Apple Says $29 Battery Replacements Are One-Per-iPhone When Device Passes Diagnostic Test

[essential]

Have you had the battery checked to see if it's at EOL? If it's not, then the issues you're experiencing aren't likely to be related to the battery or the throttling feature at all. You'd be better off focusing on the standard troubleshooting steps.

I'm def being throttled. I start my phone as new with every new iOS, so I just started new with iOS 11 not to long ago. According to geekbench I'm getting a 1060 (should be 1471) single core, and a 1776 multicore score (should be 2472).

Also, on the geekbench battery benchmark (partial discharge test) I went from 100% to 20% in 2 and a half hours. I'm sure my battery is shot and has been for a while. I've been using a charging case for over a year.

I did take my phone to Apple (prior to the $29 replacement program) and I was turned away because my frame is bent (iPhone 6 bendgate issue) and they wouldn't be able to get it back together, which I'm unsure if that's true. They told me they can't change the battery and I'd need a total replacement for $325. I said no thanks, for that much I would just buy a new phone. I have a launch 6 Plus, and I now regret not making a big deal about the bend while it was still under warranty, I didn't think it was a big deal at the time.

I think I'd still going to change this battery myself after I get a new phone, but I'm not going to now just in case it really doesn't go back together.

 

[Shanghaichica]

I still don't get why apple gets to choose who can get a battery replaced and who can't. even when it was at full price they would turn people away..... shoot if I'm paying for it just replace it Apple some people don't want to wait for a crap battery to replace it and have the means to do so before then........

Apple are not choosing. Everyone gets one $29 replacement battery regardless of what the diagnostic says. If you want a second replacement you will have to pay $79 unless the diagnostic qualifies you for another replacement at $29. Apple are not choosing who can have it replaced any all.

 

[bodonnell202]

Seems fair. My 6s battery is still pretty good (92% according to coconut battery), but I was thinking of taking advantage of this anyway in a few months when I have a few more cycles on the battery.

 

[WannaGoMac]

The only one that is winning is Macrumors forum page view of ads from this endless cycle of news updates and forum arguments.

 

[Shanghaichica]

Seems fair to me. Why would anyone NEED to replace their battery twice in a single year anyway? They're already replacing the battery at a discounted price even if it passes diagnostic.

People could abuse it if they come replacing the battery every 6 months just because they're paranoid that their device has slowed down.

Could be the same reason they are having to replace it so soon (now) anyhow..

I'm fine w/ restrictions on this $30 program, but not on the $80/full price paid by customer replacements.

Perhaps they should just let people replace their batteries indefinitely for $29

 

[turbineseaplane]

Perhaps they should just let people replace their batteries indefinitely for $29

The price is debatable (likely should be higher), but they definitely should let people pay for a new battery on their phone anytime they want one.

That's a fair trade-off for the customer to have in this world of non-user replaceable batteries.

 

[essential]

Do you think your battery health is stable? Your phone shut off at 30% prior to 10.2.1, now you see it being slow around 50%? So, 9 months later (270 cycles) later and you’re wondering why it’s affecting higher percentages. Just get your battery changed. Had you not been on 10.2.1 your phone would be consistently shutting down and you’d go in and get a new battery because that’s what you do with devices that have sealed lithium-ion batteries.

You misread my post. I only had the shutdown issues when the battery was around 30% or less, and I know I never had that issue when I was 50% or above. It's been over a year which is why I'm generalizing at 50% but if I recall correctly it was around 30% or less if I'd experience a random restart. I never had any kind of slowness like I do now prior to 10.2.1 ... now I'm slow all the time, at any battery level. Also, I acknowledge the slowness has gotten worse as time has gone on, which I'm sure is attributed to the battery continuing to degrade (you quoted me saying this).

Also what's with the extremes? Even if I had random restarts, it was once or twice a week. Why do people think this was happening 6 times a day? Maybe it was for others, or maybe that's where Apple thought it would go, but with a launch iPhone 6 Plus it wasn't nearly as frequent as people's statements make it seem.

And I posted again but Apple turned me away for a battery replacement because of my bent frame. But that's also a big reason why so many people are upset. I knew my battery was not new, but I had no idea that's why my phone was slowing down. That was never mentioned, and I would have gone much sooner to try and get a new battery had I known. I'm sure many people just bought new phones. It's one of the main underlying issues of this whole story.

 

[tivoboy]

As is sadly somewhat usual with apple, this process to repair could use a lot of work. I setup an appt. over a week ago and had one last friday. Of course, they do all their testing and found that it probably wasnt the battery causing the shut downs, etc.. but its a NQA process for this replacement. but, they of course don't have any batteries and the parts have to be ordered, so the user has to walk away and COME BACK a 2nd time just to get it done. All this overall can take many minutes to hours for an individual wherever they are. Driving, parking, walking, waiting, working the process, walking.. repeat several times. It's not very consumer friendly and sadly, I believe, is meant to discourage.

 

[Shanghaichica]

The price is debatable (likely should be higher), but they definitely should let people pay for a new battery on their phone anytime they want one.

That's a fair trade-off for the customer to have in this world of non-user replaceable batteries.

Realistically there needs to be a cut off point where they will no longer replace batteries even at a cost. Should they be expected to replace the battery when the phone is 6 years old or 8 years or 10 years old.

 

[mi7chy]

Defective battery replacement should be free like how other companies handle defect replacement. And, regular price should be no more than $29 every year thereafter considering the battery BOM cost to Apple is $2.50. $79 is about the cost of a new high build quality phone with excellent 4000mAh battery life and only 8.4mm.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/AT-T-PREPAID-Huawei-Ascend-XT2-16GB-Prepaid-Smartphone-Silver/854006794

 

[SchmeeX]

I'm def being throttled. I start my phone as new with every new iOS, so I just started new with iOS 11 not to long ago. According to geekbench I'm getting a 1060 (should be 1471) single core, and a 1776 multicore score (should be 2472).

Also, on the geekbench battery benchmark (partial discharge test) I went from 100% to 20% in 2 and a half hours. I'm sure my battery is shot and has been for a while. I've been using a charging case for over a year.

I did take my phone to Apple (prior to the $29 replacement program) and I was turned away because my frame is bent (iPhone 6 bendgate issue) and they wouldn't be able to get it back together, which I'm unsure if that's true. They told me they can't change the battery and I'd need a total replacement for $325. I said no thanks, for that much I would just buy a new phone. I have a launch 6 Plus, and I now regret not making a big deal about the bend while it was still under warranty, I didn't think it was a big deal at the time.

I think I'd still going to change this battery myself after I get a new phone, but I'm not going to now just in case it really doesn't go back together.

They have nothing to gain personally from telling you it won’t go back together, but save them self the embarrassment of not being able to get the phone back together in the Repair Room. If it’s bent, it’s going to be really difficult to get the screen back in and the security screws fastened.

 

[maflynn]

[MOD NOTE]
Thread closed for moderator review

A number of posts were removed, please stay on topic and be respectful


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[Baymowe335]

Microsoft and windows 10. My desktop is 8 years old and still supported.

Many game consoles supported for many years.

Hardware support? You aren't replacing anything on that for $29 and they probably won't even look at it.
[doublepost=1515440889][/doublepost]

Defective battery replacement should be free like how other companies handle defect replacement. And, regular price should be no more than $29 every year thereafter considering the battery BOM cost to Apple is $2.50. $79 is about the cost of a new high build quality phone with excellent 4000mAh battery life and only 8.4mm.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/AT-T-PREPAID-Huawei-Ascend-XT2-16GB-Prepaid-Smartphone-Silver/854006794

What cell phone company replaces batteries for free for the life of the phone? If you are in the warranty period and your battery is defective, Apple will replace it for free a year. With AppleCare, they'll replace any hardware failure for 2 years.

Apple is extending its hardware support on batteries for $29 on any phone for September 2014 and forward.

Whether it costs apple $2 or $200 for a battery doesn't mean you deserve a new battery forever.

Apple isn't in the budget smartphone business, so the $79 phone you posted is meaningless. That's like saying the Note 7 should have used the same high quality battery and shouldn't have exploded and cost $900. What could the Note 7 really do that this $79 can't? Kind of a silly comparison.

Actually, the $79 Android compares better to the $950 Note 8 because they both run Android. I'd pay $700 premium just to not have to run Android.

 

[gnipgnop]

I'm def being throttled. I start my phone as new with every new iOS, so I just started new with iOS 11 not to long ago. According to geekbench I'm getting a 1060 (should be 1471) single core, and a 1776 multicore score (should be 2472).

If the phone performance is slow in general, then it's either an EOL battery or a problem unrelated to the battery. The throttling feature introduced in 10.2.1 isn't designed to run all the time. It's only for big peaks/valleys in power draw relative to remaining voltage. You should get the battery checked instead of running Geekbench, which artificially triggers the throttling due to how it loads the CPU and doesn't use the standard idle time of a typical app.

 

[Act3]

Hardware support? You aren't replacing anything on that for $29 and they probably won't even look at it.

way to deflect, your post stated "Name another consumer products company that supports 3.5 year old stuff in any capacity."

I gave you two examples. Support in any capacity includes software upgrades/updates

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

But the optional trigger would be "throttle phone under load" or "have phone restart"

That's not really an option, why would you want the phone to freeze and restart?

It doesn't freeze or restart- that's just spin to try to rationalize secretly adding this throttling code. I've had iDevices from the beginning. This throttling code was apparently added relatively recently- with iOS 10.2.1. My iDevices rarely froze or restarted with all the versions of iOS before that and with what would conceptually be inferior battery technologies from as far back as 2007. Probably about EVERYONE that frequents this site have had iDevices from well before 10.2.1. Did they have a lot of NEED for this throttling code because their iDevices were frequently freezing or restarting when their batteries got old enough for this code to kick in? I can't speak for them, but I never had much problem that way- just the consistent observation that my iDevices would seem to get slower and slower as iOS upgrades were applied.

If this throttling code was always there, posts like yours would have more merit. But this code is apparently relatively new and yet, we can't go flipping back to the times before iOS 10.2.1 and find countless posts of people griping about their iDevices "freezing & restarting" when batteries got a little older. The close gripe has always been that their iDevices just seem to get slower as they update iOS.

You've been on here a long time (since 2007). Can you point me back to a bunch of posts from you griping at Apple for delivering iPhones to you that were freezing & restarting (basically encouraging Apple to build some throttling code into your own iPhones before they actually did it)? Generally, I NEVER see a post from you offering anything that might seem critical of Apple. If this was indeed a big problem that needed this particular remedy (applied to EVERYONE's iPhone), were you one to call Apple out for NOT having this in place before 10.2.1? Or was Apple just as right as they are apparently now for NOT having this throttling code in iOS for all those versions of iOS that were on iPhones without it?

 

[Act3]

You should get the battery checked instead of running Geekbench, which artificially triggers the throttling due to how it loads the CPU and doesn't use the standard idle time of a typical app.

BS, geekbench is perfectly fine on comparing whether your phone is getting throttled. Even Apple used Geekbench to test their iOS fix for the meltdown flaw and how it affects system performance.

artficial throttling? Lol , thats a funny term. Same thing would throttle when using any app that isnt a benchmark yet fully demands processing power.

 

[tennisproha]

ITT, people complaining about iphone batteries while having read none of the releases. Almost everyone complaining doesn't understand what's actually going on or is saying something that isn't true.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Here's a start:
February 2016 iPhone 6s turning off at 10-20%
Strangely, complaints right after release:
October 2015: Some iPhone 6s Owners Seeing Their Phones Randomly Shut Off
Reddits from 2015, 2016
Reddit: iPhone shutting down

Google search is good at helping people remember.

I didn't say it NEVER has happened to anyone. Of course computing devices crash, restart & freeze. I bet someone with a brand new iMac Pro NOT dependent on batteries at all has already suffered a crash, restart or freeze. Hop back into those threads and it's not large numbers suffering such problems- just some people... much like some people experiencing yellow screens and posting it... or getting bad cellular reception and posting it... etc.

Here, the secret remedy was applied to EVERYONE's iDevices without their knowledge. Interestingly, this particular remedy would discreetly make iDevices run slower which, among other things, would likely motivate some users to think their device needs to be upgraded to a newer iDevice.

Was this throttling code necessary? Apparently even Apple didn't think so until iOS 10.2.1. Did it become necessary at that point? Apparently those that swallow anything Apple offers as gospel are quick to try to rationalize that yes indeed, it is NECESSARY. Those that are not so quick to accept anything Apple offers- that is, those that can really "think different-" might just think about their own experiences with iDevices long before iOS 10.2.1 and how often they were freezing & randomly restarting.

Did my iDevices EVER freeze, crash or restart before 10.2.1? Of course- ALL COMPUTING DEVICES are not flawless. They will freeze, crash and/or restart. But it was never a big problem for me for all those years prior to Apple deciding that I- along with every single other iPhone user- needed this "solution" secretly installed on our iPhones.

 

[Ploki]

You should get the battery checked instead of running Geekbench, which artificially triggers the throttling due to how it loads the CPU and doesn't use the standard idle time of a typical app.

... are you kidding me?

I shouldn't use CPU demanding apps to see if my device works as expected?
So geekbench worked fine and showed a good result, then after one year, it shows a 40% worse result, and you7re telling me I'm using it wrong?

Are you for real? even apple's own PR isn't as apologetic as you are..

 

[cyb3rdud3]

The only one that is winning is Macrumors forum page view of ads from this endless cycle of news updates and forum arguments.

And geekbench selling many more of their app than they would have done normally

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

... are you kidding me?

I shouldn't use CPU demanding apps to see if my device works as expected?
So geekbench worked fine and showed a good result, then after one year, it shows a 40% worse result, and you7re telling me I'm using it wrong?

Are you for real? even apple's own PR isn't as apologetic as you are..

That guy is in every thread about this topic, seemingly extraordinarily committed to trying to redirect forum opinion toward faulting Geekbench. Never a word against Apple, only Geekbench. Of course, you can't go back in time and find him discrediting Geekbench when it was being slung around as showing new iDevices running so much faster than older iDevices as part of trying to help move us all to buy new iDevices. Apparently Geekbench is only wrong when it implies something wrong about Apple. When it implies Apple has made hardware faster, it is just fine.

 

[essential]

Hardware support? You aren't replacing anything on that for $29 and they probably won't even look at it.

I do my own computer repairs, but you can upgrade RAM or replace power supplies for relatively cheap in older computers. Also, SSDs have come down a lot, you can get a good deal around $50 these days. I added RAM and put in a SSD and installed Windows 10 clean in my parents old Dell (maybe 2006ish) for less than $100 and it feels basically new. My computer is much more powerful but from just a web browseing, basic computing standpoint (Word, Excel) you can't tell the difference.

If the phone performance is slow in general, then it's either an EOL battery or a problem unrelated to the battery. The throttling feature introduced in 10.2.1 isn't designed to run all the time. It's only for big peaks/valleys in power draw relative to remaining voltage. You should get the battery checked instead of running Geekbench, which artificially triggers the throttling due to how it loads the CPU and doesn't use the standard idle time of a typical app.

I started iOS 11 as a new phone, and as I and many have said in a lot of these threads, although throttling is stated as only taking place for big peaks/valleys, that is not that case ... it's on all the time. I could tell I was lagging with a clean iOS while I was just trying to re-download apps. Yes you can say it's another issue but it's not. I wish I could change the battery to prove that would make the difference but I can't at the moment cause of my bent case.

I have one friend who did get a new battery over the summer who's iPhone 6 was basically in the same shape as mine (just not a Plus) and he said his got way faster with a new battery. I thought it was a placebo effect because I didn't understand how a new battery could increase the performance of the phone. When these reports came out it all made sense.

 

[FelixDerKater]

Passes or fails the diagnostic test?

 

[aristobrat]

Was this throttling code necessary? Apparently even Apple didn't think so until iOS 10.2.1. Did it become necessary at that point? Apparently those that swallow anything Apple offers as gospel are quick to try to rationalize that yes indeed, it is NECESSARY.

Here's a snippet from an article published November of 2016.

A mysterious problem causing iPhones to unexpectedly shut down is much larger than Apple has admitted to, Chinese authorities say, and affects iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and iPhone 6s Plus devices—not just the iPhone 6s.

The China Consumers Association, a government watchdog group, said Nov. 30 that Apple needs to take further measures to address the problem, and accused the company of failing to “meet basic consumer needs for normal wireless communication.” The notice is the second the group has sent to Apple in a month, and illustrates how Beijing has become one of the toughest overseers of the Cupertino-based hardware maker.

https://qz.com/850058/iphone-batter...an-apple-aapl-admits-chinese-authorities-say/

It's interesting to me how there are so many tech blog/news articles from before 10.2.1 was released, talking about an issue where iPhones with 30-40% battery left unexpectedly shutdown -- and more importantly -- cannot be restarted until plugged into a charger (because you know, everyone walks around with a charger on them, right?!) -- but your point seems to be that "all computers/phones crash/freeze/reboot".

Nobody is arguing that computers/phones don't crash/freeze/reboot. They do. That's life. BUT THAT IS NOT THE ISSUE BEING DISCUSSED HERE.

What's unusual is for a phone to shutdown as if the battery completely died -- and not restart until you plug it into a charger -- at which time it instantly springs back to life showing (wait for it) that it still has 30-40% battery charge. That's a problem. That's unusual. That's something that did not happen with older iPhone models, but then again, Apple changes the battery and processor design with every model, so why would it have to have happened to prior models to quality as an actual problem (vs. one that Appel's fabricating, which seems to be your position).