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Pointless to try fixing iPhone 5?

SD-B

SD-B

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 1, 2009
399
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I'm the Apple user here.
Except for iPhones.
I prefer the One Plus One phone.

Hubby lost his iPhone 5 so 2 years ago quickly bought a new iPhone 5 but that model had been out one year when purchased.
As of today, the iPhone 5 is 3 years old.

He updated his OS on it on Sept 19th I think it was but only told me last night that his battery was terrible.
100% when he wakes up and about 18% by 3pm where it used to last 2 days.

I wish he had told me closer to the day he had updated as i could have reversed it back the the last OS but i understand it's now too late to do so??!!
A quick peek online suggests so.

I have the necessary file. I believe, for his model, MD293C/A. Don't really have time but I think I might be able to go back if I jailbreak it first but am pretty sure I cannot unless I do so? One reason I got him the iphone was so I didn't have to deal with fixing it every time he had problems with it as he hands all electronics to me to deal with but i am a bit swamped to be playing with fixing phones, etc.

iPhone5,2_9.0.1_13A404_Restore.ipsw

Have gone through his settings but all I can see that will save his battery is basically losing everything that makes it a good phone.

I have often heard that these phones are only good for 3 year cycles and at some point, at 3 years, this happens. An OS update forces you to buy a new model.

Can anyone comment as to whether that is essentially true for today it is looking as if that might be so and if that's the case, I am not sure I would want to buy him another one.


Can anyone suggest from past experience if this is normal but that apple will come out with a fix for the battery in a few days, or.....is it essentially now a useless phone?

T.I.A.
 
You may have two separate issues here affecting the whole. But I will start with this.

Once Apple stops signing an update you cannot rollback to it. And a jailbreak won't help you. If this was 2011 or you had an iPhone 4s or less rolling back *MIGHT* be an option.

The 5 had some issues with battery. I had mine replaced at one point because the battery was swelling. There are two users I know of here who had their iPhone 5's replaced out of warranty because of the battery issue.

Also, iOS 9 is just wrecking things right now. It seems to be worse than the iOS 8 release.

So, my recommendation is to take the phone into Apple and tell them the battery is bad and see if they will replace it.

P.S. There's not any specific "life cycle". My wife and I still have our iPhone 5's (sitting on my desk right now) and they both work just fine. I have a friend who is using my old iPhone 3GS as a daily phone.

But parts do fail, and being three years old the battery is probably going. iOS 9 isn't helping.
 
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The phone is actually only 2 years old as of the end of July. We bought it brand new. It shouldn't be failing as of 2 years BUT i will look up the info mentioned above.

Noooooo, not eligible for a battery replacement but this phone would have been purchased just 6 weeks before the start of that replacement issue.
Up until a few days ago when he upgraded, the battery was PERFECT.
He uses this phone so infrequently, in 2 years he has only used it for 17 hours talk time...lol
So its not as if he's over used it I suspect :)

if the lifetime # are correct that i am reading on the phone


It was likely around 20011-2012 that I did last jailbreak an iPhone :(

CNeufeld >dirty dawg< like my avatar do you? :)
 
If there's an Apple store close to you, it might be worthwhile taking the phone in there anyway. Apple support is one of the best things about the Apple world. They replaced my iPhone 5 battery even before there was an official recall.

Can't help with the jailbreaking. Haven't done that for ages.

And how can someone NOT like that avatar? You cheeky monkey, you... :)

C
 
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;)

Thanks. I will do that. Usually I just fix then myself but this one admittedly has me stumped.
One would think, however, that if so many batteries are "pooched" then perhaps they could come out with a fix that "un-pooched" them.
17 hours on a 2 year phone should be a bit better than this one has proven to be since the update.
Its used so little, it only needed charging every second day. So it is the iOS 9 update.

Maybe If I am really lucky, instead of fixing the battery they will give me a deal on the new iphone that will be too irresistible to resist.

Thanks, will check it out tomorrow!
 
The battery of my iPhone 5 (bought on launch day back in sept 2012) started swelling in may 2015. I came to an Apple Store (we only have one here in Quebec City, Canada) and they changed my phone free of charge, not only replacing the battery (even 2 and a half year after the purchase), and my phone wasn't even listed in the battery replacement program! If the Genius don't want to change the phone, you can insist a little bit! They changed my black 32 Gb for another black 32 Gb (they are gorgeous).

Don't forget to backup first!

If you get a new phone this way, you will have a clean OS, and probably stop having battery issues!

Good luck pal!
 
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Good luck! You'd have to be really cute to get a deal on a new phone, I'd guess... :)

What have you done after the upgrade to iOS 9? You could try a hard reset, although that's a pain in the ***. Not sure if it would help, either.

C
 
Oh and you can still (Sept. 28 16h13 the last time I looked) downgrade to iOS 8.4.1 if you want, but keep in mind this version can't be jailbreaked too, sadly :( Just google IPSW and you will find the firmware and the explanations on how to downgrade pretty easily!

PS : your model is a GSM iPhone (and not a Global iPhone), this info will be useful to download the correct iOS!
 
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CNeufeld said:
First off, look into this:
https://www.apple.com/ca/support/iphone5-battery/ You might be able to get an upgraded battery for free, even though his phone is out of the 3 year window.

Second, nice avatar! :)

C
Click to expand...
Thanks so much for that link, I knew my phone qualified for a power button fix but did not know it also qualified for a new battery! I am just under the 3 year cut off! Yay! I will have a basically refurbished phone to flip if all goes well.
 
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sebacote said:
Oh and you can still (Sept. 28 16h13 the last time I looked) downgrade to iOS 8.4.1 if you want, but keep in mind this version can't be jailbreaked too, sadly :( Just google IPSW and you will find the firmware and the explanations on how to downgrade pretty easily!

PS : your model is a GSM iPhone (and not a Global iPhone), this info will be useful to download the correct iOS!
Click to expand...


Yea, hubby announced 5 min before bedtime that he needed his phone fixed RIGHT THEN..lol...with one eye open ilooking at the model # but could not find the exact one, nor even close but found one 2 numbers away. I wasnt confident i could jailbreak it anyhow. Now you have more or less confirmed it. Thanks. I havent owned an iPhone for myself in 3 years? I hated having to jailbreak them to have them do what my phone does on its own, so the iphone is just personallyh not for me. Since I had been that long, I had not kept on on the news...

As it is, I *think* I might have fixed it.
Watching it now and its at least back to normal in standby.
Before I did it it lost 2% in a matter of 10 minutes in standby.
Now its been at 100% for 2.5 hours and soon I will put it through some apps to see.

Thx
 
yanki01 said:
what about the sleep/wake button? my old iPhone 5 was eligible for it and they fixed it along with a new battery. Some even got their iPhone 5 replaced.

https://www.apple.com/support/iphone5-sleepwakebutton/
Click to expand...


Different facts I think can also determine who gets what. I believe if you know how to approach the guys/gals at Applecare, you might have a better chance than the one that doesnt.

Have a friend thats been very ill, had a few brain tumours in her life, albeit in the past but she has learned how to use it to her advantage. Recently went swimming for a full hour before she realized her iPhone was still in her pocket. She has admitted she does use it and knows how to get what she wants and it works for her but it leads me to believe that yes, approach them a certain way and u have a better chance.

Of course, some will deny that this is possible so its up to you to at least remember to approach them well, just as one that is arrogant, perhaps they wont fall over quite as easily. Human Nature :)
 
I just had a free out-of-warranty battery replacement performed by Apple for my 5. The battery was visibly swollen and lifting up the screen but wasn't one of the serial numbers named in the recall. They replaced it anyway because they said it was a safety issue. Took about 1.5h in store and I came back when it was done.
 
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AdamantAuk said:
I just had a free out-of-warranty battery replacement performed by Apple for my 5. The battery was visibly swollen and lifting up the screen but wasn't one of the serial numbers named in the recall. They replaced it anyway because they said it was a safety issue. Took about 1.5h in store and I came back when it was done.
Click to expand...

Jus curious, did you do a walk in or did you have an appointment? The earliest I could take mine in with a GB appointment in my area is Sunday.
 
Cuechick said:
Jus curious, did you do a walk in or did you have an appointment? The earliest I could take mine in with a GB appointment in my area is Sunday.
Click to expand...

I walked in at about 11 on a weekday and told them I didn't have an appointment but asked if they could take a look and at least confirm that's what the problem was. I had to wait about ten minutes for someone to get to me, but they took it right away and told me 1.5h (that was also because they thought the display might need replacing if it cracked when they pried it up, because it was already bending from the swollen battery--would have also been a covered repair under the "safety" replacement. Might have been a faster repair if they knew they'd only have to replace the battery).
 
You should always get rid of your iPhone while it still has some resale value.

iPhones tend to retain a higher resale value longer than a comparably priced Android phones released around the same time.
 
SD-B said:
I'm the Apple user here.
Except for iPhones.
I prefer the One Plus One phone.

Hubby lost his iPhone 5 so 2 years ago quickly bought a new iPhone 5 but that model had been out one year when purchased.
As of today, the iPhone 5 is 3 years old.

He updated his OS on it on Sept 19th I think it was but only told me last night that his battery was terrible.
100% when he wakes up and about 18% by 3pm where it used to last 2 days.

I wish he had told me closer to the day he had updated as i could have reversed it back the the last OS but i understand it's now too late to do so??!!
A quick peek online suggests so.

I have the necessary file. I believe, for his model, MD293C/A. Don't really have time but I think I might be able to go back if I jailbreak it first but am pretty sure I cannot unless I do so? One reason I got him the iphone was so I didn't have to deal with fixing it every time he had problems with it as he hands all electronics to me to deal with but i am a bit swamped to be playing with fixing phones, etc.

iPhone5,2_9.0.1_13A404_Restore.ipsw

Have gone through his settings but all I can see that will save his battery is basically losing everything that makes it a good phone.

I have often heard that these phones are only good for 3 year cycles and at some point, at 3 years, this happens. An OS update forces you to buy a new model.

Can anyone comment as to whether that is essentially true for today it is looking as if that might be so and if that's the case, I am not sure I would want to buy him another one.


Can anyone suggest from past experience if this is normal but that apple will come out with a fix for the battery in a few days, or.....is it essentially now a useless phone?

T.I.A.
Click to expand...


So, inquiring minds want to know... Did you get things restored back?

C
 
AdamantAuk said:
I just had a free out-of-warranty battery replacement performed by Apple for my 5. The battery was visibly swollen and lifting up the screen but wasn't one of the serial numbers named in the recall. They replaced it anyway because they said it was a safety issue. Took about 1.5h in store and I came back when it was done.
Click to expand...

I just had mine replaced too! No swelling, but battery life went from pretty good to terrible rather quickly a week or two after the 8.4.1 update. I also didn't qualify for the battery program. Made an appointment, and it only took about an hour from the time I walked in.
 
hutrebug said:
You should always get rid of your iPhone while it still has some resale value.

iPhones tend to retain a higher resale value longer than a comparably priced Android phones released around the same time.
Click to expand...
Some of us keep our phones because we want to and have ZERO interest in reselling or resale value.

Just saying.
 
As to "life cycle"... there are still people using Iphone 3 and Iphone 4.

As to jail breaking... sure many folks on these boards do it, but that is a small minority. Most just use the Apple OS and are dong fine.
 
So, inquiring minds want to know... Did you get things restored back?

C
CNeufeld said:
So, inquiring minds want to know... Did you get things restored back?

C
Click to expand...



Yes and No.
Bearing in mind that the partner handed it to me about 5 minutes before I went to bed, having an "emotional moment" because his phones battery was acting up and said, "Fix It!" lol

With one eye half open, not having looked at an iphone in a couple of years I quickly did a search online for iOS 9 iphone fixes, and followed one. After i did 2-3 mild fixes (all that were mentioned) the blogger than said, if all else fails, restore it back to iOS 8.
When I first asked here, I think one eye had just partially opened up and knew that the partner would soon be up fretting about his battery so I did the only thing a smart person can do, was to come here and ask everyone else :)

But, suffice it to say, once both eyes opened, I actually took a good look at the phone myself, beyond whatever it was the blogger had been going on about and there right in front of my eyes was the offender. A whole slew of notifications that wanted to notifiy the partner right out of a good working battery.
In fact, in the 5 minutes it took me to look at the phone, wake up and then delve in, I noticed it had gone down 2% and there werent any open apps.

Turrned off all the unnecessary notifications. eMail and the like, of course i kept on but he has about 6 different Angry Bird games he used to play but even if he were still, they dont need notifications sent to them. It wanted to send notifications on almost every app. So I turned most off and left the necessary apps he uses, email, Calander, Glympse, txt messaging, etc. Hes never used his Facebook account in his life yet he was set to get notifications. And others similar.
He wouldnt have turned those on and I would have turned the off the last time i looked at it.
I believe they were likely turned on by default by the iOS 9 download.

I also believe a lot of people might go out and buy a new iPhone without really looking closely at it.
In any event, its 80% fixed on those alone.

As soon as I have some time I will load up VLC on to it to see IF he can use that instead of the Music app. He doesnt need a fancy app. He just needs one to simply play his song lists. On my iMac I control the music downloaded, ensuring its all properly tagged, named, etc; and then load onto an iTunes account for him, what I know he likes.
But the Music program now is goiong though the battery a bit faster than I believe it should be.
If I can get VLC or some similar music app to work instead of iTunes, I s uspect the problem will be fully solved.

But, I am still going to make an appointment at Apple for tomorrow or Friday and have them look at the battery anyhow, in case there is something I have missed, or in case the battery is swollen at all, etc.

Sorry, TL/DNR so the short answer is, people TURN OFF THOSE DAMN notifications you dont need :)


PS: i KNOW the truth. You just couldnt stop thinking about G-strings I bet :p lol (j/k)
 
Another thing to check is location services. I was limping along with an iPhone 4 with a really bad battery. What really helped it was turning off the location services for everything that didn't need it. For example, the Starbucks app doesn't need to know my location. All I need to do is pay for my caffeine in the morning. There was a whack of apps that were trying to stay informed that didn't need to. Like Facebook, as well.

C
 
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