I’ve had an iPhone 12 mini since launch and the battery life has become pretty abysmal. However, I’m reluctant to replace it with a newer, bigger model. My battery health is sitting at 86%, which really doesn’t sound that bad, but I feel like the actual battery life is way worse than when I bought it. Has anyone replaced their battery around this percentage, and did it give a noticeable boost?
If your battery health is below 80% and you plan on not buying a new phone within the next year then you absolutely need and should get a battery replacement. Both for function, and safety. Don’t want an expanding battery in your pocket!
Oh man I just checked and I’m at 78% 😭
78% is basically dead. I’d replace that.
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I replaced the battery for an iPhone 6s after 3 years (75%) and it lasted another 3 years. I took it to an Apple Store.
I also purchased a kit from ifixit and replaced the battery on my daughter’s 6s. Wasn’t too difficult, but I do wish it was easier. Her phone lasted about 5 years.
I’m currently sitting on a 75% iPhone 7. Gonna run this sucka into the ground! Phone is solid outside of having to live within arms reach of a charger.
Batteries are weird. Once they get into the 80s when it comes to maximum battery health/capacity they need to be replaced.
I had an older iPhone 8 battery replaced at a battery shop near me before I sold it and it allowed me to ask for another price. I’ve got an “older” iPhone 12 that I gave to my mom and I’m planning on passing it down to my little brother this year but before I do I’ll probably have the battery replaced. But this time I’ll have Apple do it. It’s possible to do it myself but the price to effort ratio isn’t there, especially since I care about keeping the water resistance.
I use an iPhone 8 Plus and replaced the battery twice at around 79%. The first was cheap—$29, I think, because Apple was caught throttling performance unbeknownst to users, so they had to make it cheap. The second upgrade was $49. Both def well worth it because performance & battery life were noticeably boosted, the phone still rocks, and it beats the hell out of having to buy a $1000+ every few years.
If battery health is the ONLY problem with your phone and it is in otherwise great shape then yes it will get you another 2-3 years out of your phone and apple typically supports full OS updates for 4-5 years. Again only if you are fully happy with your phones performance etc…
I got 4+ years out of my iPhone 7
Oh man, my 7 was a TANK. No case, battery lasted forever (or I didn’t notice it), just had a scratch on the screen.
86% is a very suspicious number if you ask me. My launch day 12 Pro Max has been at 86% health for at least 6-8 months. My launch day Series 4 Apple Watch was at 86% health when I upgraded to the Ultra on launch day… if I had a tinfoil hat I’d probably want to know more about the meaning of 86%.
I replaced the battery of my iPhone 12 mini and I regret it. The battery health was at 83% but the phone wouldn’t last 4 hours (not screen on time just 4 hours period).
I asked apple if this is expected and they said no and that my battery cycles where high enough where a replacement would make sense. I did the update, paid 100€ for it and the battery life went from 4 hours to 8 hours…
I took the phone back to them and after another look they suggested me to do a fancy factory reset while connected to a mac and without restoring from a backup. Lo and behold the phone went back to normal battery use and is now usable again.
Anyways, I didn’t want that stress in my life so I went with an iPhone 14 pro max and now battery is not an issue anymore.
Wait, have you regret replacing your battery or was it a good thing you got it replaced? Good move with 14 Pro Max though I think it’s too big and heavy for me.
I regretted paying the 100€ cause the issue seems to have been software related. If I had done the software reset before the battery swap I’d theoretically get a good enough battery life that I wouldn’t consider the swap.
Buying the 14 pro max is unrelated to the apple store experience but it was the best solution for me in the end.
Changing your battery will add significantly to your phone’s life. I usually have the battery on my phones replaced at least once in its lifetime.
I did a battery swap on a four year old iPhone 11 Pro that did not make it through the day sometimes, despite battery health at 88%.
This did fix it, the phone feels like new. Did the swap at an Apple store, walk-in with appointment and wait two hours.
The battery health percentage is not an accurate health measure. My battery was done, even with showing 88%. The Genius guy told me the number of charging cycles is relevant as well, and he recommends a swap after 750 cycles. Mine was at around 800 cycles.
All in all: recommended.
How do you see the number of cycles?
It’s also in the iPhone Analytics in settings app. You can Google it and there is a Siri Shortcut to easily find the cycle count.
