Make Sure to Get Your $29 iPhone Battery Replacements Soon as Apple's Discount Program is Set to End on December 31

[Jfrph]

My iPhone X is at 88% and from reading the AppleCare + terms it seems like Apple will replace the battery for no charge before the 2 year term ends if it drops below 80%

However, an Apple rep in chat told me it’s a consumable product and wouldn’t be covered.

“If during the Plan Term, you submit a valid claim by notifying Apple that a defect in materials and workmanship has arisen in the Covered Equipment or, in relation to Covered Equipment which uses an integrated rechargeable battery, where the capacity of the Covered Device’s battery to hold an electrical charge is less than eighty percent (80%) of its original specifications, Apple will either: (i) repair the defect at no charge, using new parts or parts that are equivalent to new in performance and reliability, or (ii) exchange the Covered Equipment with a replacement product that is new or equivalent to new in performance and reliability.”

Does anyone have any experience with this? Should I play it safe and spend 29 dollars before the year ends or wait until the percentage drops under 80% next year and hopefully get it for free? (Seems ridiculous to get it replaced at 88% but I don’t want to get stuck with the increased price)

 

[charlituna]

If I took advantage of this offer January of this year and my battery is now at 90%, can I get another $29 battery replacement in December?

probably not. 90% isn't 'consumed' and since you got your battery replaced already the whole 'peak performance' issue is resolved for you so i won't be shocked if they say no to replacing it at all much less at that price
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My iPhone X is at 88% and from reading the AppleCare + terms it seems like Apple will replace the battery for no charge before the 2 year term ends if it drops below 80%

However, an Apple rep in chat told me it’s a consumable product and wouldn’t be covered.

i have found that often the chat reps are idiots about what happens in store. i had one tell me that my cracked watch display could be replaced in store when i knew it couldn't.

i'd go to a store and ask them if batteries are covered if you have apple care plus. if they say no then sure do the cheaper battery now. or try

 

[Rorosbutt]

I don’t understand how some of you are talking about taking in your phones with very high percentage levels on your battery health status. About a month or two ago my brother took in his 6S 128gb to action the battery replacement. The battery would lose a lot of charge very quickly. In his commute to the CBD on train from a ca. 95-96% he would hop out of the train and would be left with ca. 15% battery. The commute is only around 25mins.

The battery health level was at 89% but he decided to take advantage of the offer for the 6S. The Chadstone store Genius stated that the phone was fine. He halted some services and told my brother to keep the phone on charge at all times (!!!). But the time my brother got back home, the phone had died again. It required another two charges that day.

The phone now is sleeping in its original little box and he’s using a Pixel 2XL and has sworn off using anything Apple again.

So, as I asked before, how is it that some of you are getting battery replacements? (Honest question)

That’s crazy. I got my iPhone 6s replaced as soon as apple started their free replacement (I don’t know what my battery health was as that feature came after the replacement) I literally called them and they did a diagnostic over the phone and said I could come in.

I would at least try again or call them. He could at the least get it working again and sell it.

 

[charlituna]

If I have something streaming on the phone half a day at home, is it better to have the phone plugged in even if the battery is fully charged or let the battery discharge to 20% and then plug it in? I have something streaming every day, so the battery will discharge every day. I have been told by somebody that it is better to have it plugged in, but I don't know if it is true.

of course it's better, your battery won't run down and out. all that stuff about not keeping the phones plugged in, running it down to X before charging is left over knowledge from the days when nickel batteries ruled the world. if you look at Apple's battery website they say it needs to go through at least one complete charge cycle a month. that means enough running down that if you add it up it hits 100%. so either before or after this streaming you need to do, take it off the charger for say an hour so it can get a little 'exercise'. but if you are doing something where you need it to not die in the middle, plus the dang thing in while doing it
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Only takes a few hours

according to my ex, a battery takes no more than 90 minutes and that includes testing and charging the battery (they are generally basically dead on arrival). any wait over that is because there are other phones in line first. but at least in the US if you show up later in the day and the 'turn around' is like 5 hours, they can hold the paperwork for several days for you to come in without needing an appointment.
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Depends on the stock of the location you're visiting.

if they don't have a battery in stock they order it and you take your phone home while you wait.

 

[ikramerica]

Does you iPhone have to be below a certain battery percentage to qualify for the battery replacement program?

No. You can just insist on it. There is no qualification.

Mine was 88% my wife was 90% but both were experiencing issues anyway. They did both for $29. My 7 took 2 hours in store, my wife’s 6S took about 1 hour in store. I had an appointment, she just came in when the store unlocked on a weekday morning.

 

[mrex]

Then you got scammed. It's definitely 29€ in Germany.

https://www.apple.com/de/iphone-battery-and-performance/

Oh and btw, the battery replacement in German Apple Stores takes 3 days at the moment, and it's not going to get better until after this offer has ended.

apple does it for 29€ in their stores but other companies (apple authorized services) charge 39€. i live in another country than germany and we dont have apple stores here, so i need to use apple authorized service and they ask 39€ for replacing the battery.

i could also send my phone back to apple, then apple does it for 29€ but then apple wants me to pay 12,10e for postage to send the phone back to me. Actually even apple doesnt offer it for 29€ but 41,40€. it is a joke that they even advertized replacing the battery for 29€ when they actually charge 41,40€ or their authorized services ask 39€ for replacing the battery.

and starting from 1.1.19 they charge 49 euros... so the price is only 10euros lower now in apple authorized service.

 

[JDW]

My wife’s iPhone 6s is down to 82%, and my iPhone 7 is about 83%, so I’m going to use the Mail in service to get the batteries replaced on both of those. But the interesting thing is that I have a friend who is an iPhone SE, and I told him about the battery replacement program. He acquired his iPhone two years ago, but he when he checked just now he said that his phone is still showing his battery health to be at 100%! Can you believe it? Even if he doesn’t use it that much, it’s amazing that he still has that much battery health after two years!

 

[44267547]

I have a friend who is an iPhone SE, and I told him about the battery replacement program. He acquired his iPhone two years ago, but he when he checked just now he said that his phone is still showing his battery health to be at 100%! Can you believe it? Even if he doesn’t use it that much, it’s amazing that he still has that much battery health after two years!

Keep in mind, unless your friends battery status was not checked on Coconut battery from a Mac, then it doesn’t necessarily mean their battery is at 100% if they are using ‘Apples battery diagnostic testing’ off the iPhone. Also, your friends iPhone battery might be ‘healthier’ pending charging regularities and how often they allow the phone to deplete, etc. It’s all variable.

 

[amaze1499]

"Hey everyone... Dan with MacRumors and ... "

 

[dilbert99]

Does you iPhone have to be below a certain battery percentage to qualify for the battery replacement program?

My battery health said 99% when I took my iPhone 6 in, the popped out screen (swollen battery) disagreed with the percentage.
Apple really needs to look in to the design of its batteries/thermals. This is the second swollen battery that I have had.

(And before the fans pop in saying anecdotal, the battery program says otherwise...)

 

[StellarVixen]

If I get the new battery, will my iPhone 6s stop shutting itself down at sub zero temperatures? This is horrible, never, ever has any Android phone that I had shut itself down in the winter.

 

[PhillieG57]

I had the battery slowdown issue on my iPad as well. I don’t see that being mentioned.
Has anyone else had that issue?

 

[5105973]

My iPhone 8 is 4 months old and the battery's maximum capacity seems to be slowly dropping. It was 98% after two months and 95% after 4 months. Should I be concerned?

I just found out my Product Red 8Plus that I bought shortly after this color was released is already down to 98%. The thing is, it was a secondary iPhone. I had a silver one I was using more. It only was my main phone for a couple of months and I traded the silver in for an Xs Max and then an Xr when the Max didn’t work out. I can’t believe it dropped to 98% when people here with older harder working phones are still at 100%. I wasn’t planning to do any battery replacements, mainly because I’ve got too many other more important things to take care of. But maybe I should. The last time I checked, I don’t remember when that was, it was at 100%.

 

[Substance90]

Last time I tried to use one of their "free" battery replacement programs was back in the day with my iPhone 5 and they didn't want to replace it because the frame had small dents. They wanted to replace the whole outer casing for €170 before they replace my battery for "free". I ended up doing it myself and it cost me less than €40.

 

[Ladybug]

My year old iPhone 8 is at 96%...I will not be bringing it into Apple for a $29 battery replacement.

 

[Grey Area]

I'm at 88 as well. I wonder if its even worth bothering?

I would not pay much attention to the percentage. Replace the battery if the performance bothers you, or just to make use of the cheaper offer this year.

Two weeks ago I had my SE battery replaced at 95%. The clerk recommended against it, but I asked to do it anyway, so he did. Now I am back to recharging every 2-3 days rather than at least once a day, so those 95%, well...

I also even have an old iPhone 6 that refuses to drop below 100%.

 

[joueboy]

I had my battery replaced last week while talking to an attendant telling him about taking advantage of the $29 before the end of the year. He told me it does go up next year but it’s only $39. I was surprised how quick they did my battery for 3 phones in less than an hour. Couple years ago it took over 2 hours for 1 phone, maybe they have tools now to do the job faster and easier. That got me thinking maybe Apple is trying to ramp up more ways to make money before the year end just so a profitable report for next year to beat the Wall St.

 

[Jack Ryan]

I replaced my 6S battery last January and, since this summer (6 months later) the performance has been dropped dramatically. After a full charge, this morning it have lost 25% of charge in 20 minutes and many times when it has less than 20% the iPhone shuts down. With less than a year, the new battery has worst performance than the original with two years. The iOS battery health indicator is at 92%.
I called Apple service and they told me that the battery is out of guarantee, because the replacements only have 6 months.
My impression is that the replacement batteries they’re using have a very poor quality and they loose performance very soon.

 

[Newjackboy]

If I get the new battery, will my iPhone 6s stop shutting itself down at sub zero temperatures? This is horrible, never, ever has any Android phone that I had shut itself down in the winter.

This is happening to the 5s that I gave to my mom in law. Any fix? 5s is not covered by the apple battery replacement promo.

 

[curtvaughan]

Same here. I'd have no problem dropping off my phone at the Apple Store and walk around the mall for a few hours.

But not having my phone for a few days? Tough sell.

This is when it's nice to have a spare phone to which you can forward calls while the iPhone is out of commission. It could even be a cheap beater phone of some sort. This article addresses how to do it. I assume it's accurate (article is about 2 years old).

https://www.howtogeek.com/265228/how-to-forward-calls-on-your-iphone/
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I replaced my 6S battery last January and, since this summer (6 months later) the performance has been dropped dramatically. After a full charge, this morning it have lost 25% of charge in 20 minutes and many times when it has less than 20% the iPhone shuts down. With less than a year, the new battery has worst performance than the original with two years. The iOS battery health indicator is at 92%.
I called Apple service and they told me that the battery is out of guarantee, because the replacements only have 6 months.
My impression is that the replacement batteries they’re using have a very poor quality and they loose performance very soon.

I, too, have wondered about replacement batteries. Are these newly manufactured batteries, or have they been sitting on shelf for some years? Batteries degrade over time even when not used.

 

[acorntoy]

I don’t understand how some of you are talking about taking in your phones with very high percentage levels on your battery health status. About a month or two ago my brother took in his 6S 128gb to action the battery replacement. The battery would lose a lot of charge very quickly. In his commute to the CBD on train from a ca. 95-96% he would hop out of the train and would be left with ca. 15% battery. The commute is only around 25mins.

The battery health level was at 89% but he decided to take advantage of the offer for the 6S. The Chadstone store Genius stated that the phone was fine. He halted some services and told my brother to keep the phone on charge at all times (!!!). But the time my brother got back home, the phone had died again. It required another two charges that day.

The phone now is sleeping in its original little box and he’s using a Pixel 2XL and has sworn off using anything Apple again.

So, as I asked before, how is it that some of you are getting battery replacements? (Honest question)

Be pushy. Apple has said they will replace your battery regardless of health if it’s one of the available models, don’t take no, ask for a manager.

 

[mr.steevo]

My SE, which I’ve had for two years, is at 83%. I don’t plan on replacing the battery. I do plan on keeping my SE for as long as I can as I don’t want a large phone or a very expensive phone. I don’t have any problems with the battery life. For me it isn’t worth the hassle of not having my phone for potentially a few days or even driving to the next town where the Apple store is.

Make an appointment through Apple Support and use the battery replacement time an opportunity to get some shopping done while you wait.
My wife didn’t see the need in getting her 64GB SE battery replacement until it was done. She definitely noticed the performance improvement

 

[curtvaughan]

I don’t understand how some of you are talking about taking in your phones with very high percentage levels on your battery health status. About a month or two ago my brother took in his 6S 128gb to action the battery replacement. The battery would lose a lot of charge very quickly. In his commute to the CBD on train from a ca. 95-96% he would hop out of the train and would be left with ca. 15% battery. The commute is only around 25mins.

The battery health level was at 89% but he decided to take advantage of the offer for the 6S. The Chadstone store Genius stated that the phone was fine. He halted some services and told my brother to keep the phone on charge at all times (!!!). But the time my brother got back home, the phone had died again. It required another two charges that day.

The phone now is sleeping in its original little box and he’s using a Pixel 2XL and has sworn off using anything Apple again.

So, as I asked before, how is it that some of you are getting battery replacements? (Honest question)

I get the impression that the response varies depending on the Apple Store you visit. Apparently some store managers are either ill-informed about official policy, or are being somewhat arbitrary in making good the offer. I wonder if Apple somehow penalizes stores that perform the reduced-price replacement. Don't know for sure.

 

[Tobias Funke]

Ive just got mine done last week.

My 4 year old 6+ is like a new phone now!

 

[sofila]

Would you rather your phone unexpectedly shut down and/or unnecessarily chew through battery or marginally throttle performance to preserve it? The battery program was instated due to uneducated and unnecessary consumer backlash. It wasn’t necessary to begin with. Apple is nice to offer it.

Nope, Apple denied any paid battery replacement, against the will of customers, with the simple excuse that was "unnecessary according to our rules". After worldwide bad echoes caused by class-actions' news, they changed attitude and behaviour. Unforgivable, and unforgettable.
P.S. these your few lines from the "Manual of the little perfect happy Apple customer" put under a different light all of the tips you generously dispensed in the first part of your post