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Hands-On With Apple's MagSafe Battery Pack

Just did my drain charge test with a dead iPhone 12 mini and a fully charged MagSafe Battery Pack. Only waking up the screen every 15 minutes to check battery %.

Cellular on and WIFI and Bluetooth on. DND on (so no notifications). I won't ever charge with all those things off so I thought that's a bit more realistic. However there was no interaction with the phone the whole time (nor did it get notifications) other than waking it up to check the battery %.

On an iPhone 12 mini it appears to give you another 79% of charge, obviously lower on other models:

15m: 12%
30m: 24%
45m: 33%
1h: 41%
1h15m: 49%
1h30m: 57%
1h45m: 64%
2h: 71%
2h15m: 77%
2h20m: 79%

Then the MagSafe Battery Pack depletes.
 
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Here’s a question for those who have it; if you plug in the lightning cable (with 20W charger) to the battery pack while it’s attached to the phone, will it charge both the phone and battery? If it does, that would be cool because then you could use wired headphones and still have a spare port.
 
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I think I need a compatibility grid…. So, I can charge the battery by lightning, and I can charge the phone by MagSafe from the battery while it’s charging from lightning, and I can charge the phone by lightning and I can charge the battery by MagSafe from the phone while it’s charging from lightning, I can charge the phone from MagSafe to a wall wart but can’t charge the battery from MagSafe to a wall wart?

I‘m guessing this was all to avoid charging a battery from a battery, but that just seems like an oversight in the protocol... A MagSafe source should be able to identify another source and disable power transfer, then the battery could have charged from MagSafe and done away with the superfluous lightning port.
 
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Johnny Steps said:
Here’s a question for those who have it; if you plug in the lightning cable to the battery pack while it’s attached to the phone, will it charge? If it does, that would be cool because then you could use wired headphones and still have a spare port.
Click to expand...
Yes it does. In that case it functions essentially like the typical MagSafe puck charger. I just tried it: Lightning cable from a 29W USB-C charger into the Battery Pack, iPhone on top of it. Both charge at the same time.
 
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ivantheipodder said:
Just did my drain charge test with a dead iPhone 12 mini and a fully charged MagSafe Battery Pack. Only waking up the screen every 15 minutes to check battery %. On an iPhone 12 mini it appears to give you another 79% of charge, obviously lower on other models:

15m: 12%
30m: 24%
45m: 33%
1h: 41%
1h15m: 49%
1h30m: 57%
1h45m: 64%
2h: 71%
2h15m: 77%
2h20m: 79%

Then the MagSafe Battery Pack depletes.
Click to expand...
Thanks for this but as the phone was charging did you have Airplane mode on + Wifi & Bluetooth turned off?
 
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Analog Kid said:
I think I need a compatibility grid…. So, I can charge the battery by lightning, and I can charge the phone by MagSafe from the battery while it’s charging from lightning, and I can charge the phone by lightning and I can charge the battery by MagSafe from the phone while it’s charging from lightning, I can charge the phone from MagSafe to a wall wart but can’t charge the battery from MagSafe to a wall wart?

I‘m guessing this was all to avoid charging a battery from a battery, but that just seems like an oversight in the protocol... A MagSafe source should be able to identify another source and disable power transfer, then the battery could have charged from MagSafe and done away with the superfluous lightning port.
Click to expand...
All of those statements are correct. There are cases where people try to charge the Battery Pack with the MagSafe puck charger or the Belkin dock but it just doesn't charge (it may briefly have the amber light on making you think it is charging - but it isn't). I have the Belkin dock and I tried it myself. Left it on for like 15 minutes. Took it off. Not charged.
 
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InGen said:
Thanks for this but as the phone was charging did you have Airplane mode on + Wifi & Bluetooth turned off?
Click to expand...
No to all. Only DND on. So no notifications. So cellular on and WIFI and Bluetooth on. I won't ever charge with all those things off so I thought that's a bit more realistic. However there was no interaction with the phone the whole time (nor did it get notifications) other than waking it up to check the battery %.
 
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fel10 said:
That is one of the ugliest products Apple has ever released.
Click to expand...
They said that about the Apple Smart Battery case (for iPhone 6). Maybe it's true for this Magsafe battery pack. Don't know. But certainly it isn't a beautiful device. The materials are a total mismatch for the phone.
 
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download.jpeg


Krylon to the rescue.
 
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I keep apple's battery case on my phone all day - slighly added bulk, but no issue with the case slipping off. This seems like this would be a pain to take in and out of one's pocket.
 
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