iPhone 6 battery issue

[MichaelB]

Apple has a performance SW/battery issue with the iPhone 6 and announced a battery replacement offer of only $29, which is (IMO) an excellent price.

DW and I both have iPhone 6, the battery is failing in each, so I went to the Apple store yesterday, with an appointment, to get the replacement. The reason I know the battery is failing is the indicator of remaining power will suddenly shift from 40% to 20% (mine) and 40% to 15% (DWs). They are both effectively at 80%, which is end of life for that battery. Apple said the battery life was expected to be 500 charge cycles. Mine has been charged at most every third day over two years, so less than half that expected life. Bad battery.

So, yesterday at the Apple store the young man took the phones and ran a diagnostic. His assessment was “the battery is at 100%, so nothing wrong. He did smile and say not to worry, they’d still give me the battery replacement for $29. This irritated me so I challenged the 100% and we argued for about 10 minutes, and he had a coworker help. They finally acknowledged that the 100% was of “expected performance” for a 2 year old phone, which meant it had gone through 300-500 charge cycles, was at 80% and therefore at end of life. They finally acknowledged the battery was prematurely dying, their diagnostic assessment showed that, but they communicated something different and misleading to the customer. Not sure why, Apple was more open and upfront with these things in the past.

They couldn’t do the battery replacement yesterday, as they don’t have any in stock. No hard commitment date, either. His guess was by the end of the month, but no need to worry, he’ll call. As I walked out the store, I wondered how many people in a similar situation would, after hearing the 100% and a month long wait for the replacement battery, just skip it and not return.

Other iPhone 6 owners thinking about the battery might want to get on that wait list before it gets any longer.

 

[braumeister]

A couple of weeks ago, Apple said they would provide battery replacements for iPhone 6 and newer phones at $29 throughout 2018 at customer request, regardless of the battery's actual condition on their diagnostic test.

However, last week Apple said iPhone 6 battery replacements would be delayed until March/April because replacement batteries are in short supply.

 

[Sittinginthesun]

The only battery issue I have with my 6s is it drains in minutes when exposed to freezing temperatures. If I take it out of my pocket on a winter day the battery will drop by >50% in 2 minutes. I should probably get a replacement or move to Florida.

 

[Midpack]

Thanks. DW and I have both have 6+’s, so we’re expecting battery issues sooner or later, so far they’re not too bad. My iPad Air 2 battery discharges much faster than it used to.

I read that not leaving our phones/tablets to charge past 100% would extend battery life, something about letting it top off and quit over and over for each charge hurting battery life. The article recommended disconnecting from the charger as soon as the charge was anywhere over 90%, so that’s what we do. We don’t plug in at bedtime and let them charge overnight anymore. I don’t know if that’s true or not, I’d welcome comment from someone who knows for sure.

 

[jetpack]

It'd be nice if they gave us an app with the actual battery diagnostics. The info is in there, they just hide it.

 

[FIREmenow]

I read that not leaving our phones/tablets to charge past 100% would extend battery life, something about letting it top off and quit over and over for each charge hurting battery life. The article recommended disconnecting from the charger as soon as the charge was anywhere over 90%, so that’s what we do. We don’t plug in at bedtime and let them charge overnight anymore. I don’t know if that’s true or not, I’d welcome comment from someone who knows for sure.

I design battery powered consumer electronics systems every day as my j*b.

I believe most of the newer phones make that disconnection themselves internally. They post a message to "Unplug your charger" to be "green" and save electricity.

Good technical summary here: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/180615/is-charging-iphone-all-night-harmful-to-my-iphone

 

[nash031]

There's a "battery life" app available for free on the app store which is reputed to be pretty accurate when compared to Apple's diagnostics. I downloaded it and ran it last week... 55%. Yikes. Admittedly, I'm not too smart about how I charge my phone, often leaving it plugged in overnight... and my phone is now three years old.

I started experiencing the same issues described above - cold weather battery dropping (even on airplanes with the phone turned off), watching battery drain quickly - all since updating the OS in December.

I'm taking advantage of the $29 battery change to get another year, at least, out of my 6. It's a good deal, IMO. Unfortunately, the closest place to me is 56 miles away, so it's going to cost me $15 in gas to get there and back too.

FYI, Apple can only schedule appointments 7 days out, and they fill up fast. I tried to make an appointment last week for the weekend when I was home, but they didn't have anything until a week later. Around here, same thing. I was lucky to get a spot at the closest place. My advice, if you think you're going to want to do this, and your time is limited (you're still w*rking like me), check 7 days before the day you want to go (i.e. a weekend). Good luck!

 

[ERD50]

It'd be nice if they gave us an app with the actual battery diagnostics. The info is in there, they just hide it.

I know their laptops include some data, IIRC a 'battery health' factor, and I think # of cycles, and the actual measured capacity in mA-hr.

If thisn't on a phone, I would think there are 3rd party apps for it.

I design battery powered consumer electronics systems every day as my j*b.

I believe most of the newer phones make that disconnection themselves internally. They post a message to "Unplug your charger" to be "green" and save electricity.

Good technical summary here: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/180615/is-charging-iphone-all-night-harmful-to-my-iphone

Yes, the charger effectively 'unplugs' itself from the battery at 100%. And while there is some advantage to charging to 90% versus 100% - when that is done by unplugging the charger, there is a negative as well:

When leaving it plugged in, once it hits 100%, the phone is powered from the charger, not the battery. So you are not also discharging the battery overnight.

But, when you charge to 90% and unplug, the phone has to discharge the battery a little overnight, and then recharge that much extra on the next charge cycle. So you are, over time, increasing the effective charge-discharge cycles, and that also affects battery life. This was also discussed way back when with T-Al and his laptop.

Bottom line, it's tough to say which will have the larger effect, but I wouldn't (and don't) bother to try to catch it at 90%.

The ideal case is where the phone/laptop can be set to charge to 90%, stop charging, but continue power the phone from the charger, rather than from the battery. Best of both worlds, you get the 90% charge, but you don;t add discharge cycles to the battery.

Some laptops offered this feature, but it's pretty rare. You need access to the charger firmware to do this.

-ERD50

 

[wrigley]

Apple has a performance SW/battery issue with the iPhone 6 and announced a battery replacement offer of only $29, which is (IMO) an excellent price.

DW and I both have iPhone 6, the battery is failing in each, so I went to the Apple store yesterday, with an appointment, to get the replacement. The reason I know the battery is failing is the indicator of remaining power will suddenly shift from 40% to 20% (mine) and 40% to 15% (DWs). They are both effectively at 80%, which is end of life for that battery. Apple said the battery life was expected to be 500 charge cycles. Mine has been charged at most every third day over two years, so less than half that expected life. Bad battery.

So, yesterday at the Apple store the young man took the phones and ran a diagnostic. His assessment was “the battery is at 100%, so nothing wrong. He did smile and say not to worry, they’d still give me the battery replacement for $29. This irritated me so I challenged the 100% and we argued for about 10 minutes, and he had a coworker help. They finally acknowledged that the 100% was of “expected performance” for a 2 year old phone, which meant it had gone through 300-500 charge cycles, was at 80% and therefore at end of life. They finally acknowledged the battery was prematurely dying, their diagnostic assessment showed that, but they communicated something different and misleading to the customer. Not sure why, Apple was more open and upfront with these things in the past.

They couldn’t do the battery replacement yesterday, as they don’t have any in stock. No hard commitment date, either. His guess was by the end of the month, but no need to worry, he’ll call. As I walked out the store, I wondered how many people in a similar situation would, after hearing the 100% and a month long wait for the replacement battery, just skip it and not return.

Other iPhone 6 owners thinking about the battery might want to get on that wait list before it gets any longer.

Is there a sign up somewhere for this battery or do you have to go into an Apple store and order it there?

I also have an iPhone 6 and I'm not quite sure if I'm having a battery issue but I can tell you that my phone locks up periodically and I can't turn it off at that point. Sometimes it locks up for just seconds and other times it's 15-20 mins before it refreshes.

Mike

 

[calmloki]

Several weeks ago on our way back from AZ the gal noticed her iPhone screen curving out from the frame and showing a bright light between frame and screen. Also beau coup heat and very low battery life indicated. Not good, as she normally has the phone working hard and plugged in. We shut hers off,she went to mine, and we ordered a new battery from Amazon. I goofed and didn't get the one with installation tools, which I learned the day it was delivered. Ordered the tool kit and in a few days was installing the new battery. Lots of shaking paws and peering and praying as I've breathed dust bigger than some of the screws and the cables and clips and double sided tape were .. challenging, as was the short fingerprint sensor cable. She read about the iPhone battery issue, but we have 5S units, way too old for iPhone to worry about. Battery was $17.45, tool kit was $6.95 = $24.40. Installation would have been easier with a case separation tool, about $25. All works and her new battery lasts very well.

 

[Midpack]

I design battery powered consumer electronics systems every day as my j*b.

I believe most of the newer phones make that disconnection themselves internally. They post a message to "Unplug your charger" to be "green" and save electricity.

Good technical summary here: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/180615/is-charging-iphone-all-night-harmful-to-my-iphone

Makes sense to me. And I knew the Apple brick shut off at 100%.

I wish I could find it, but the article said that even the Apple brick would start charging again if the battery dropped to 99% from sitting idle, effectively trickle charging which is known to be bad for Li-ion batteries?

But it's probably voodoo and I should've kept my mouth shut.

 

[ERD50]

Makes sense to me. And I knew the Apple brick shut off at 100%.

I wish I could find it, but the article said that even the Apple brick would start charging again if the battery dropped to 99% from sitting idle, effectively trickle charging which is known to be bad for Li-ion batteries?

But it's probably voodoo and I should've kept my mouth shut.

Sure, once charged to 100%, the battery is disconnected form the load, but the battery will have a slight self-discharge. And when that hits some preprogrammed level (99%, maybe 97%, whatever), the charger kicks in again to top it off to 100%. People want a full charge. I see this on my laptop, which is almost always plugged in. Occasionally, I'll see a message of battry being charged at 97% or something.

But that is not a "trickle charge". It charges to 100% and shuts off. A trickle is constant, regardless of battery level. That's OK (or at least not too bad) for some battery types, but not good for Lithium, and I doubt that any phone/laptop charger provides any sort of trickle charge.

It's not voodoo. It's science and engineering. It's well understood.

-ERD50

 

[mn54]

since the offer from apple is through the end of 2018, I plan on replacing my battery at the end of 2018 since it is still functioning well.

 

[Bir48die]

This is a moment when you feel like "yes, someone else shares my pain!" I bought a 6s approximately six months ago after trying the self installed battery replacement on my "5" and failing miserably.

I was in awe of the battery life......for about six weeks. Since then it has drained as fast as my 5 did and at times faster. Called Apple support and they also said the battery was working just fine. I do charge all night and have unplugged some nights at 100%. Either way the battery life is erratic to say the least.

I got on the Apple Store sites to see if I could get a battery replacement and they wouldn't even give me an appointment which makes sense since they don't have any batteries. I'll just have to manage until the summer.

 

[Sunset]

Odd the worker has this corporate lie to tell, when Apple said they would replace them all regardless.

How will you know it has actually been replaced when you take it in

If I owned one of these phones I would certainly pay the $29 for the battery replacement. That is a screaming hot deal from Apple as normally all their stuff is overpriced.

 

[Midpack]

Sure, once charged to 100%, the battery is disconnected form the load, but the battery will have a slight self-discharge. And when that hits some preprogrammed level (99%, maybe 97%, whatever), the charger kicks in again to top it off to 100%. People want a full charge. I see this on my laptop, which is almost always plugged in. Occasionally, I'll see a message of battry being charged at 97% or something.

So does repeatedly topping up a Li-ion battery from 97% to 100% every time you charge shorten battery lifetime - versus avoiding the repeated topping up?

 

[FIREmenow]

So does repeatedly topping up a Li-ion battery from 97% to 100% every time you charge shorten battery lifetime - versus avoiding the repeated topping up?

Technically yes, but practically, not so much that you'd notice over a period of years (at least with a quality cell)...

 

[Midpack]

Yes, but not so much that you'd notice over a period of years (at least with a quality cell)...

Thank you!

 

[Human]

It'd be nice if they gave us an app with the actual battery diagnostics. The info is in there, they just hide it.

This is coming in an update to iOS soon.

 

[ERD50]

So does repeatedly topping up a Li-ion battery from 97% to 100% every time you charge shorten battery lifetime - versus avoiding the repeated topping up?

I'm not sure you are phrasing the question properly (or I'm just not reading it right). In an attempt to make it clearer, I'll rephrase it as a trade-off between:

A) Keep charger plugged in.

Con: Battery spends more time at 100% (not so good).
Pro: Phone is getting power from the charger, not the battery, so the battery will actually experience fewer charge/discharge cycles (fewer cycles good).

B) Unplug charger when phone reaches 90%, thus leaving charger unplugged most nights.

Pro: Battery spends less time at 100% (good).
Con: Phone needs to get power from the battery overnight, so the battery will actually experience more charge/discharge cycles (more cycles bad).

I can't say for sure, but I suspect it's close enough to a wash, that I would not bother with avoiding 100%.

The occasional top-off from 99% to 100% would occur anyhow, that's a wash. A "charge/discharge cycle" is a sum of smaller cycles as well. IOW, going from 0%-100% one time is once cycle, and going from 99% to 100% one hundred times is one cycle, and everything in between (2 x 50%, etc).

-ERD50

 

[Tallman4123]

I'm in the "charge my iphone overnight every night" camp. I've had my iPhone 6s for 3+ years and have no battery performance issues (at least that I perceive).

 

[Human]

It’s probably best to simply follow Apple’s recommendations for maximizing battery life/performance, which can be found here:
https://www.apple.com/batteries/maximizing-performance/

And for those interested, here’s Apple’s explainer on batteries and what sparked the battery replacement program:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208387

 

[Snidely Whiplash]

I've had iPhones for the last 8 years. I've loved the features and simplicity. Currently with an iPad Air 2 and an iPhone 6. That being said.....

iOS11 has left both of my devices severely degraded. I don't know if its software throttling because of battery issues or bloat from iOS11 but I've never experienced anything like this with Apple products. I'm also not feeling like its entirely fair to have to pay (even if it is a markedly reduced rate) to replace a faulty battery that I already bought as part of the iPhone.

I'm pretty unhappy with Apple's obvious planned obsolescence. And now with the software throttling "due to battery issues" it seems Apple has the means to induce customer upgrades to suit their schedule. (Extra revenue needed next quarter? Throttle the next iPhone series sooner!) I don't expect my phones to last forever but neither do I want to be at the whim of Apple for my upgrade timetable.

I would think that if it was solely a battery issue my phone shouldn't be throttled when plugged in, right? That's not been my experience with my iPhone or iPad and exactly why I'm somewhat on the side of the conspiracy theorists wrt this issue.

And, if I decide to stay with Apple products, what can I expect for useful life of the devices? Will a new iPhone X have a longer useful life than an iPhone 8 will, negating the increased price? I don't know how to determine if I'm getting a good deal or not.

 

[ERD50]

... I would think that if it was solely a battery issue my phone shouldn't be throttled when plugged in, right? ...

No, it could be legit. The battery is very close to the phone, short wires, and a battery can provide a burst current many times the average current it supplies.

The charger just delivers an average current, and is at the end of long wires. Not the same.

As a practical example, think of a very weak battery on a car - you can put a basic charger on it, but the 10 amps from the charger won't start the car, that needs hundreds of amps. But after enough time, the battery has stored enough energy to provide the burst current to start the car.

I'm not saying Apple is 100% in the right on this, it's complicated and I have not dug into to it to the level I'd need to be convinced one way or the other. But from what I've heard so far, I'd guess that Apple may have overdone it, and handled the PR poorly. But the basic tech behind it is probably valid, just not implemented as smoothly as it should have. Or more simply and common, the truth lies in between somewhere.

-ERD50

 

[Snidely Whiplash]

No, it could be legit. The battery is very close to the phone, short wires, and a battery can provide a burst current many times the average current it supplies.

The charger just delivers an average current, and is at the end of long wires. Not the same.

As a practical example, think of a very weak battery on a car - you can put a basic charger on it, but the 10 amps from the charger won't start the car, that needs hundreds of amps. But after enough time, the battery has stored enough energy to provide the burst current to start the car.

I'm not saying Apple is 100% in the right on this, it's complicated and I have not dug into to it to the level I'd need to be convinced one way or the other. But from what I've heard so far, I'd guess that Apple may have overdone it, and handled the PR poorly. But the basic tech behind it is probably valid, just not implemented as smoothly as it should have. Or more simply and common, the truth lies in between somewhere.

-ERD50

That's a fair point. I hadn't looked at it like that.

Perhaps this comes down to my frustration that my stinginess has been overcome by Apples implementation of a system (be it throttling or software bloat) that forces me to spend for a new phone more frequently than I would like.