Apple Now Lets You Check Your iPhone 6s Serial Number to See if You're Eligible for a New Battery

[MrGuder]

Let me give you some free advice...if your taking your phone in to an Apple Store don't bring your phone in with a full charged battery. If it's shutting down at say 30% bring it in at 35 or 40%.

Apple will hook up your phone to their diagnostic tool and if your phone has got a full charge it's going to throw a false code that there is no issue. I know because I had this same thing on my iPhone 5, it would shut down at 20 or 25% and I ended up having to pay 89.00 for a new battery then Apple issued the recall on the iPhone 5 and I got a refund check in the mail.

 

[C DM]

I know you are a long time contributer to these forums and I respect your opinion on many issues over the years.

This is a poor excuse, however. There are now reports of iPhone 6s owners having battery replacements and still experiencing the problem.

If the random shutdown affects multiple models, it can't be a hardware issue.

I'm not saying the extremely limited battery replacement programme doesn't address other problems, but random shutdown still occurs

MacRumors are well aware of this and should've included mention of it in this article.

There are many members of this forum with different models of iPhone who are suffering from this same fault.

An amendment should be made to cater for all of these foum members (& the wider Apple community) and not just the few that happen own 6S models from this extremely small date range.

I wasn't posting it as an excuse, simply as a plausible explanation that in generic form applies to all kinds of similar types of cases in the commercial industry. To top that off, the symptoms being similar doesn't always mean that the cause or the underlying issue is the same necessarily.

As someone who still uses an iPhone 6 and is stating to feel the effects of an aging battery (with over well 400 cycles at this point), I certainly wouldn't mind at all for these programs to include more models and not even limit them to certain serial number batches within those models, but realistically speaking that's typically not how these types of things work when they are linked to some component or manufacturing batch.

 

[ethanwa79]

I'm not having much luck tonight getting a replacement online without it being a hassle. I want it overnighted to me, and then I will ship mine back, using with express replacement program, with the fee WAIVED.

I said to the Apple chat agent:

"k, so i am assuming I don't have to pay a fee for the express replacement process, since Apple admits that there is a battery problem with my phone, correct?"

Stupid Apple chat support agent says to me:

"The iPhone 6s Program for Unexpected Shutdown Issues only have 3 options available to get it repair that are the one mention on the program pane. The mail option are only the drop off or mail in."

Such B.S.

 

[btrach144]

My wife's 6S Plus has these exact same issue yet apple claims she isn't available. Total crap.

 

[Viantay]

My 6s Plus is dying many times around 18%. I think I've got an hour or so left to get it charged then it cuts off. When I plug it in it turns back on at 18-19%.

 

[MH01]

Even if the serial numbers matched genius guys will still check battery diagnostic. If it passes they won't replace your battery whether it's affected serial or not. A waste of people's time IMO.

Those diagnostic checks are rubbish, they might as well check the battery exists. If you have an affected serial , go into a bar and state you are having these issues and you don't care what the diagnostic says, it's in the faulty batch, and it's a question of when and not if, and you are not wasting your time coming back to replace your battery.

Just be professional and they will fix it. I did that with my previous iPhone, diagnostic said the battery was fine, and the replacement unit had twice the battery life, even came back to the manager to point out how inaccurate thier tests are and the battery went from three hours to six hours on exactly the same restore.
[doublepost=1480661077][/doublepost]I'm glad apple released the serial numbers.

 

[CarpalMac]

Genuine question: I have checked and mine is eligable.

Thing is in the 14months or so it is still absolutely immaculate and not (at least to my knowledge) experiencing this issue.

Is it worth getting done (i.e. will the program have a limited run) or can I just keep using it until it does have an issue?

My OCD just hates the thought of it having knurled screw heads, new scratches or having not been put back together quite right. It also would mean that just as the original battery starts to lose performance, I could make the most of having the battery refreshed.

 

[A10Fusion]

Hi all,
My 6S had the issue and would quite often suddenly power off at between 34 - 46% charge. Trying to turn it back on would show the 'connect to charger' graphic. However, waiting 5-10 minutes, and powering on would usually work and it would then be fine for a while, showing the same remaining battery percentage.

I spoke to Apple support and they arranged for a replacement device to be sent to me a couple of days ago. Very happy with the quick service.

 

[Jsameds]

I'm not having much luck tonight getting a replacement online without it being a hassle. I want it overnighted to me, and then I will ship mine back, using with express replacement program, with the fee WAIVED.

I said to the Apple chat agent:

"k, so i am assuming I don't have to pay a fee for the express replacement process, since Apple admits that there is a battery problem with my phone, correct?"

Stupid Apple chat support agent says to me:

"The iPhone 6s Program for Unexpected Shutdown Issues only have 3 options available to get it repair that are the one mention on the program pane. The mail option are only the drop off or mail in."

Such B.S.

How many Ethawna79's does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

Just one, he holds it still while the world revolves around him.

 

[canny]

My phone is eligible and had this issue once, at about 30% on a winter morning, after being in my jacket pocket. There was no problem this morning when I kept it in my jeans pocket .. body heat perhaps.

The replacement program says that it covers phones for 3 years after first purchase - which is roughly October 2018.

I wonder if it's worth waiting till winter 2017 to get it replaced. Is there a chance I would get a new phone instead of just a replacement?

 

[davidec]

UPDATE
contacted Apple Support, ran some remote diagnostics & they stated everything tested fine. They want me to rest the phone & setup as new, not load a backup. Use it for 24-48 hours to see if I still have the problem. Slowly add apps back to determine if maybe an app is causing this problem.

Pretty sure I will do this because this random battery drain is very annoying but what a pain.

That's what they wanted me to do. I told them I didn't have time so they scheduled a genius appointment. The genius at the aspple store concurred that there was a problem with my 6S but they didn't have batteries in stock. They refused a replacement and have since emailed to say that my battery is in stock.

It's been a very annoying problem for me. Not being able to rely on the phone was tough.

 

[Chomp81]

I'm holding back here.....but why would you not take it to be replaced?

Because the effort it requires. I have to erase my phone, go to the store, see how long they will take to change the battery and reinstall everything into my phone again.

For being an early adopter, is a lot of trouble because their quality is crap... and remember, this is not a cheap consumer electronic.
[doublepost=1480679711][/doublepost]

That's what they wanted me to do. I told them I didn't have time so they scheduled a genius appointment. The genius at the aspple store concurred that there was a problem with my 6S but they didn't have batteries in stock. They refused a replacement and have since emailed to say that my battery is in stock.

It's been a very annoying problem for me. Not being able to rely on the phone was tough.

I went through exactly the same a couple of weeks ago, before they announced this...
The Apple Support said everything was ok with my battery. Wondering if it's worth it to change the battery.

 

[SoN1NjA]

That's not the problem, that's just you draining your battery.

The battery shouldn't drain that fast
[doublepost=1480682950][/doublepost]

Tried my serial number on the new website and it says I'm eligible. The only time my phone shuts-down is when it's at 5-10%, but I have serious battery drain issues. It'll go from like 30% to 10% in 20 or so minutes. I'll be going this evening to see what happens!

Mine does that and I'm not eligible, I imagine this program will expand

 

[ethanwa79]

How many Ethawna79's does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

Just one, he holds it still while the world revolves around him.

In this instance you are correct. I have zero sympathy for Apple. Zero.

 

[tivoboy]

What do you carry around two phones for!?!

It's not carried by me

 

[bunnicula]

In this instance you are correct. I have zero sympathy for Apple. Zero.

Neither do I. I agree with you. People who bought AC plus should be able to do express replacement on these because they found a DEFECT in these phones. They claim the number of affected phones is small but pretty much everyone posting in this thread either has one of these "small number" or lives in a house with someone who does (in my case, two people who do).

If the numbers of phones affected were small, I am thinking they'd not be waiting for all these batteries.

 

[MrGuder]

I have a 6s and my serial #says I am eligible for a battery replacement but I've never experienced an issue. I wonder if it's because I've never updated iOS. I'm still on 9.3.5

 

[Moorepheus]

Well, my g/f's phone is affected, but she has never had this issue. However, the battery life on her phone is horrible. I mean, in 6 hours, it is dead and most of the time it's just sitting there doing nothing. All the settings are the same that was on her 4 and her 4 would last all day. See what Sunday brings me, we are scheduled for 10:20am at my apple store

 

[unr1]

My 6S had this issue in ONE episode earlier last month in cold weather. It was shutting own with 40-60% battery suddenly. I would have to wait a bit and then turn it on and again it would shot 40% or more battery. This happened about 5-6 times during that morning. I thought the phone was dead!

It never happened again after that. I kept the phone warm. It works fine now.
My phone is eligible and I'm taking it in today.
[doublepost=1480692407][/doublepost]I've had my 5S shut down in cold weather before, though. But that's if the battery is already low or it's extremely cold outside.

But the way the 6S was shutting down was a defect. I would be inside a store, turn it on, use it it for a few min and it would immediately shut off.

 

[MrGuder]

Those diagnostic checks are rubbish, they might as well check the battery exists. If you have an affected serial , go into a bar and state you are having these issues and you don't care what the diagnostic says, it's in the faulty batch, and it's a question of when and not if, and you are not wasting your time coming back to replace your battery.

Just be professional and they will fix it. I did that with my previous iPhone, diagnostic said the battery was fine, and the replacement unit had twice the battery life, even came back to the manager to point out how inaccurate thier tests are and the battery went from three hours to six hours on exactly the same restore.
[doublepost=1480661077][/doublepost]I'm glad apple released the serial numbers.

I'd disagree with most of this because if Apple hooks up your iPhone and their diagnostic shows your battery is good they are not going to replace it no matter how professional you act. I know because I pleaded with them when this same issue happened on the iPhone 5. My mistake was bringing in my phone fully charged they said it was fine. I told them it cuts off at 20% and will not work unless plugged in and then it would immediately show 20% again. If it's dead why would it show 20% plugging it back in. It got worse and would shut down at anything below 25% so I had to pay $89.00 then later Apple issues the recall and I called Cust service emailed my invoice and they refunded me total price of battery replacement.

I remember the Genius Bar rep saying if it passes this test of diagnostics we can't replace your battery.

As I mentioned earlier don't bring your phone in with a full charge if your experiencing shut downs bring it in closer to the % of where it shuts down.

 

[finnns2000]

Serial number falls in range. I wondered why my phone shut off last week at 34%. As someone in IT, just thought it was a fluke 'hard reset' kinda deal. But it keeps happening... Appointment made!

 

[Moorepheus]

Did you get your actual phone back with a new battery, or a different replacement phone altogether?

I ask because myself and everyone I know who has ever gone to an Apple Store for a repair has paid a fixed fee with "repair" listed on the invoice, but really it was a complete swap for a new/refurb phone. For example I just needed a new power button replaced (it got mushy for a few months and then stopped working), but they charged me $199 and gave me a new/refurb phone.

This has made me assume that the Apple Stores aren't really set up for onsite repair.

They will probably replace the battery. As for bad repairs, I had my G/F's phone in for a camera repair, still under warranty, they replaced the camera in the phone and the phone works just as it did when I took it in.

My husband and daughter's phones are both qualified and I want FULL replacements. I do not want battery replacements because everyone I know that has had one done has been unhappy with the results.

I think I'm going to escalate this.

Good luck, let us know how this works out.

 

[C DM]

I have a 6s and my serial #says I am eligible for a battery replacement but I've never experienced an issue. I wonder if it's because I've never updated iOS. I'm still on 9.3.5

There are those with iOS 10 that haven't experienced the issue either.

 

[dojoman]

well, that didn't work so well. Went to my appointment. I was told the battery replacement program is very popular and they have no batteries in stock and I might have to wait 5-7 days.
[doublepost=1480637523][/doublepost]
wrong. They ran diagnostic on mine. everything checked out but I was told the battery will be replaced anyway because the serial number in the affected range.

Like I said it depends on which genius guy you get. They replace others with no

well, that didn't work so well. Went to my appointment. I was told the battery replacement program is very popular and they have no batteries in stock and I might have to wait 5-7 days.
[doublepost=1480637523][/doublepost]
wrong. They ran diagnostic on mine. everything checked out but I was told the battery will be replaced anyway because the serial number in the affected range.

Read this thread bud. Some people got rejected if it passes battery test, it's all random luck.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...or-a-new-battery.2018958/page-7#post-24009893

 

[MrGuder]

There are those with iOS 10 that haven't experienced the issue either.

Then it sounds just like the iPhone 5 replacement battery campaign, probably a patch of faulty batteries issued during a specific period in production.

I remember with my 5 that if I was at 20-25% and I went to open the camera app to take pic, it would shut down.

I'm glad Apple is being proactive about this because as an iPhone 5 user I felt like the guinipig until they would acknowledge there was a problem at least I got a refund so I was happy and a brand new battery was like getting a whole new phone back then.