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bboyce2009

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 20, 2013
24
2
Texas
My APM are starting to show their age with quite abysmal battery life, granted they are about 3 years old. Since they are out of warranty, I know that I can request an out of warranty battery replacement. Does anyone have experience with the process?

I was curious if it is an actual repair that takes time, or simply a swap to a refurbished model similar to the Apple Watch Battery service? I don’t live near an Apple Store, but will be near one this weekend, so I could take them in if that’s quicker, or, if they have to send them off anyway, I might just start the process from home.

Wouldn’t mind a refurbished model to “refresh” the pair, if there’s a way to increase the chances of that on an out of warranty repair 😅

Also, is there any app to test APM battery heath from home?
 

perezr10

macrumors 68000
Jan 12, 2014
1,990
1,458
Monroe, Louisiana
I did a battery service to some AirPods Pro’s and the tech at the Apple Store simply took my AirPods and walked into the backroom and got me new ones.

I highly doubt that they are actually going to open up your APM and swap the batteries.
 

bboyce2009

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 20, 2013
24
2
Texas
I did a battery service to some AirPods Pro’s and the tech at the Apple Store simply took my AirPods and walked into the backroom and got me new ones.

I highly doubt that they are actually going to open up your APM and swap the batteries.
Did you do it with AppleCare, or were they out of warranty too? I know that APM are more repairable than APPs
 

ignatius345

macrumors 604
Aug 20, 2015
6,903
11,278
My APM are starting to show their age with quite abysmal battery life, granted they are about 3 years old. Since they are out of warranty, I know that I can request an out of warranty battery replacement. Does anyone have experience with the process?

I was curious if it is an actual repair that takes time, or simply a swap to a refurbished model similar to the Apple Watch Battery service? I don’t live near an Apple Store, but will be near one this weekend, so I could take them in if that’s quicker, or, if they have to send them off anyway, I might just start the process from home.

Wouldn’t mind a refurbished model to “refresh” the pair, if there’s a way to increase the chances of that on an out of warranty repair 😅

Also, is there any app to test APM battery heath from home?
I had mine fixed last year. I'd had them since launch and they were down to maybe 5 hours battery life, which was getting inconvenient. Anyway, they were done and ready for pickup in like 2-3 days. When I got them back, Apple had replaced the entire right earcup and also the headband. It was basically a brand new (refurbished) pair of AirPods Max, for $79. The headband in particular was a nice refresh. I hadn't quite clocked how tired that mesh had gotten, and having it nice and springy again was nice. I *really* wish they made the headband a swappable part like the ear pads.

Even if they hadn't done all this swapping, I'm very happy just having a fresh battery.
 

jetjaguar

macrumors 68040
Apr 6, 2009
3,553
2,319
somewhere
Might have to do this as well. Ive had them since launch and my battery life is awful .. not even like an hour from a full charge.
 

doolar

macrumors 6502a
Nov 25, 2019
627
1,090
I had the battery replacement out of warranty/AC+ a while ago, I left them with the local Apple Store. They replaced the right cup, nothing else including the sagging headband unfortunately.
 

bmcgrath

macrumors 65816
Oct 5, 2006
1,077
40
London, United Kingdom
How long do you batteries last? Mine are 3 years old and I use them for most of the day and they don't drain down to 0. I could probably get a and a half out of them.
 

FeliApple

macrumors 68040
Apr 8, 2015
3,471
1,933
I guess this is something I’ll never understand. I have a pair of Sony wireless headphones that are well over 4 years old. Battery life is like-new. Last time I tested them they even were over spec. A 3-year-old pair is gone?!

This is just like iPhones, people with the iPhone 13 say “my iPhone 13 needs a battery replacement, but it’s okay, it’s two years old already”. My iPhone Xʀ is over 4.5 years old and it’s fine...
 
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