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iPhone 13 mini Talk me out of a 13 Mini!

I had a 13 mini. Loved it but needed reading glasses to do anything with it. My job asked me to do some work on their website so I had to get a phone with a 6.1" screen. So I got 15 pro. These days I can handle my 15 pro with one hand and don't miss whipping out reading glasses every time I wanted to use the phone for something other than a phone.

However, if your reading vision is perfect, that little sucker slips so neatly into the pocket, Apple Intelligence is overrated, batteries can be replaced, etc.

All the comments I've read so far support what I think is your intent. Best physical shape, worst battery life, cheapest price you can find and then instantly replace the battery.

Or, if you want crappy battery life out of the box, get an iPhone Air!
 
mozartsghost said:
Or, if you want crappy battery life out of the box, get an iPhone Air!
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yeah, just miserable 😱

zwya2e9crp5g1.jpeg
 
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Miss Terri said:
I at first bought a couple of 3.5mm to lightning adapters (no USB-C on the iPhone Mini 13) for my existing headphones and they were great. Then I thought oh, I'll just buy some Lightning headphones, sweet! After using them, I wouldn't do that again. I mean, plugging them into the phone is great, but then I'll want to use them with my MBP and.... oh.... wrong pair.

Actually, now that I type that, if one has a phone with USB-C and plugs headphones into that, can they then also plug headphones into a USB-C port on a newer Macbook? (Guessing not? But?)
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That's one of many reasons that Apple being forced to move on from the lightning connector was a good thing. USB-C is very user friendly and very universal. Different ports and different cords can do different things, but typically if it does something with one device, it will do that same thing with another device.
 
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I just got my battery change at Apple on my mini and the battery…….. still sucks. It goes down pretty quickly on podcast (downloaded not stream) and mild browsing (outside furniture shopping) and texting. It’s dead as a main phone. I can’t do it. My air had to be the next gen iteration. Sorry mini. But I won’t sell you.
 
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1rottenapple said:
I just got my battery change at Apple on my mini and the battery…….. still sucks. It goes down pretty quickly on podcast (downloaded not stream) and mild browsing (outside furniture shopping) and texting. It’s dead as a main phone. I can’t do it. My air had to be the next gen iteration. Sorry mini. But I won’t sell you.
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Sounds suspect. My battery is at 78% health and I have no issues. I went out this morning with 100% charge. I listened to music in my car though Bluetooth, checked the weather report on an app and another on the browser. Messaged with a friend for a bit. Read an email to get a Costco gift card I purchased, checked my points in a gas station app, took several photos, checked a grocery store app and used Apple pay. After about two and a half hours I'm back home and my battery is at 94%.

It takes a bit of effort to reduce battery drain. I bet you have a bunch of stuff going on in the background like email fetching, auto app updates etc. I also read that iOS 26 can be a drain because of animations. I have turned off the animations as well as auto email fetching and auto app updates. I manually update apps periodically when I'm at home. I don't read email on my phone when not necessary. There are only a few apps that run in the background on my phone - that is Google photos for automatic backups and a ski tracking app but it only runs when I'm skiing. There may be others but it's not many.

I had some battery drain last year. I found out it was one fitness app that was draining my battery in the background. I deleted it and put it on my tablet. I don't need it on my phone. I almost replaced my battery because of this last year. You can go into setting > battery to see what is draining your battery.

For my latest trick, I setup an automation in the Shortcuts app to turn on airplane mode when the phone connects to my home wifi and turn off airplane mode when it disconnects from my home wifi.
 
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rwh63 said:
currently using two OGSE phones (two lines). stuck at iOS 15.8.5. phones work fine, and like the small size still. however, looking out into the next 2-3 years, they will probably suffer incompatibility issues. the 13 Mini is my number one choice for replacement. i really don't see any new ones out there outside of ones priced for collectors. looking at mainly the 128 and 256 gb models. i see that the Mini is still receiving support, and can run iOS 26, though i have heard 18 is recommended. i don't like that i would have to a source 3.5mm adapter.

I have tried finding one on FBM, but haven't seen much, and they seem priced the same as resellers that come with guarantees. Back Market, Reebelo, and Ebay seem to be the best sources. Looks like pricing falls in between $250-$350.
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Best iPhone ever made. $300 is about what I would expect to pay.

I have a calendar reminder set up for summer 2027 when it is expected to go "vintage," so I can get my battery replaced before supplies become too scarce. I plan on using it for the next three years, unless I wind up really liking the Fold and win a lottery.
 
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MacInTO said:
Sounds suspect. My battery is at 78% health and I have no issues. I went out this morning with 100% charge. I listened to music in my car though Bluetooth, checked the weather report on an app and another on the browser. Messaged with a friend for a bit. Read an email to get a Costco gift card I purchased, checked my points in a gas station app, took several photos, checked a grocery store app and used Apple pay. After about two and a half hours I'm back home and my battery is at 94%.

It takes a bit of effort to reduce battery drain. I bet you have a bunch of stuff going on in the background like email fetching, auto app updates etc. I also read that iOS 26 can be a drain because of animations. I have turned off the animations as well as auto email fetching and auto app updates. I manually update apps periodically when I'm at home. I don't read email on my phone when not necessary. There are only a few apps that run in the background on my phone - that is Google photos for automatic backups and a ski tracking app but it only runs when I'm skiing. There may be others but it's not many.

I had some battery drain last year. I found out it was one fitness app that was draining my battery in the background. I deleted it and put it on my tablet. I don't need it on my phone. I almost replaced my battery because of this last year. You can go into setting > battery to see what is draining your battery.

For my latest trick, I setup an automation in the Shortcuts app to turn on airplane mode when the phone connects to my home wifi and turn off airplane mode when it disconnects from my home wifi.
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Ok I get it you like your mini. I too love the mini since 2020 with the 12. But gimping your phone isn’t exactly a great solution to fully endorse this phone. The battery isn’t good. It’s a fact. It’d ok two things can be true. 13 mini is a great phone but it doesn’t work for me who is a light phone user with a new Apple battery and reinstalled software with light background processing and no social or video streaming.
 
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1rottenapple said:
Ok I get it you like your mini. I too love the mini since 2020 with the 12. But gimping your phone isn’t exactly a great solution to fully endorse this phone. The battery isn’t good. It’s a fact. It’d ok two things can be true. 13 mini is a great phone but it doesn’t work for me who is a light phone user with a new Apple battery and reinstalled software with light background processing and no social or video streaming.
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I agree there's no point in 'gimping' a phone to try to make it work for you if it doesn't work for you.

However, note that it's battery isn't rated that much less than a regular iPhone 13, and Apple measured the Mini's battery life on various uses at 75-85% of the regular (e.g. 15 versus 17 hours in some tasks). Obviously many's experience to the contrary so it odd that the iPhone 13 is regarded so much better in this area. Maybe its higher DPI screen uses more energy or its battery doesn't perform according to spec under the load of the latest iOS.

I personally get ~ 1.5 days after charging it to 80% and using it until about 20%. Sometimes more if I am actually using the phone part. For some reason the actual phone gets low signal a lot where I live and then it does chew through battery quite quickly. iOS says my Battery Health is only 90%, too.

I do disable a fair number of things but that's mainly for privacy and control. I don't like my phone doing things I didn't ask it to do and I don't like it communicating things I didn't ask it to communicate.

I would review all the app settings for Background App Refresh, Cellular, and Location Services, among others. Not suggesting you should disable something you want but I've noticed that just about every app thinks it should be running all the time communicating with who knows about who knows what. Maybe the regular iPhone 13 (or whatever) handles that better for some reason though it's not something I want anyway.
 
1rottenapple said:
Ok I get it you like your mini. I too love the mini since 2020 with the 12. But gimping your phone isn’t exactly a great solution to fully endorse this phone. The battery isn’t good. It’s a fact. It’d ok two things can be true. 13 mini is a great phone but it doesn’t work for me who is a light phone user with a new Apple battery and reinstalled software with light background processing and no social or video streaming.
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I'm not missing out on anything on my phone. The battery sometimes lasts two day for me. The mini isn't for someone that is always on their phone. Unless you enjoy the inadequacy of your mini, maybe you need a bigger phone to be able to last all day.
 
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1rottenapple said:
I just got my battery change at Apple on my mini and the battery…….. still sucks. It goes down pretty quickly on podcast (downloaded not stream) and mild browsing (outside furniture shopping) and texting. It’s dead as a main phone. I can’t do it. My air had to be the next gen iteration. Sorry mini. But I won’t sell you.
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did the same, same result after two weeks of trying. battery sucked before, now it sucks just a little less.
 
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vvvvvv said:
did the same, same result after two weeks of trying. battery sucked before, now it sucks just a little less.
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85% to 11% in 6 hrs messaging and listening to podcast and light browsing (5 mins or less on safari). Yikes I can’t trust it the mini for hiking or when I travel.

Good news though iPhone air is actually more comfortable to hold than the mini! Which is surprising and it sips battery while hiking. 20% on a 4 hour hike is great.
 
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1rottenapple said:
85% to 11% in 6 hrs messaging and listening to podcast and light browsing (5 mins or less on safari). Yikes I can’t trust it the mini for hiking or when I travel.
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Weird, I was at 14% @ 8am this morning after charging to 81% on Sunday @ 11pm. That included phone calls (which seems to chew up battery fastest on this phone) and ~ 1 hour of messaging. That works out to a battery life ~ 50 hours. Less than I get during truly light weekends but quite the jump from ~ 8 hours you are getting.

1rottenapple said:
Good news though iPhone air is actually more comfortable to hold than the mini! Which is surprising and it sips battery while hiking. 20% on a 4 hour hike is great.
Click to expand...

For each their own of course. QQ: is it the balance of the Air that makes it more comfortable to you? I do find the Mini a little top heavy.
 
bzgnyc2 said:
Weird, I was at 14% @ 8am this morning after charging to 81% on Sunday @ 11pm. That included phone calls (which seems to chew up battery fastest on this phone) and ~ 1 hour of messaging. That works out to a battery life ~ 50 hours. Less than I get during truly light weekends but quite the jump from ~ 8 hours you are getting.



For each their own of course. QQ: is it the balance of the Air that makes it more comfortable to you? I do find the Mini a little top heavy.
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It's hard to describe but when I grip the air in portrait mode, its "feel" more comfortable than the mini with and w/o a case for the mini. Its the tapered edges combined with the super thin design makes it so nice. Also the air feels cooler to hold when using demanding task like GPS. The heat is centered at the top. I love this design (the air) is a great successor the the mini who had great hand feel until the air came a long. I recommend holding an air without a case. And report back 🙂

The best thing is the air's value is crating and you can buy one on eBay for $750 (i've bought mint phones used on eBay before including my 512gb 13 min, 512 gb iPhone 16 w/o issues). I reluctantly bought the air new at apple since I needed it for my Taiwan trip and the mini's battery was too unreliable for traveling.
 
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Own this used 13 mini for 8 months now but never listened songs with it via the built-in speakers, figure what tinny speakers can do, SURPRISED today I did and WOW, 3D-like, I only see one speaker hole but it sure sounds stereo to me. Sounds best when phone placed on table. Clear sounding without the need to crank it up.
 
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MacInTO said:
..I setup an automation in the Shortcuts app to turn on airplane mode when the phone connects to my home wifi and turn off airplane mode when it disconnects from my home wifi.
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I like this. I was able to create the shortcut but, pardon my ignorance, how do you get it to run automatically, enabling/disabling Airport Mode as the iPhone goes in an out of WiFi range? My shortcut works, but has to be tapped and run…not automatic.
 
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SalisburySam said:
I like this. I was able to create the shortcut but, pardon my ignorance, how do you get it to run automatically, enabling/disabling Airport Mode as the iPhone goes in an out of WiFi range? My shortcut works, but has to be tapped and run…not automatic.
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Set it to Run Immediately instead of Run After Confirmation.

IMG_2327.jpeg
 
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I wonder what type of battery life a new small phone can have. I am pretty amazed at my air's battery life, with SOC improvements and the apple modem. I frankly would buy one even though this would never ever happen.
 
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