Phone Battery

HunnieBunnie · Oct 5, 2019

Oh, well, I never heard anything about it, but I no longer watch the news or anything, so plenty of stuff happens that I never know about, but at my age, I am okay with that.

I have no idea if this is true or not, but a friend told me this morning that Apple intentionally did something via an iOS update to ruin batteries in older phones. That sound unreal. Anyone know anything about this??? Maybe that is what happened to my battery!

What is in in for Apple to ruin someone's phone battery, other than to hopefully make people upgrade their phones? That sounds unethical to me.

HunnieBunnie · Oct 5, 2019

I did find out last night that I can get free 12 month financing on a new phone. I am not thrilled to have another debt, though.

scifan57 · Oct 5, 2019

HunnieBunnie said:
Oh, well, I never heard anything about it, but I no longer watch the news or anything, so plenty of stuff happens that I never know about, but at my age, I am okay with that.

I have no idea if this is true or not, but a friend told me this morning that Apple intentionally did something via an iOS update to ruin batteries in older phones. That sound unreal. Anyone know anything about this??? Maybe that is what happened to my battery! What is in in for Apple to ruin someone's phone battery, other than to hopefully make people upgrade their phones? That sounds unethical to me.

What Apple actually did was to throttle the CPUs in iPhones with aging batteries so that the phone would not crash when the CPU called for more power than the aging battery was capable of supplying.

HunnieBunnie · Oct 5, 2019

I see. Well, I am unsure how I feel about that. I was just trying to research it on-line and just read an article where it said what Apple did prompted a lot of lawsuits, so it made a lot of people angry. Not totally sure why.

933 · Oct 5, 2019

I hate to say it, but truth be told, a battery that is 5-6 years old is just plain worn out due to it reaching its charging cycles. No battery lasts forever. Even if you took good care of it and made sure to charge only when it reached 20-30%, think about it like this. 365 days in a year times 5-6 years. If you charged the battery once a day that would be 1825 charges in 5 years and 2190 charges in 6 years. Even if you went 2 days or a little more, you are still talking approx 1000 charges. That is a lot for a battery to take and still be going at full tilt. Heck, my battery at 2yrs old was only 85% capacity. And I took pretty good care of it as well. There are some safety features set into the phone as such, even if you run the battery all the way down to it dying, you haven’t discharged the battery fully. There is probably about 15-20% left in it as if you discharge lithium types batteries all the way, they tend to puff and will lose a lot of their charge potential to due to being damaged. So most phones do have a margin of error set into them so that damage doesn’t occur. With all this said, I think you got a pretty long time out of your battery and it is just showing it’s age at this point. It’s either time to get a new battery or look into a new phone that will provide you years more of use and updates. Good luck with whatever you decide. If you are just using it as a phone mostly, it does make more sense to just get a new battery IMO. Although a new phone would be most likely faster and be able to receive the latest and greatest updates. JMHO’s. Good day.

scifan57 · Oct 5, 2019

HunnieBunnie said:
I see. Well, I am unsure how I feel about that. I was just trying to research it on-line and just read an article where it said what Apple did prompted a lot of lawsuits, so it made a lot of people angry. Not totally sure why.

The lawsuits are simply filed to get as much money from Apple as possible. It has nothing to do with whether or not Apple did the right thing. Anybody who can afford the filing fee can launch a lawsuit.
A fair number of these type of lawsuits are from people who can’t accept that not everything bad that happens to them is caused by someone else.

HunnieBunnie · Oct 5, 2019

I believe you about the battery, 933. I am not sure what I am going to do. I have been leaning toward a new battery. I might go to Apple to look at the new phones, though. This 5s cannot last forever. Sooner or later I am going to have to replace it.

I was looking at the 8 Plus last night. It looks BIG, but with my failing eyesight, it would probably work better for me. I find it difficult to imagine how I would carry something that large around with me.

True, not everything misfortune is a direct result of someone else's action. I do disagree about lawsuits, though, scifan57. Filing fees may not be astronomical, but prosecuting a lawsuit is very expensive indeed.

933 · Oct 5, 2019

Get a phone case with a belt holder if carrying is a issue for you. I’ve done that for years and it works out well. The otterbox defender is a good case and comes with a holder that attaches to your belt or waist. The 8 plus is a solid phone. My son just got one, and he likes it a lot. Faster then the 7 plus he had. I’ve also looked at the iPhone SE myself, for the size is small enough to slip into your pocket and not be noticed too much. At any rate, we’ll wishes and enjoy whatever you do!! And as always, have a great day!!

HunnieBunnie · Oct 5, 2019

Thank you, 933. You, too!

HunnieBunnie · Oct 7, 2019

This must be the month for battery problems. My old motor's battery seems to be dying. Coincidentally (or not), it is about the same age as my phone's battery. I just checked on-line for Best Buy, and apparently, you have to schedule an appointment to "drop off" the phone. Is this correct? They require "drop off" to replace a battery??

933 · Oct 7, 2019

From what I have read it takes appox. 45-60 minutes to replace the battery. Personally I would just walk around the store for the time it takes is what I am saying holds true. From what I just read read, as long as the parts or battery in this case, is in stock, they can replace it while you wait. Like I said above, from my readings into this, it takes approximately an hour or less to replace the battery. Hope this helps.

HunnieBunnie · Oct 7, 2019

Thanks, 933. I am going to bell them at 10 to be sure. I do not want to drive over there if they do not have the battery in stock. This is probably the best day of the week to go over there, though. We had a cold front move in last night, and the temp this morning was only 60 F. That is 30+ degrees lower than what it has been. Tomorrow and Wednesday it heats up again, though. I cannot believe today is already October 7th! The month is flying by, and I already dread the return of hot weather next April!

HunnieBunnie · Oct 7, 2019

Just spoke to Best Buy. Man said he does not any parts for 5s, not even batteries. I guess this means I have no choice but to take the phone to the Apple store?

scifan57 · Oct 7, 2019

HunnieBunnie said:
Just spoke to Best Buy. Man said he does not any parts for 5s, not even batteries. I guess this means I have no choice but to take the phone to the Apple store?

They should be able to order the battery for the 5S. Ask if they can, then call the Apple Store to see how fast they can accommodate you. If going to the Apple Store will get you a new battery faster, go there. BTW, wherever you go, backup your iPhone first just in case.

HunnieBunnie · Oct 7, 2019

Everyone I have spoken to so far said they cannot order the battery and have no more parts for the 5s. One store said they just stopped servicing the 5s about one month ago. My luck.

I am trying to reach the Apple store now to find out if they have my battery in stock. If not, hopefully they can order it. The store is in a very busy location. I hate to go over there without knowing something first, especially since my motor's battery is dying on me. It would be awful to become stranded.

The phone has been ringing and ringing and ringing, but no on is picking up. I know they opened more than half an hour ago.