Find out if your iPhone battery needs replacing and what to do if it does. We explain how to check your iPhone’s Battery Health and where to get the battery replaced if necessary – and whether you can do it yourself.
Reports in August 2023 suggested that the batteries in the iPhone 14 generation had depleted faster than expected, with people reporting reduced battery health by up to 10%.
People wouldn’t even know that their batteries had depleted if Apple didn’t give them this information–which is something it was forced to do a few years ago after the ‘Batterygate’ scandal where the company was found to be throttling iPhones whose batteries were degrading. Apple maintained this was to stop iPhones suddenly shutting down. Since the arrival of iOS 11.3 in early 2018 it’s been possible to go to Settings > Battery and tap on Battery Health to see how healthy your battery is.
[If you were affected by Batterygate and made a claim in the class-action suit back in 2018 you may be getting around $65 from Apple!]
In more recent times Apple has made changes to iOS to preserve the battery for longer, including Optimized Battery Charging, which prevents an iPhone from remaining plugged in for long periods while fully charged. Optimized Battery Charging has been a default setting since iOS 13 arrived in 2019. You have probably noticed if you wake up in the night and look at the iPhone charging beside you that it will have stopped charging at 80% with a view to continuing the charge just before you wake up.This is designed to stop the battery from overheating and reduce the number of times your iPhone receives a full charge.
But why do iPhone batteries lose their ability to charge over time? When should your iPhone battery be replaced?
You may also want to know how much it costs to replace an iPhone battery and how you can tell if a battery in a used iPhone has been replaced.
We’ll run through everything you need to know about iPhone batteries below.
Why do batteries deplete and degrade over time?
It’s a truth universally acknowledged that over time an iPhone battery will eventually start to lose its ability to hold a decent charge, just like the battery in any phone.
The science of this relates to chemical reactions that happen inside the lithium-Ion battery and degrade it. over time and sadly the battery for your iPhone is no exception.
In a letter regarding Batterygate in December 2017, Apple explained that the “time and the number of times a battery has been charged are not the only factors in this chemical aging process. Device use also affects the performance of a battery over its lifespan. example, leaving or charging a battery in a hot environment can cause a battery to age faster.”
As the battery gets older it may start to require charging more frequently, hold charge less well, or even start to shut down your phone unexpectedly. You may have started to notice this change, but if you want to see the evidence it is easy to Check your battery health, as we will demonstrate below.
How to check iPhone battery health
In early 2018 Apple issued an iOS software update with new features that it said “give users more visibility into the health of their iPhone’s battery, so they can see for themselves if its condition is affecting performance”.
Open Settings.Tap on Battery.Tap on Battery Health & Charging. (In older versions of iOS this was just Battery Health).Note the percentage beside Maximum Capacity.Also note the message below Peak Performance Capability. It could include details of whether your iPhone has experienced any battery-related issues.Here you can see the maximum capacity, which in the case of our year-old iPhone 14 is 95%.
If you are wondering what iPhone capacity is bad that would generally be anything under 80%, but understandably people with iPhones under a year old would be expecting better than 90%.
iPhone 14 Battery Health 95%
How do you know when an iPhone battery should be replacedOnce your iPhone’s battery passes the 500 complete charge point it’s probably time for it to be replaced.
Unfortunately, iOS doesn’t indicate how many times your current battery has been charged, but it does try to prevent too many full charges with the Optimized Battery Charging feature mentioned above.
However, once your Battery Health (which you can discover by following the steps above) falls to 80% it is time to get it replaced. In fact, Apple will display the message: “Your battery’s health is significantly degraded. An Apple Authorized Service Provider can replace the battery to restore full performance and capacity.”
If the battery in your iPhone–or a used iPhone you are considering buying–has depleted to 80% or lower you s isk that something could happen to your iPhone.
How to maximize iPhone battery lifeIf you want to make sure your battery lasts as long as possible until you have a chance to get it replaced, then try the following suggestions:
Turn off Location Services.Disable Background App Refresh.Make sure Auto-Brightness is enabled.Use Airplane Mode when you don’t need to be connected to the internet.We have lots more tips about saving battery life on your iPhone here.
If you’re really desperate to get some more mileage out of your iPhone, then perhaps consider a battery case. iPhone MagSafe battery pack cases here.