iPhone SE (2016) Coconut Battery Fluctuating Massively

[jjang1993]

Hi everyone. I own a 2011 White MacBook running OSX Sierra 10.12.6, and an iPhone SE running iOS 10.2.1. I do not wish my upgrade firmware to have my battery life negatively affected or have the phone slow down. Apple just rolling out iOS 12.3 today further brings concern. I had the iPhone SE battery replaced back in December 2018 and it has 95 charge cycles on it according coconut battery.

At various points within a 48 hour period, coconut battery has said my iPhone SE has 95% design capacity, to 64.1%, 56.2%, to 82%, and then now to 13.5%.

I did a soft reset on my iPhone SE and I also drained the battery to zero by running a Youtube video at full brightness and with the flashlight on and charged it back up to 100% in low power mode to try recalibrate it before getting the most recent reading of 13.5%.

Can coconut battery readings fluctuate like this? The readings are also consistent with iMazing and the third party Battery Life app that still runs on iOS 10.2.1.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Are you running coconut on your device when at 100% charged?

 

[jjang1993]

Yeah, It's at 100% capacity. Since recalibrating it, it's now getting pretty buggy. Crashing randomly.

 

[Newtons Apple]

I would have Apple test your battery. Sounds like it going bad.

 

[benshive]

Sounds like a bad battery. I had a similar issue when I had a crappy third party battery in my Mac once. Ended up buying an OEM one from iFixit and haven't had anymore issues with it.

 

[jjang1993]

Ok, it just went from 90%, crashed, turn it back on to see it at 11%, plugged it into coconut battery and it's at 83.4% design capacity now. I should've never recalibrate this thing to begin with.
[doublepost=1557862837][/doublepost]Yeah, when I return back to the states, I'm having the shop that changed out the battery change it out again, they have a warranty on their work.

 

[benshive]

Ok, it just went from 90%, crashed, turn it back on to see it at 11%, plugged it into coconut battery and it's at 83.4% design capacity now. I should've never recalibrate this thing to begin with.
[doublepost=1557862837][/doublepost]Yeah, when I return back to the states, I'm having the shop that changed out the battery change it out again, they have a warranty on their work.

Are you going to a shop officially supported by Apple? If not they may be using low quality batteries.

 

[jjang1993]

Coconut battery has been also buggy in reading my iPhone 5s. Going from 75% to 54% to 65% to 82% back to 76%.
[doublepost=1557863279][/doublepost]Hmm, looks like the place I went to isn't and Apple certified shop. Damn.

 

[now i see it]

Can coconut battery readings fluctuate like this?

Yes. On my phone I've seen it go from 65% low to 100%. Today it's at 98.5% for a 4 year old battery with 1075 cycles.

It can't be relied on as accurate. But if your phone is crashing & you have a non-apple replacement battery in there, that likely is the problem.

 

[jjang1993]

It really hasn't started doing that until after I recalibrated it. Something odd must be going on. I'm currently abroad overseas using my iPhone 5s with a local SIM card, so I have the SE on airplane mode (Verizon's international Travel Pass is very expensive to use for long trips). I called the shop who changed out the battery and they said they'd replace the battery but they'd first have to upgrade the firmware first to rule any firmware issues out. A friend of mine has an iPhone SE with a local carrier here in France, and he's using 12.2 with no issues. I wonder if it's worth upgrading the firmware at this point or try a wait and see period after I recharge the battery back to 100% overnight without putting it on low power mode.

 

[jjang1993]

Ok, so I updated to iOS 12.3, the device is no longer shutting down but it is running slower, and it is very very slow when the battery gets low. I’m not getting any battery readings on the battery health setting either. As always, coconut battery’s readings are still fluctuating. When I get back to the states i’m taking this back to the shop i had it replaced it, they warranty their work. They did say they use OEM batteries when I got it replaced. I’m wondering if I should just order a genuine apple battery, or one of those higher capacity ones and have them install that.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Ok, so I updated to iOS 12.3, the device is no longer shutting down but it is running slower, and it is very very slow when the battery gets low. I’m not getting any battery readings on the battery health setting either. As always, coconut battery’s readings are still fluctuating. When I get back to the states i’m taking this back to the shop i had it replaced it, they warranty their work. They did say they use OEM batteries when I got it replaced. I’m wondering if I should just order a genuine apple battery, or one of those higher capacity ones and have them install that.

Apple does not sell batteries or other parts to repair people, ever.

You battery is not OEM unless they robbed an Apple battery out of someone else’s Apple phone.