6s battery replacement? Apple says my phone is fine.

What have you done so far with Apple to check the battery and/or the phone itself?

You can install the app "Battery Life" (free) to get a sense for the overall health of the battery itself. The app reads data off of the chip connected to the battery to tell you whether or not it is worn. If it is heavily worn (maybe 40-50% or more, Apple may then consider it "consumed" and replace it. Otherwise, they won't touch it.

I would make another appointment and ask to speak to the manager while your there. Or, call Apple Support and explain your situation. Again, politely ask to speak to a supervisor if necessary.

mixmaven wrote:

How do I schedule a battery replacement for my iPhone 6s? Apple refuses to replace the phone, but it continues to shut down at 20-ish percent. Today it shut off at 33% while I was listening to headphones with the screen off. I power+function reset the phone, it turned on to see the battery percentage was 33% and then shut off again. Apple "Genius" tonight again said my phone normal and didn't believe me that I was having issues. I tried to schedule a battery replacement online, but it doesn't allow for battery replacement ($80) of a 6s.

Very frustrated. Ready to bend the phone around a table.

Apple's battery test is reliable; if they say the battery is good, it is good, and you have some other problem. You can check the battery yourself with the app Battery Life from the app store. I would expect the same results from it. Other than a bad battery, the most common cause of the symptom you are experiencing is a battery gauge that needs to be recalibrated, so try recalibrating your battery gauge:

• Charge to 100%
• Run the battery down until the phone shuts off
• If it shuts off above 1% charge it for a minute only, then continue running the battery down. Repeat until it makes it to 1% before shutting off
• Charge it to 100% again

mixmaven wrote:

Thanks for the response. I can't pay Apple to replace the battery because it is under warranty, however they won't replace the battery under warranty because it reports fine yet there is still a problem. I am stuck between Apple telling me the phone is fine and the fact that it isn't. The battery reports fine in Apples software tests (comes up green twice in the software suite they run), however the phone will die intermittantly anywhere between 21-33%. The next day, it may work fine, or I can put it on the charger for five minutes and it will power up and then die at 1% like normal. Again, this is after a settings reset, full reset and setup as new. It is not my apps or settings.

I have been a happy apple customer for years. I shouldn't have to pay $749 to buy a new phone when this one under warranty isn't working properly.

To help resolve your battery issues, I suggest reviewing the following articles

http://www.apple.com/batteries/maximizing-performance/#ios

About cellular data settings and usage on your iPhone and iPad - Apple Support

iPhones are capable of doing much more than they used to be able to. To conserve energy use in your home, you turn off the lights in the rooms you are not presently residing in. Think of toggling these settings as being similar to that.

Also, one I see affect my battery the most is when I find myself in low signal areas.

No Cell Coverage and Low Signal. This indicates that either you are in a poor cell coverage area and your iOS device is searching for a better signal or that you’ve used your device in low-signal conditions, which has affected your battery life.

You can optimize your battery life by turning on Airplane mode. Swipe up to open Control Center and tap the Airplane mode icon. Note that you cannot make or receive calls while in Airplane mode.

I hope this helps!

While these are good pieces of info, they don't necessarily point to a root-cause of the problem. Whether the device is optimized or not, shutting down while the battery gauge shows 1/3 or more available power is bad.

Possible issues:

- The battery gauge is actually wrong and you don't have as much power as you believe you do. Use the Battery Life app to compare what IT sees versus what YOU see from the gauge in the status bar.

- The battery is actually bad INTERMITTENTLY. It may work fine some of the time while others it fails. This could be heat-related in that the battery might experience an internal short when it's very warm. Making sure that you don't have apps running in the background using battery (CPU) would be wise.

- An internal short in the phone somewhere could be causing an issue, although I suspect this would more likely cause the phone to restart than just shut down.

Go into Settings -> Battery and look to see how much of the CPU is being consumed by various apps. Tap the clock symbol on the right side at the top of the app list to see actual amounts of TIME that the various apps are running for. This should give you some insight into what's using the most power and a rogue app in here could enlighten you to what's going on.

I agree with Meg on the notion of going BACK to the Apple Store and talking with a manager. Explain the situation, and be prepared to DEMONSTRATE it. Their tests are good, but they will not necessarily re-create specific conditions that would cause the phone to actually shut down.

ember1205 wrote:

While these are good pieces of info, they don't necessarily point to a root-cause of the problem. Whether the device is optimized or not, shutting down while the battery gauge shows 1/3 or more available power is bad.

I wasn't offering a counter to anyone else's advice. Taking Lawrence Finch's advice into account, I was offering other documented steps to assist in bettering battery life.

-He covered battery gauge correction.

-The intermittent behavior can be explained by what I was explaining at the bottom of my first mention, which was taken directly out of the articles.

-I'm not going to address internal shorts here.

-Excellent point with checking on Settings>Battery. My first article illustrates this as well, so we agree.

Please feel free to scrub through the articles yourself, ember1205.

Optimizing battery life doesn't fix the issue of the phone shutting off while it says there is still plenty of charge left - that's all I was getting at.

ember1205 wrote:

Optimizing battery life doesn't fix the issue of the phone shutting off while it says there is still plenty of charge left - that's all I was getting at.

Yes, I understand that fact. This is why I let you know I was not discrediting Lawrence when he already addressed this prior to my post.

ember1205 wrote:

Optimizing battery life doesn't fix the issue of the phone shutting off while it says there is still plenty of charge left - that's all I was getting at.

Correct. And 99.9% of the time is is simply a case of the battery gauge needing recalibration (if the battery tests good).

Lawrence Finch wrote:

ember1205 wrote:

Optimizing battery life doesn't fix the issue of the phone shutting off while it says there is still plenty of charge left - that's all I was getting at.

Correct. And 99.9% of the time is is simply a case of the battery gauge needing recalibration (if the battery tests good).

I've read of situations in the past where the gauge doesn't update correctly, regardless of being calibrated or not. "Internally" the phone was aware of low charge while the gauge would not update until you opened an app or something. I recommended using the Battery Life app to show the battery's current charge level, comparing that with the gauge to see if it's a matter of the gauge being wrong, not being updated, or possibly some other issue.

I have the same issue. I went to an Apple Store and the Genius said my phone normal. The Genius saw my phone shutting off!!! I am very frustrated too. Today my iPhone 6s shut down with 25% of battery.

I have the exact same problem! I tried everything from calibrating the battery to restoring from backup to restoring as new phone from DFU mode and still same problem. I hate it when I received notifications of missed calls or texts from anyone after booting up when I did the power and home button combo. Mine happens even after fully charged! Once I hit the power button to lock my screen, it takes almost 20 secs to auto shutdown on it's own! Try doing this in front of the Genius to replicate the problem.

The only workaround in the meantime is to never auto lock or manually lock your screen. Your screen will indefinitely light up but I lowered the brightness all the way down to get a longer battery life and brighten it again whenever I need to use it.

Hi

There is an iPhone 6s Program for Unexpected Shutdown Issues.

The program covers iPhone 6s devices within a limited serial number range that were manufactured between September and October 2015.

Apple advises that, if you have experienced the issue, you should visit an Apple Retail Store or an Apple Authorised Service Provider to have your iPhone examined and the serial number checked to confirm your eligibility for a battery replacement, free of charge.

More information and instructions:

https://www.apple.com/support/iphone6s-unexpectedshutdown/