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Apple Releases New Firmware for MagSafe Battery Pack
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I have the Anker 622 battery pack (5,000mAh) which also acts as a stand for the phone just like your first pic. I just got it for ~$40, it also has a USB-C port if you prefer wired charging.
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What do you expect it to be made out of?
its looks like a good idea and I was going to go for it but I knew apple has an intelligent way of controlling the charging for its devices and the apple battery curves better with no sharp edges. all these other batteries probably keep pushing power into the phone until they die. Apple battery will control its heat and stop charging at 90% which probably preserves the internal battery. its not really about cost since this goes with you for a few years. So far ive been happy wiht the apple version. It gives my mini another full charge just about.
These Anker batteries are not supposed to be attached to your phone always I think. It defeats the purpose of having a slim phone anyway. Just use it as any other power bank and charge your phone when the battery is low.
but I dont want more random stuff flopping around in my pockets and I dont want to discharge my phone and then try to slow recharge it. this sounds like it degrades the phone battery. the Apple one wont charge phone over 90% and jsut gives the phone the right amount of power where it can keep juicing it for hours.
Yes! I had a mild panic attack a few weeks ago when I attached it to my phone at 20%, and the battery pack read 0% and wouldn't wouldn't charge my phone. I had no way to charge my phone and was several hours away from being able to get to my charger. I knew that had to be impossible, because I had taken the battery pack off the charger that morning and hadn't used it. I had to restart my phone and keep reattaching it several times to get it to work correctly.
lol. of course.
because its a battery pack that charges a battery pack
Really cool. The stand version wasn't out when I bought the battery pack, but I really like it. I wish they sold the stand separately.
Things I didn’t see myself doing 10 years ago:
Downloading software / firmware updates & installing them on my
* Battery
* Watch
* Bicycle
* Lightbulbs
* Doorbell
* Wall power sockets
* Radiator thermostats in each room
(Apple MagSafe Battery, iWatch, electric bike, Hue lightbulb, Ring doorbell, smart plugs, Tado room control heating system.)
Downloading software / firmware updates & installing them on my
* Battery
* Watch
* Bicycle
* Lightbulbs
* Doorbell
* Wall power sockets
* Radiator thermostats in each room
(Apple MagSafe Battery, iWatch, electric bike, Hue lightbulb, Ring doorbell, smart plugs, Tado room control heating system.)
I hope they fixed the following bugs:
1.: The charging animation is shown twice
2.: Charging is weird or even stopped sometimes. (Maybe a heat management issue.)
3.: Serial number is sometimes NOT shown in settings
1.: The charging animation is shown twice
2.: Charging is weird or even stopped sometimes. (Maybe a heat management issue.)
3.: Serial number is sometimes NOT shown in settings
So what youre saying is, that apple's battery pack is a better buy? Am in a market for one
Apple's battery pack holds a fraction of the charge and costs double the price compared to the Anker. But the Apple one has better iOS integration (software charging indicators for phone and battery). It also has the advantage of smart charging (optimizes how much juice it gives to avoid wear on your iPhone battery and optimizing the longevity of the charge, which I consider to be negligible). Lastly, it supports bidirectional charging between the phone and battery pack, so you can charge them up both through one cable.
the Apple battery pack is “ok”. But ok seems to be better than any competitors. I quite like it for what it is, but I’m not blind to the shortcomings. Capacity is terrible, form factor is awkward, magnet isn’t quite as strong as I’d like. On the other hand it charges quickly, it’s handy that it can be charged either independently or attached to the phone, works seamlessly with iOS.
It’s just a shame that in 2022 Apple’s flagship device the 13 Pro Max can‘t cope with a full day of phone calls.
My wife sometimes uses it a lot on her 13 Mini and it has a better shape on that phone.
Thank you! After waiting for an hour for the update with the battery attached to my phone, this worked instantly for me. Article should be updated to reflect this advice.
Thanks for this tip! This is the way right here. Doesn’t have to be USB-C either. Will also work with USB-A to Lightning cable from your Internet connected Mac. I’m not sure this would ever happen over the air as our battery was still running the original firmware and we have used it extensively the past year. BTW - you can also see the firmware version of the battery when plugged into Mac on your Mac - click the Apple Menu in the Mac’s Finder menu>About This Mac>System Report>USB and select the MagSafe Battery Pack from the USB Device Tree and view Version. After you have been plugged in for a minute or so and while still in System Information select the File menu>Refresh Information and you should see the version now updated.
This did the trick, updated instantly when plugged into my MacBook Pro.
I had a similar issue..left it alone for a few weeks, went to use it and it showed as completely empty. Tried everything to get it back online, but nothing worked (Using 20w apple charger, 5w brick, plugged into M1 laptop, reverse charging from a phone.) Ended up bringing it in and got a replacement. Not sure which FW it was on, but the one I got back had 2.5.b.0, so might have been an original FW bug.
Also plugging in the magsafe pack to my Mac seemed to update it to 2.7.b.0 nearly immediately.