The $99 iPad battery replacement service appears to be more of a myth than a reality. Is there anyone on the board that successfully got Apple to honor this? What was your Coconut Battery health? On a separate note, how can we force Apple to start including the battery health for iPads? I am ready to open a BBB case cause this is very troubling that we got an iPad that lasts about 4 hours, and Apple calls it good.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
All iPads Any successful $99 battery replacement service?
- Thread starter mlody
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
hope you’re ready to open up a BBB case on everything in the world that has a battery then.
Back with my air 2 they offered a battery service. actually it’s no battery service but a replacement. Battery was really bad unfortunately I don’t remember what coconut said. Decided against battery service because the air 2 was in mint condition l had very important data on it, wanted a spare device and got the air 3.
Even my 10 year old iPad Air lasts more than 4 hours, but different users will have different results. The battery replacement service is a good deal if you don’t want to buy a new(er) device. That iPad Air is seldom used so I’m not concerned with the battery, I just plug it in when necessary. I have to say battery life of all the iPads I’ve ever had has been amazing. I’ve never used one of those 3rd party apps to check any of my devices.
I wasn't particularly happy with my battery replacement (1st gen pro 12.9), which is actually an iPad replacement for 2 reasons:
- the battery degraded faster than a new battery (I track battery health of all my iPads at least once a month)
- after around 1 year a faint white spot developed on the screen (my original device bought in 2015 had never had such issues in 6 years, but the replacement unit did...)
In the end I decided to sell the device to avoid the risk of the spot getting even brighter like it happend on my 10.5
I hope that Apple does not refuse to service my 10.5 because of the bright spot (knowing well that the replacement unit will likely develop the same issue...), but I don't even know if the battery is going to be bad enough before the device is vintage in 2024, when it will no longer be possible to have the battery service (for now it's around 80% according to iMazing, but it's already pretty bad...). In my experience Apple will service only if by iMazing/coconut measures, it's around 60-70%, as 80% with Apple internal software is quite a bit less than for third party ones...
- the battery degraded faster than a new battery (I track battery health of all my iPads at least once a month)
- after around 1 year a faint white spot developed on the screen (my original device bought in 2015 had never had such issues in 6 years, but the replacement unit did...)
In the end I decided to sell the device to avoid the risk of the spot getting even brighter like it happend on my 10.5
I hope that Apple does not refuse to service my 10.5 because of the bright spot (knowing well that the replacement unit will likely develop the same issue...), but I don't even know if the battery is going to be bad enough before the device is vintage in 2024, when it will no longer be possible to have the battery service (for now it's around 80% according to iMazing, but it's already pretty bad...). In my experience Apple will service only if by iMazing/coconut measures, it's around 60-70%, as 80% with Apple internal software is quite a bit less than for third party ones...
Not for me either. I remember my 2016 9.7" ipad pro showing like 78% battery health on some app, but Apple's own diagnostic tools showed 94%, so I was out of luck.
I think the issue here is that Apple doesn't so much replace the battery as much as they replace the entire iPad altogether, which obviously costs more than a simply battery swap. As such, I can see why Apple would much much more particular on which iPads actually qualified for one, because it's going to impact their bottom line more.
This is in contrast to the iPhone, which has been redesigned around ease of battery replacements. This would explain why Apple is comfortable placing a battery health indicator in the settings app, and why they allow you to basically drop in at any Apple Store and request for one, no questions asked.
Except that the Apple Watch has a battery health indicator, also involves entire replacement, and some models cost as much as (or more than) an iPad.
Maybe they should make their batteries easier to replace then! It’s lousy that their devices have to be practically destroyed to get to the $10 battery and that for a cost of $99 they’re doing us a favour.
Your experience is very interesting that Apple support could share the % with you. The few times I spoke with them and asked about running battery diagnostics, all they were able to say was that it was healthy/good. When asked for %, they said they didn't have the info. I find this perplexing cause how one suppose to know the current state of the battery health?
The whole iPad battery situation is very anti-consumer. I don't want to be a victim of a swollen battery, broken screen, or other components. I have had this situation with one of the older MacBook's, where the battery damaged the bottom case to the point the laptop was wobbly, and also iPhone X where the top right side of the screen started popping out due to swollen batteries. Those two experiences made me paranoid about batteries, and I want to avoid damaging any of our future devices by being proactive. With the tech advancements seeming like they are slowing down, it only makes more sense to get more life out of many older devices by simply getting new batteries in them. The iPad Air 3 is one of those devices we got, but unfortunately, Apple is doing everything it can to force someone to buy a new iPad instead of being transparent.
I can only conclude that different employees don't always behave in a uniform manner across the various Apple Stores. Between us, I have had an Apple Store employee tell me straight to my face that my Smart Keyboard Folio technically didn't qualify for a replacement (it was chipping badly along the sides), but he filed it under "faulty connection" and got one for me anyways.
Which seems par the course under Jony Ive, where products were often thin at the expense of being repairable. Perhaps we might see Apple design move in the opposite direction with the next iPad redesign (kinda too late for the current one), especially now that people are holding on to their devices longer.
I did have that happen on an iPhone 6 and they just swapped the phone out for a 6S. I had been using a later model as my primary phone and was keeping the 6 on a charger dock continuously connected to power. My proactive approach now is to never leave these devices constantly connected to a charger after they’re fully charged. Although current software with optimized charging would seem to be designed to circumvent this possibility.
Interesting, it’s a while ago but they told me the % which was much higher than what coconut tells.
The air 3: agree the white spot and sound only from one side in portrait mode gives a very unpleasant user experience, not premium at all.
in Germany we say “if you buy cheap you buy twice”. But the air was not really cheap Unfortunately.
Surprisingly the model we got didn't develop the white spot, so I guess we are lucky in that regards. My plan is to wait till WWDC'23 to confirm if Air 3 still gets supported by iPadOS17, and if it is supported, by then I am guessing we will rack up another 150-200 cycles on the battery. I hope at that point Apple diagnostic tools will confirm that the battery replacement is needed and we will be able to use the advantage of the $99 replacement.
After seeing what's involved with replacing the battery on an Air2, I wouldn't want a 3rd party shop doing it. Everything is glued to the chassis including the logic board. The process of heating each component that needs to be removed to gain access to the battery for replacement leaves a lot of room for damage to occur. I was really surprised how difficult Apple has made it to replace the battery in any modern iPad and can only assume that's why they won't do it in store and just replace the device instead. Check out any of the videos available on YouTube, it makes for some interesting viewing..
I called few places around and they all quoted me around $300. They said that in most cases they would need to break the screen to access the battery, so I would be on a hook to not only pay for a replacement battery but also a new aftermarket screen
PowerUtil - Battery Stats for iOS and visionOS | Siri Shortcuts Collection
PowerUtil lets you see stuff that is often hidden from you. Things such as your iPad or Vision Pro's battery health or maximum capacity, average battery temperature and cycle count.
www.itecheverything.com
Someone shared this in a different thread. This might be a game changer for all those who got declined by Apple to get $99 battery service. According to the readout my daughter's iPad battery life is at 83% but coconut shows 76% which might be their custom calculation.
Well Apple won't accept 3rd party battery app results over their own so it really isn't a game changer. Apple has it's own diagnostic equipment and that's what they base their willingness to repair, replace or exchange parts or devices...PowerUtil - Battery Stats for iOS and visionOS | Siri Shortcuts Collection
PowerUtil lets you see stuff that is often hidden from you. Things such as your iPad or Vision Pro's battery health or maximum capacity, average battery temperature and cycle count.
Someone shared this in a different thread. This might be a game changer for all those who got declined by Apple to get $99 battery service. According to the readout my daughter's iPad battery life is at 83% but coconut shows 76% which might be their custom calculation.
The thing about PowerUtil is that it’s simply extracting the figure for maximum battery capacity from the analytics file. You could do it the hard way by copying the contents of the file,pasting them into Note or some such and then search for 'MaximumCapacityPercent'. Trouble is, this figure doesn’t match the Battery Health figure displayed in the iPhone Settings nor did it match the figure an Apple tech extracted by checking my iPad online. So what is the relevance/meaning of the figure PowerUtil extracts?
I took my iPad Air 2 to the Apple Store a few days ago to get a battery replacement. Coconut Battery said it was 56%, but Apple's test said 81%, so a wide discrepancy. However, the tech said 81% was close enough, so it qualified for the replacement...
...but, they said they can't do it, because they can't order the replacement as it is unavailable.
So, I went home and chatted with Apple directly, and they also said they can't do it via mail-in, because only the service shops can do it.
This device is now listed as vintage, but NOT as obsolete. In theory, vintage products still qualify for the battery replacement, but in reality, not so much.
BTW, the 81% Apple claims seems like bullcrap to me. And more importantly, the battery behaves very erratically. It will sometimes just randomly shut off when the power drops below 30%. And when you turn it back on, it says it's 10%... and then will shut back off at 7% or whatever.
...but, they said they can't do it, because they can't order the replacement as it is unavailable.
So, I went home and chatted with Apple directly, and they also said they can't do it via mail-in, because only the service shops can do it.
This device is now listed as vintage, but NOT as obsolete. In theory, vintage products still qualify for the battery replacement, but in reality, not so much.
BTW, the 81% Apple claims seems like bullcrap to me. And more importantly, the battery behaves very erratically. It will sometimes just randomly shut off when the power drops below 30%. And when you turn it back on, it says it's 10%... and then will shut back off at 7% or whatever.
So have Apple basically said go elsewhere...?...but, they said they can't do it, because they can't order the replacement as it is unavailable.
So, I went home and chatted with Apple directly, and they also said they can't do it via mail-in, because only the service shops can do it.
Even though it is listed on the service page.
They gave me a list of other Apple authorized service centres (both Apple Stores and third party authorized shops). I'll call a couple, but I don't see how that would help, since they all order the parts from Apple anyway. It's extremely unlikely any of them would just happen to have them in stock already.
I took my iPad Air 2 to the Apple Store a few days ago to get a battery replacement. Coconut Battery said it was 56%, but Apple's test said 81%, so a wide discrepancy. However, the tech said 81% was close enough, so it qualified for the replacement...
...but, they said they can't do it, because they can't order the replacement as it is unavailable.
So, I went home and chatted with Apple directly, and they also said they can't do it via mail-in, because only the service shops can do it.
This device is now listed as vintage, but NOT as obsolete. In theory, vintage products still qualify for the battery replacement, but in reality, not so much.
BTW, the 81% Apple claims seems like bullcrap to me. And more importantly, the battery behaves very erratically. It will sometimes just randomly shut off when the power drops below 30%. And when you turn it back on, it says it's 10%... and then will shut back off at 7% or whatever.
I'm surprised Apple is doing a device replacement instead of providing iPad Air 3. I know they have old devices, but sometimes, it might not make sense from a battery health perspective if the replacement Air 2 has been sitting in storage. If iPad Air 2 is unavailable, did they say how long you're supposed to wait?