iFixit Reduces Price of All DIY iPhone Battery Replacement Kits to $29 or Less

[ftaok]

i posted my screed before apple announced that they would replace batteries that still pass their diagnostics. my main gripe was having to go through the hassle of convincing apple that the battery needed to be replaced.

in light of the new policy, obviously i think it's better to pay $29 to apple to just do it, assuming they really do replace the battery no questions asked.

the elephant in the room is that i believe they are still needlessly crippling older phones. as i mentioned my kids iphone6 phones are still fine, never unexpectedly shut down, run fast... and are running ios10.

Keep them on iOS10 for as long as you can. Consider doing the tvOS profile trick to prevent the update from auto-downloading.

My 6 (with a lousy battery at the time) went from extremely usable to garbage as soon as I updated from 10 to 11. And since they stopped signing 10, there's no going back after you've updated.

The new battery brings my 6 back to where it should be, speedwise. Which is slightly slower than how it performed under 10.

 

[yanki01]

I chose this route with iFixit as opposed to apple being my iPhone 6 was well out of warranty and have no apple store near me. I actually installed it 3 months ago to the date.

my iPhone 6 was noticeable shot after 10.2.1. there was some fuss made on here by me about that specific iOS update being horrible but obviously not enough to get a response from apple like they've done. I even went to install iOS 11 before the battery swap and nothing made my iPhone 6 perform better. it was overall slow and very noticeable, often frustrated with it.

in June, i needed an external battery case to at least last me through the day. i ended up with a Mophie Juice Pack Plus. the first month or so it would last all day and not need to recharge the case. after I would eat up through the case charge plus would have to charge the case at work to last the rest of the day. towards the iPhone X keynote, the iPhone 6 and Mophie case wouldn't last until noon. the battery was non-stop draining.

ran a benchmark and was noticeable low. ran coconutbattery and was also noticeably low on health. a little after the iPhone X keynote, I ordered the iFixit kit after reviewing a lot of battery replacement videos. the swap was very easy and took about 15 minutes total. after that, battery life and performance was really good. no need to recharge during the day. it would last all day for me.

I only needed it until i received my iPhone X which i got on launch day. i've since turned on my iPhone 6 a couple of times and it still turns on with the same charge i turned it off a couple of months ago.

 

[joeblough]

Keep them on iOS10 for as long as you can. Consider doing the tvOS profile trick to prevent the update from auto-downloading.

My 6 (with a lousy battery at the time) went from extremely usable to garbage as soon as I updated from 10 to 11. And since they stopped signing 10, there's no going back after you've updated.

The new battery brings my 6 back to where it should be, speedwise. Which is slightly slower than how it performed under 10.

thanks for that tip, i didn't know about that. i will work on that tonight (unfortunately it seems pretty involved). one of them auto-downloaded the update last night and i told my kid to delete the update. i don't know if that really helps (it might nag for an overnight upgrade even if the package is not downloaded?)

the problem, as far as i can see, is that in just a few months a 6 with a new battery will end up throttled. my new battery is only 9 months old and i never reach 1400mhz and am only at 1100mhz for 100-80% charge, which sucks.

 

[ftaok]

thanks for that tip, i didn't know about that. i will work on that tonight (unfortunately it seems pretty involved). one of them auto-downloaded the update last night and i told my kid to delete the update. i don't know if that really helps (it might nag for an overnight upgrade even if the package is not downloaded?)

the problem, as far as i can see, is that in just a few months a 6 with a new battery will end up throttled. my new battery is only 9 months old and i never reach 1400mhz and am only at 1100mhz for 100-80% charge, which sucks.

Yeah, the tvOS thing is kinda complicated. If your kids are diligent, you can avoid accidental updates by paying attention to the alerts.

As for the battery issue, I am convinced that the battery issue cropped up around the end of 2015. My wife's iPhone6 is on it's original battery and is still at 90+% health. She has no issues with throttling.

My iPhone 6 had it's battery replaced after 2 years because it wasn't holding a charge anymore. They weren't throttling back then, so that wasn't an issue. The replacement battery was manufacutured in 2016 and didn't last a whole year before not being able to hold a charge. Of course it was throttled.

Hopefully, whatever replacement batteries they are using now perform like the batteries from 2014, and not the ones from 2015-16.

Anyways, this is all to say that it's not a certain that a new battery now will degrade in such a way to induce throttling again. I'm sure Apple knows the exact reason these batteries are failing to provide enough current.

 

[joeblough]

Yeah, the tvOS thing is kinda complicated. If your kids are diligent, you can avoid accidental updates by paying attention to the alerts.

As for the battery issue, I am convinced that the battery issue cropped up around the end of 2015. My wife's iPhone6 is on it's original battery and is still at 90+% health. She has no issues with throttling.

My iPhone 6 had it's battery replaced after 2 years because it wasn't holding a charge anymore. They weren't throttling back then, so that wasn't an issue. The replacement battery was manufacutured in 2016 and didn't last a whole year before not being able to hold a charge. Of course it was throttled.

Hopefully, whatever replacement batteries they are using now perform like the batteries from 2014, and not the ones from 2015-16.

Anyways, this is all to say that it's not a certain that a new battery now will degrade in such a way to induce throttling again. I'm sure Apple knows the exact reason these batteries are failing to provide enough current.

yes - i suppose one "non-conspiracy" answer to this whole thing is that apple had a run of defective batteries, and attempted to patch around it rather than take the hit of replacing them all. but of course they ended up there anyway, sort of. they've got us covering their costs with $29 rather than having to do it all as warranty work.

 

[joeblough]

Yeah, the tvOS thing is kinda complicated. If your kids are diligent, you can avoid accidental updates by paying attention to the alerts.

well, i did try to do this last night, but kept getting error -1 when trying to restore the plist file to the phone. not sure if there is another method besides the guide i followed, which uses backup buddy to restore the file. maybe iMazing can do it?