular
I just checked mine, bought in the Netherlands via the Apple Store, in pre-order if I remember correctly and it is eligible.
iolinux333
macrumors 68000
How about waterproofing? Waterproofing would be good.