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bobright

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jun 29, 2010
4,813
33
I know 91 percent isn’t terrible and probably considered closer to new, but I feel my battery drains pretty fast. It’s covered under AppleCare but I’ve only got a week left. I’d really like to get it replaced if not free maybe even a discount? From what I’ve read my battery needs to be in worse shape to have it replaced is this correct?
 

Jtludwig

macrumors 6502
Mar 24, 2012
419
310
I know 91 percent isn’t terrible and probably considered closer to new, but I feel my battery drains pretty fast. It’s covered under AppleCare but I’ve only got a week left. I’d really like to get it replaced if not free maybe even a discount? From what I’ve read my battery needs to be in worse shape to have it replaced is this correct?

No they will not.
 
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Spudlicious

macrumors 6502a
Nov 21, 2015
936
818
Bedfordshire, England
I know 91 percent isn’t terrible and probably considered closer to new, but I feel my battery drains pretty fast. It’s covered under AppleCare but I’ve only got a week left. I’d really like to get it replaced if not free maybe even a discount? From what I’ve read my battery needs to be in worse shape to have it replaced is this correct?

My guess is they'd laugh you out of the door. You should have abused the battery more severely, really trashed it to get your money's worth from AppleCare. BTW, everybody's battery drains pretty fast, that's what they do.
 

heyyitssusan

macrumors 68040
Feb 9, 2014
3,877
9,594
I know 91 percent isn’t terrible and probably considered closer to new, but I feel my battery drains pretty fast. It’s covered under AppleCare but I’ve only got a week left. I’d really like to get it replaced if not free maybe even a discount? From what I’ve read my battery needs to be in worse shape to have it replaced is this correct?

No. AppleCare+ terms state 85% of lower. Why not call them or chat with them and ask?
 

bobright

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jun 29, 2010
4,813
33
No. AppleCare+ terms state 85% of lower. Why not call them or chat with them and ask?
I’ll give them a call tomorrow. The only Apple store near me is in a mall and closed. So I just thought I’d ask on here first. If my phone is accepted for a repair but takes awhile as in more than a week to get there and I no longer am under warranty am I out of luck?
 

heyyitssusan

macrumors 68040
Feb 9, 2014
3,877
9,594
I’ll give them a call tomorrow. The only Apple store near me is in a mall and closed. So I just thought I’d ask on here first. If my phone is accepted for a repair but takes awhile as in more than a week to get there and I no longer am under warranty am I out of luck?

No. Because when you initiated the repair you still had AC+.
 
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gnasher729

Suspended
Nov 25, 2005
17,980
5,565
My guess is they'd laugh you out of the door. You should have abused the battery more severely, really trashed it to get your money's worth from AppleCare. BTW, everybody's battery drains pretty fast, that's what they do.
My guess is that they will say "No" very politely, and laugh about you when you left the store :)

The battery drain really, really depends on what exactly you are doing. There are some websites that are awful as far as battery drain is concerned, and others take no battery at all. Same for all kinds of apps.
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,833
26,946
I know 91 percent isn’t terrible and probably considered closer to new, but I feel my battery drains pretty fast. It’s covered under AppleCare but I’ve only got a week left. I’d really like to get it replaced if not free maybe even a discount? From what I’ve read my battery needs to be in worse shape to have it replaced is this correct?
A while back, when two year contracts were a thing with US carriers, some people got the brilliant idea to abuse their AppleCare during a new Apple iPhone launch.

The idea went like this: Smash or damage the phone and then use an AC instance to have Apple replace it. Since Apple was now selling the new model iPhone their smashed iPhone would be replaced with the new model. Some people even thought this could be a way to switch to a different color.

All of them ran into Apple's policy of exchanging like for like and pretty soon these people realized that Apple doesn't play this way.

Your question is akin to the spirit of that idea. Apple is not going to replace your battery if it performs within its specifications. Nor will they give you a discount.

Unless your device is defective, you're stuck with it.

Or…smash your device and use up one of your AC instances. Of course that's unethical, but you'll get an entirely new device, not just a battery, at a discount.
 
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compwiz1202

macrumors 604
May 20, 2010
7,389
5,741
A while back, when two year contracts were a thing with US carriers, some people got the brilliant idea to abuse their AppleCare during a new Apple iPhone launch.

The idea went like this: Smash or damage the phone and then use an AC instance to have Apple replace it. Since Apple was now selling the new model iPhone their smashed iPhone would be replaced with the new model. Some people even thought this could be a way to switch to a different color.

All of them ran into Apple's policy of exchanging like for like and pretty soon these people realized that Apple doesn't play this way.

Your question is akin to the spirit of that idea. Apple is not going to replace your battery if it performs within its specifications. Nor will they give you a discount.

Unless your device is defective, you're stuck with it.

Or…smash your device and use up one of your AC instances. Of course that's unethical, but you'll get an entirely new device, not just a battery, at a discount.
And that fraudulent behavior is why premiums and deductibles have skyrocketed
 

JPack

macrumors G5
Mar 27, 2017
12,682
23,629
The battery probably does drain really fast.

The capacity % doesn’t always reflect actual battery health. I always recommend replacing every 12-18 months if you’re doing a cycle per day.
 

mittencuh

macrumors regular
Nov 4, 2012
146
192
Colorado Springs
They didn't want to replace my iPhone X battery at 82% health. But they looked at my usage in Settings and saw it was draining far too quickly and replaced it. New battery is much better.
 

colodane

macrumors 65816
Nov 11, 2012
1,020
461
Colorado
I took my iPhone 8 in for battery replacement a couple months ago with battery at 85% (no AppleCare). Not free. Was $49. BUT - it was worth every penny. Getting 2 or 3 day usage with the new battery. Very happy.
 
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bobright

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jun 29, 2010
4,813
33
If you want a new one they will make you pay for it. They won’t laugh at you like some of these chuckleheads think.

My guess is that they will say "No" very politely, and laugh about you when you left the store :)

The battery drain really, really depends on what exactly you are doing. There are some websites that are awful as far as battery drain is concerned, and others take no battery at all. Same for all kinds of apps.
Wow, so I just got off the phone with them. They ran a bunch of tests and did some troubleshooting. He told me everything was in the green range and checked out fine. He recommended I restore my phone and turn on battery saver when it’s under 50 percent so it can better last me throughout the day. He said hot weather could play a part as well and make it drain faster.

I was ready to live with until it took an even worse turn but figure I’d ask what it’ll cost to replace it. He looked it up and said normally out of warranty it’ll be $49 but since you’re still under warranty it’ll be no charge. I couldn’t believe it. I don’t know if the guy was just a nice rep or what but they are going to replace it. I asked him a couple times to make sure there would be no charge and yeah no charge they are going to swap it out for free. Hats off to apple for that. Amazing customer service and I didn’t get laughed at. 😂🤣😆😊
 
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topcat001

macrumors 6502
Nov 17, 2019
270
126
The battery heath indicator on the phone is of dubious accuracy. If the phone is indeed draining fast then the actual health might be much worse than 91%. In that case, Apple's diagnostics would reveal it and you might be eligible for a free replacement. If you do call them I'd stress on the unexpectedly short battery life more than what is displayed as the Settings app health level.

Edit: Just saw your last post, OP. Great news :)
 

DoofenshmirtzEI

macrumors 6502a
Mar 1, 2011
862
713
I know 91 percent isn’t terrible and probably considered closer to new, but I feel my battery drains pretty fast. It’s covered under AppleCare but I’ve only got a week left. I’d really like to get it replaced if not free maybe even a discount? From what I’ve read my battery needs to be in worse shape to have it replaced is this correct?
Last year I had problems with my iPhone 8 (fast draining, random shutdowns), and in spite of the battery reporting high quality, when they ran it through diagnostics at the store, what they saw confirmed my experience and I was offered a battery replacement under AppleCare, and because they didn't have a battery available immediately and my AppleCare was running out in a few days, they did a white box swap (the fact that my phone was in pristine condition and could become a white box swap itself probably made that decision easier for them). Also might have helped that the person who assisted me was a senior tech and could authorize a white box swap herself instead of having to get approval.

So that 91 percent isn't the only thing they look at. But I don't know if your "fast draining" experience is like mine was. I would go to sleep with a nearly full battery and wake up with it drained. When put on the charger, the "drained" battery would charge very fast. The issue wasn't so much that the battery capacity was bad, but that it was reporting bad data to the phone leading the phone to believe it was drained when it actually wasn't.
 
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bobright

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jun 29, 2010
4,813
33
Last year I had problems with my iPhone 8 (fast draining, random shutdowns), and in spite of the battery reporting high quality, when they ran it through diagnostics at the store, what they saw confirmed my experience and I was offered a battery replacement under AppleCare, and because they didn't have a battery available immediately and my AppleCare was running out in a few days, they did a white box swap (the fact that my phone was in pristine condition and could become a white box swap itself probably made that decision easier for them). Also might have helped that the person who assisted me was a senior tech and could authorize a white box swap herself instead of having to get approval.

So that 91 percent isn't the only thing they look at. But I don't know if your "fast draining" experience is like mine was. I would go to sleep with a nearly full battery and wake up with it drained. When put on the charger, the "drained" battery would charge very fast. The issue wasn't so much that the battery capacity was bad, but that it was reporting bad data to the phone leading the phone to believe it was drained when it actually wasn't.
No mine didn’t fast drain at all and after a nights charging it’d be full. It was more it just dropped a lot quicker than say 3-4 months ago. By the evening from an overnight charge I’d already be at 26 percent. Where before I’d be around 40ish.
 

bobright

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jun 29, 2010
4,813
33
Even when I was being a wishy-washy PITA with my iPhone 11 purchase, I couldn’t believe how generous Apple’s customer service was.
And an amazing turnaround on getting things repaired during a difficult time right now. My phone was there Tuesday and its scheduled to arrive back to me tomorrow morning.
 
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