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At what % battery health did you replace your watch battery?

eclipse01

eclipse01

macrumors 68030
Original poster
May 16, 2011
2,899
441
Eau Claire, WI
I am at 81% and can rarely get to 14 hours anymore without it dying AW5 (cellular), this is even with light use.

debating on doing the $70 (or $80) battery/watch swap.
 
My series 5 is at 87%, lasts all day...except when I use a golf GPS tracking app, with that it is dead by early evening.
 
I have a used Series 4. It has 95% battery health and last all day easily. Though I'm not a heavy user other than typical notifications, unlocking the Mac, controlling music. Workout, etc. It doesn't have always on display tho.
 
I'm not sure how it happened, but my 10 month old Series 7 is down to 89% battery health. I can't get through a typical day without topping it up.
 
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jz0309 said:
I have seen several posts here where people tried to get it replaced by Apple above 80%, and apparently were willing to pay - but Apple didn't do it
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I've had experiences like that, but I show them Apple's own website knowledge base where it states a user can request such battery swap for a fee.

Granted that was once on the iPhone XS I had.
 
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jav6454 said:
I've had experiences like that, but I show them Apple's own website knowledge base where it states a user can request such battery swap for a fee.

Granted that was once on the iPhone XS I had.
Click to expand...
ok, can you share a link? I'm sure some folks here would appreciate that.
 
My 5 is at 92% capacity and usually will still get the 18 hours of use Apple claims. Some days depending on use I can go a second day before charging. But both my wife and I are getting new watches. Me an Ultra and she is getting an 8. I’ve never really had an issue with the battery even when we had the series 0. But I always get the larger version.
 
If the AW battery health is slightly above 80%, I have heard of people being able to get the $79 "battery service" (which is actually a new or refurb watch).

But if it is like 90%, Apple will generally refuse, for an AW. They refused for me, when mine was at 85%. Reason is people have abused it - they get a scratch, then go in and demand battery service, and basically get a replacement watch for $79. Apple is not that stupid - they lose money on these "battery replacements" - certainly a lost opportunity cost, if not anything else.
 
Kind of off topic. How do people feel about selling your used watch with say 84% battery left. Apple trade-in for a series 5 in good condition 85 dollars I may be able to sell it for maybe 150-175 on my own, but not sure how I feel unless I state it in add about battery life left.
 
reggavegga said:
Kind of off topic. How do people feel about selling your used watch with say 84% battery left. Apple trade-in for a series 5 in good condition 85 dollars I may be able to sell it for maybe 150-175 on my own, but not sure how I feel unless I state it in add about battery life left.
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I would state it, on the basis of do unto others as you would want them to do unto you.
But others would say caveat emptor, which is fine too, and I have no problem with that. An S5 should be expected to have battery life in the mid-80s by now, so the buyer expecting much more is not realistic.

If it was below 80%, which is below Apple's acceptable limit, I think it would be verging on deceptive to not disclose it. In that case, it would make more sense to pay $79 for a battery replacement, then you could sell it for more because it will be in pristine condition with a 100% battery.
 
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I will state it if I go that route. Plus I would sell it with box, charger cable and brick since I think it came with all that back then.
 
jav6454 said:
I linked the page to setup the battery replacement if you still have an old device you'd like to either have as a spare, sell or give as a hand me down.
Click to expand...
yep definitely a tough choice. I opted to get the apple watch ultra because I'm terrible at putting my watch back on after i charged it. I have the ceramic S5 and i was thinking of giving it to my friend but it's such a limited edition item i'm sentimental to it.
 
jav6454 said:
I've had experiences like that, but I show them Apple's own website knowledge base where it states a user can request such battery swap for a fee.

Granted that was once on the iPhone XS I had.
Click to expand...
They don’t replace the entire unit for iPhone battery service though… just the battery. On a watch, they will replace the whole thing hence their “below 80%” requirement.
 
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