There’s nothing worse than a bad iPhone battery. How many times have you had a fully charged battery, and a few hours later the battery life flatlined? Or, how many times have you been browsing the internet, and your phone randomly crashes or runs super slow? These could all be signs of a worn or bad battery, but sometimes the issue lies just above the surface or a little deeper. Here are some common signs that your iPhone needs a new battery.
Your iPhone Shuts Down Unexpectedly
“This iPhone has experienced an unexpected shutdown.” It’s a common message for anyone with iPhone battery problems. However, if your iPhone suddenly shuts itself down when the battery is half-drained, the calibration may be off. To re-calibrate your iPhone:
- Use your iPhone until it shuts itself down due to low battery.
- Plug your iPhone into a reliable charger and let it charge uninterrupted until it reaches 100 percent.
- Once it’s fully charged, perform a soft reset by holding the sleep/wake button and home button until the Apple logo appears.
If that doesn’t solve your battery issues, the battery is culprit and will require replacement.
Your iPhone Only Works When Plugged In
If the battery is completely dead, the phone won’t boot up, even when plugged in. However, if the phone is still able to power up when connected to a power source and function properly, the battery or the battery connector are the culprits.
Your iPhone is Hot, Hot, Hot
As you iPhone recharges, it naturally generates a lot of heat. The lithium-ion batteries inside smartphones are designed to internalize the heat, shielding it from the other parts of the phone. However, if your iPhone is hot to touch, it’s time for new battery. Here’s a quick test to determine this for sure:
- Click on the Settings app and select the Battery option on the left menu.
- You will see two timers: Usage and Standby. Write the numbers down for both.
- Next, press the Power button to put your device into standby mode, and don’t mess with it for 10 minutes. If you receive a call or text, you will have to restart the process.
- After 10 minutes, turn your device back on and note the Usage and Standby times.
The Standby time should have gone up by 10 minutes, but the Usage should not have increased more than 1 or 2 minutes. If it has, then your problems aren’t directly battery related.
Your iPhone Tells You
If you are running iOS 11.3 or later on an iPhone 6 or later model, then it’s easy to find out how your battery is coping with the demands being placed on it. Open up the Settings app and click on Battery, and then find Battery Health (Beta).
If 100% beside Maximum Capacity and it says your battery is currently supporting normal peak performance, your battery is fine. However, if you notice that maximum capacity is less than 100% and peak performance offers a paragraph of information, your battery is worn.
How to Extend the Life of Your iPhone Battery
If the battery is worn you will be offered the ability to disable performance throttling, as well as get information on how to get the battery replaced. If your iPhone experiences an unexpected shutdown as a result of battery performance, power management will be turned back on. If the phone has crashed and you choose to turn off performance throttling, this is how to minimize future crashing:
- Don’t expose your iPhone to extreme temperatures. Both hot and cold weather put a lot of stress on your battery, making it much more likely to shut down unexpectedly
- Turning down the screen brightness frees up additional power
- Avoid using power hungry apps
iPhone Repair in Lexington, Kentucky
Most people are unaware of how worn their battery truly is.
According to Apple, the iPhone’s battery is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity at 500 complete charge cycles, so if the full charge capacity is less than 80 %of the design capacity, of the recharge cycle exceeds 500, then your battery is considered worn. The problem is, Apple hasn’t made any of this information available to the end-user, and you have no clue how many times you’ve recharged your iPhone.
If you’re in the Lexington area and experience these common iPhone battery problems, contact us online or stop by Refurb Kings at 1038 East New Circle Rd.
