Hands-On With Apple's MagSafe Battery Pack

[physicsguy13]

IMHO, it’s the worst product ever released by Apple.

Ugly, slow, insufficient capacity, expensive, etc.

Don’t really see the point of this useless product. Personally think that wireless charging on the go is a bad idea.
a. The heat that is trapped in your bag will probably be harmful to your phone’s internal battery.
b. Not to mention the wastage of electricity due to wireless charging. So much for being environment friendly.

If you think this is the worst product Apple has ever released then you haven't been paying attention very long. It is a batter pack that isn't spectacular, is overpriced compared to the competition, and will likely sell just as well as the battery cases Apple made in the past.

 

[PhillyGuy72]

This looks kind of slick, no reviews though...so I don't know.

DEKSMO Wireless Power Bank 10000mAh Fast Charging,Slim Magnetic Portable Charger USB C PD 22.5W,Small LED Display Battery Pack for Mag-Safe/ iPhone16/15/14/13/12 /11 (Blue)

Wireless charging compatible device: iPhone12 Full range , iPhone11 Full range , iphone X Full range , iPhone 8 Full range , Other mobile phones supporting wireless charging Fast wire charger: iPhone Full range , Samsung Full range , Android phone Full range FOUR FUNCTIONS IN ONE POWER B...

www.amazon.com

 

[WhiteNiteLite]

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.

Speaking of charging a battery from a battery…looks like you can successfully charge an iPhone 11 battery case with the MagSafe battery.

 

[cflem]

IMHO, it’s the worst product ever released by Apple.

Ugly, slow, insufficient capacity, expensive, etc.

Don’t really see the point of this useless product. Personally think that wireless charging on the go is a bad idea.
a. The heat that is trapped in your bag will probably be harmful to your phone’s internal battery.
b. Not to mention the wastage of electricity due to wireless charging. So much for being environment friendly.

Good thing you don‘t have to buy it.

 

[Htsi]

Speaking of charging a battery from a battery…looks like you can successfully charge an iPhone 11 battery case with the MagSafe battery.

View attachment 1809284

Wireless charging on the smart battery case was my favorite feature

 

[mikext]

Sure

just returned it. want to see my receipt?

 

[InBruges]

If I have a 12 Pro at 10% how much should added capacity should this add to my phone?

Disappointingly, my 12 pro was at 16% when I connected the MagSafe pack. I was using it at 30% brightness and saw the iPhone level drop to 10% while it was being charged at 5W by the pack.
Left it on and went to sleep and woke up to a phone at 55% and MagSafe pack at 0%

 

[ivantheipodder]

Disappointingly, my 12 pro was at 16% when I connected the MagSafe pack. I was using it at 30% brightness and saw the iPhone level drop to 10% while it was being charged at 5W by the pack.
Left it on and went to sleep and woke up to a phone at 55% and MagSafe pack at 0%

Could it be that the battery pack depleted long before you woke up and so the phone had been using its own battery, meaning it could have been more than 55% when the battery pack depleted? Although even in that scenario, the phone would not have used that much battery just on standby with the screen locked.

 

[InBruges]

My big question is this:

Do you

a) get a lot more usage time out of the phone with the MagSafe battery connected the whole time. Is it more than efficient / designed to be used in this way? One of the reasons they limited to 5W on the go?

b) Do you get the same phone usage time by letting the phone charge in your bag until MagSafe is empty? I feel like this is very inefficient as my fully charged magsafe pack took my 12 pro from 10% to 55% while I was sleeping.

I’m running ios15 beta, so it shows as generic UPS - I think this only affects the icon in the battery widget though, and doesn’t affect how it operates

 

[jouster]

A hundred bucks and it wouldn't fully charge a phone? Yeah, think I'll pass.

 

[WhiteNiteLite]

I've got an iPhone 12 Pro. For my first test this morning, I was able to get my iPhone from 20% to 83% (a net 63% boost in about 2 hours).

I'm on iOS 14.7, I was on wifi, airplane mode was turned off, low power mode was turned off the entire time, DND was turned off (but almost no notifications came in during that time anyway), and Bluetooth was turned on. The only thing I used the phone for was to periodically check and screenshot the current battery levels.

I'll do some more tests with other configs, like with low power mode turned on the entire time, 5G data, LTE data, etc. But so far this definitely exceeded my expectations of what I thought I would get out of it. Low power mode might help to squeeze a bit more out of it too (I know for sure the phone was definitely doing stuff in the background since the screenshots I took uploaded to iCloud pretty quickly each time). Assuming I can also get at least a 50% boost while on cellular, I'd feel confident having this standing by in my pocket just in case my battery runs low early while on day trips into the city.

Here are my raw data points in case anyone is interested:
View attachment 1809131
View attachment 1809139

Edit: Additional data, graph

So I did a second unscientific test today...

tl;dr: My iPhone 12 Pro got a 66% boost in just under 2 hours.

This was the same setup as before (iPhone 12 Pro on wifi, iOS 14.7), but this time I had low power mode on the entire time (and manually re-enabled it when the phone hit 80%). The MagSafe battery was able to get the phone from 20% to 86% this time, and took a total of 1 hour and 57 minutes.

Like before, here's the nerd data I collected (now with even more nerdiness, like trendlines and elapsed times):

 

[erniefairchild1]

just returned it. want to see my receipt?

Yes, along with video proof that you didn’t just go out and buy it just so you could return it to make a point.

 

[Ralfi]

When you said “Reverse Charge” I took that as having the ability to wirelessly charge two devices at once, say an AirPods case on the non magnetised side? Is this not possible, or am I thinking of a rumour saying it was a possibility with a future firmware update?

 

[dk001]

This looks kind of slick, no reviews though...so I don't know.

DEKSMO Wireless Power Bank 10000mAh Fast Charging,Slim Magnetic Portable Charger USB C PD 22.5W,Small LED Display Battery Pack for Mag-Safe/ iPhone16/15/14/13/12 /11 (Blue)

Wireless charging compatible device: iPhone12 Full range , iPhone11 Full range , iphone X Full range , iPhone 8 Full range , Other mobile phones supporting wireless charging Fast wire charger: iPhone Full range , Samsung Full range , Android phone Full range FOUR FUNCTIONS IN ONE POWER B...

www.amazon.com

View attachment 1809257

For the heck of it I ordered and received this. Pretty cool and it charges my 12PM quite nicely.

One note: to get the magnets to stick firmly, the back of your device has to be naked. Even a thin leather back permits it to come off if you shake the device.

I’ll post some test results this weekend.

 

[CRAKZOR]

i hate that a cable is required

i wish i could wirelessly charge my wireless charger

 

[PhillyGuy72]

For the heck of it I ordered and received this. Pretty cool and it charges my 12PM quite nicely.

One note: to get the magnets to stick firmly, the back of your device has to be naked. Even a thin leather back permits it to come off if you shake the device.

I’ll post some test results this weekend.
View attachment 1810203View attachment 1810204

Very cool, thanks for the review!

Yeah, I am seeing a lot of "weak magnet" comments on reviews for many of the 3rd party MagSafe chargers. Few work well with a MagSafe phone case, but many don't and easily come off.

 

[brodandre]

I got one of these for me and my other half to use when we’re out, in case one of us ends up with a low battery. I have a 12 Pro Max, and she has an 11 Pro, with a 3rd party clear case with “MagSafe-esque” magnets to allow her phone to use MagSafe accessories. I can confirm that the battery will charge an iPhone 11 Pro with one of these MagSafe-type cases, though it (obviously) doesn’t have the charging status passed through to the phone, or the ability to reverse charge.

 

[P-DogNC]

For the heck of it I ordered and received this. Pretty cool and it charges my 12PM quite nicely.

One note: to get the magnets to stick firmly, the back of your device has to be naked. Even a thin leather back permits it to come off if you shake the device.

I’ll post some test results this weekend.
View attachment 1810203View attachment 1810204

How well would this charger adhere to an official Apple MagSafe iPhone case? I have both a leather one and a silicone one for my 12 Pro.

 

[dk001]

How well would this charger adhere to an official Apple MagSafe iPhone case? I have both a leather one and a silicone one for my 12 Pro.

I don’t have an official mag-safe phone case. I usually go naked or with a thin leather back plate only.
I figure that a mag-safe case cannot be any better than naked.

 

[jaisonline]

What’s the point of this $100 battery pack if you can’t stay in place when you move the phone around or in/out of a pocket. Why not make a battery case like w/ the iPhone 11 models & older…

 

[The Game 161]

What’s the point of this $100 battery pack if you can’t stay in place when you move the phone around or in/out of a pocket. Why not make a battery case like w/ the iPhone 11 models & older…

Why wouldn’t it stay in place? If you know it’s in your pocket you take it out differently

 

[dk001]

For the heck of it I ordered and received this. Pretty cool and it charges my 12PM quite nicely.

One note: to get the magnets to stick firmly, the back of your device has to be naked. Even a thin leather back permits it to come off if you shake the device.

I’ll post some test results this weekend.
View attachment 1810203View attachment 1810204

So I went ahead and tested this battery pack out on my 12 Promax.
1. Depleted battery to 20%
2. I killed all background tasks but left the device in normal connected to wifi and 5G
3. Started with 100% on battery pack.
4. Took 3 hrs and 45 minutes to charge the 12PM to 100%.
5. The battery pack showed 46% left after a full charge.
6. The last approx 10% took a long time to get to that 100 mark.
7. Pictures below.

 

[sahni130]

I bought one today. I have to say I really like it so far. To me it’s just like the MagSafe Duo Charger, expensive for what it is but works really well. It’s nowhere near as thick or heavy as some of the reviews made it seem. Build quality seems good so far. Paying for the brand and ease of use- and that’s fine with me 🤦🏽🤷

 

[MacAlien]

We got one cause the one similar that we’ve had a few months was getting a wee bit dangerous (falling apart). It’s simply a charger. Not expecting it to fully charge an iPhone Mini or Pro Max from zero, only enough to be able to use the phone at the end of a 12 hour day as the SO’s mini is generally around 5-20% by then mostly to be able to order a Lyft and such.

It does the job plenty fine, even if it’s a bit unintuitive. Except for when attached to the phone, it’s not exactly easy to decipher how much charge is left on it. We also had no clues whether it loses charge sitting in backpack until needed. Still unsure. It does have its teensy tiny status light underneath but that’s about as helpful as the lack of info included in the box. They didn’t even include a lightning cable. Kinda idiotic considering they moved everybody towards MagSafe charging for their phones and other devices. /boggle

It does stick super nicely with the Silicone case vs other similar chargers. The main thing SO needed was that it simply worked without fidgeting with wires or cases and all that. It’s definitely a no frills battery pack like most out there. They’ll probably have colorized versions later. Maybe even improve it slightly but I wouldn’t hold my breathe.

Overall, it’s fine for what it is. It is overpriced but that’s Apple and I’m sure they’ll bring it down a whopping $5 for Christmas… I think folks maybe expect too much out of it and think it should either be charging everything all day long at 100% or needs to charge a phone from 0-100% within an hour based on some posts here. Not many (if any?) similar packs can even do that so complaining about that seems a bit shortsightedness, maybe?

 

[mikext]

How well would this charger adhere to an official Apple MagSafe iPhone case? I have both a leather one and a silicone one for my 12 Pro.

i'm using an apple brand silicone case on my mini, it was pretty secure except for the top of the battery case. it wiggled pretty easily. it also seemed to snap off pretty easily if you slid the battery pack left or right. i only had the case for a few hours but i would imagine it would be a pain when slipping it into a tight jeans pocket.