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iPhone 5 or earlier Buy or not buy? Weird Battery status on used iPhone 5S off Craigslist.

T

timidhermit

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 6, 2011
378
3
I am buying an used iPhone 5S off Craiglist. The seller appeared to be honest so I am not suspecting anything fishy.

However, when I checked the battery stats on the phone using Lirum Device Info, one of the rare apps still on the App Store that are able to show battery cycles used (a stats that Apple now blocks), it shows that the phone already had a charge cycle of 714! Yet, strangely, the battery wear level was still only at 90% (1398 mAh out of factory max of 1550 mAh).

I have not seen such a mismatch before. According to Apple's own guidelines, iPhones typically only have a lifetime charge cycle of about 500 before dropping to 80% wear level. I do not believe the seller would be tech savvy enough to hack the battery stats. The voltage, discharge rate, and other stats looked fine to me.

Can someone more knowledgeable about iPhone battery life explain this discrepancy to me?

The seller is asking a below market value price, so is this a good phone to buy still? The phone is to be used by the family only to watch YouTube videos and listen to radios in bed.
 
About $50 cheaper than the local prices in my neighborhood.

Regardless of the price, I am more curious about the technical details of why the battery stats is like this. Knowing this info will help me with future purchases even if I don't end up getting this phone.
 
How does that app show correct numbers when Apple doesn’t even provide it from the os level itself?! ‍♂️
 
I think it is with private API calls. Not certain however. As you know, if the phone is jailbroken, there are plenty of apps that can pull off this stats. I still remember in the old days up to iOS 7 that such stats can be easily obtainable with an app. For the current scenario, however, such is obviously not possible.
 
Is that app on the AppStore? Then it can’t definitely be using any private APIs.
 
Wear level is only an estimate.

Charge cycles are measured.

Beyond charge cycles, you have battery aging. Even if the battery was not used, li-ion batteries start aging the moment they leave the factory.

Assume you will need to replace the battery because it's unlikely anything from the iPhone 5 era still has a healthy battery.
 
Last edited:
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JackieInCo said:
The same way Coconut battery can read the battery stats on any iPhone, Apple allows it.
Click to expand...

That’s a OS X app. The protocols are different. Apple needs to keep that cross OS access available to run their own diagnostics. That’s what coconut battery uses. iOS, however, doesn’t provide direct access to such battery info at the OS level. The apps simply can’t have that data without the OS granting them the info.
 
My kids have my 4S and 5S to watch youtube videos, play minecraft, etc. Don't recall what the battery levels are now, but I can guarantee you they are below 80%. They can still use them for some time between charges. Enough where they don't have to stay tethered to a socket.

Given your stated use of the device, I'd say you are fine going with it.
 
That wear level isn't usual.
This is mine (2 different apps)
Ip6+ iOS 9
image.png
image.png
 
There are loads of good condition 6s on swappa for $250. I can't imagine buying a 5 and having a good experience, I'm sorry.
 
Thanks for the screenshots. This is most interesting. Though the battery capacity of the iPhone 5S is obviously different from iPhone 6 Plus, I am truly surprised to see the very high battery cycle charges you accumulated already on your phone even though the battery wear is just 5%. Very unexpected...

now i see it said:
That wear level isn't usual.
This is mine (2 different apps)
Ip6+ iOS 9
View attachment 758726
View attachment 758727
Click to expand...
 
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