iPhone 5 battery replacement program
 

For certain serial numbers sold btw Sept 2012 and Jan 2013
http://www.iclarified.com/43307/appl...cement-program
https://ssl.apple.com/support/iphone5-battery/

Thank you for posting. I just checked my serial number and was one of the lucky ones. My battery has been giving me fits for a few months but I chalked it up to running on the european networks so much. Always seems to drain faster when in the EU.

Had mine replaced at Apple Store today. It was a painless 45 minute surgery. Post operation - 5 hours still at 87% versus pre-op I would be plugged in by now! Best part, free and a warranty to boot.

45 minutes?! That's certainly not "painless"!

Disclaimer: I realize Apple stores aren't exactly known for their efficiency (they're more like the USPS), but 45 min for a battery change is unacceptable.

The battery for 5 model is notoriously difficult to replace, unlike the 4 or 4 s and 45 minutes isn't that bad a time frame....better than having to come back the next day, right? ;)

My wife's iPhone 5 didn't qualify, but the battery life has deffinitely tanked sharply over the last month (going on 20 months and 2 screen-replacements since it was new). It seems 7.1.2 may be the culprit, but none of the battery saving tricks/settings seem to help her get better than 1/2 day on a charge.

My iPhone - Ding! Needs replacement. I had noticed wonky battery life recently (past 6-8 months) and chalked it up to age (of the phone, not me, my battery is barely holding on!)

Wife's iPhone - Nope. Good to go!

I am not looking forward to the replacement process as I'm told that even though you backup your phone, a lot of tweaks, settings, etc. get lost during such a battery replacement. If it's anything like the "simple" iOS upgrade, I'll have a lot of work to do.

Made my appointment for this Saturday (In the EU to Friday) and can't wait to get my freedom from the Mophie back. Surprised they are replacing the battery only - assumed they had a stash of refurb units they would swap out for speed. Oh well - no complaints on my 5 other than battery life.

I had mine replaced a year ago - 3 days before he warranty expired. I don't think it took more than 15 minutes after diagnosis/confirmation of replacement. Maybe 10.

Too bad I didn't know about it earlier.
I replaced the battery myself a couple of months ago voiding the warranty.

...., does replacing it yourself void the warranty? i did that myself like a month ago...

i lost two screws but what if i replaced the battery back?

That's more like I'd have expected.

Took my phone in today for a pre-scheduled appointment and it qualified for both the battery replacement and the recent sleep/wake button replacement. The Apple Store I went to did not have any batteries and they were having to "order" them for everyone who had appointments, advising that they would likely receive their order in the next 2 business days, at which time the store would call them to come in for their battery replacement to occur.

As for my phone which needed both the new battery and replacement sleep/wake button replacement, the store had to send my phone away for repair and they gave me a loaner to use in the meanwhile. They said it'd take about 10 - 14 days for the repair. :(

Traveled around Europe for 2 weeks with a dying iPhone 5 battery and a USB battery pack to boost it up, which worked quite well but looked strange dangling from the phone. Ordered a replacement from Amazon before I left and then installed upon returning. Unlike SteveMSflyer's experience @ the iStore, it took me all of 8 minutes to pry the old battery out and install the new one.

Next day, my wife emails me a link to Apple's replacement program, and I see that mine would have qualified had I not replaced it myself. Oh well, saves a trip to the iStore, waiting in line for a "Genius", then waiting for the replacement. The new battery works great, it now only runs down to 70 - 80% in a day's normal usage while with the old battery it was dead by 3 PM.

Thanks for posting this..... Ende to check my SN.....

A follow up.

Just after the announcement of the replacement program and discovering I needed a new battery, I happened to be in an Apple Store for another technical support issue and heard a technician cheerfully telling someone, in substance, "Thanks for coming in, we don't have any replacement batteries in stock, we're taking names and numbers .... we'll get in touch when it's your turn." I turned back to my business and didn't hear anything else about it.

So, since then, my battery - which is eligible for replacement - has seemingly acted a bit more wonky or at least I noticed it acting more wonky.

Today, I decided to get it replaced. Knowing about the potential in stock issue, I started calling a few Apple stores in my area (yep, first world problem, I know) to see if they had them in stock. At at least two stores, the people who answered said they aren't able to tell me if the batteries are in stock or not (and nobody in the store would tell me). Why. "Because we have to run diagnostics first to see if your replacement eligible battery actually needs to be replaced."

Now, I wasn't asking for them to hold a battery for me nor was I asking them to guarantee me that I would get a battery or that they had enough stock for people coming in that day. I was just asking, hey, if I come in there, do you have replacements. OK, so maybe you have to run some diagnostics to see if it's the battery that needs replacement, I'm cool with that. And, maybe if I get there late in the day or tomorrow, stock will be out. But why can't you tell me whether you have batteries in stock so that, if I decide to come in, sit there through the diagnostics and it's the battery, I know it'll likely get done today (assuming the day's "stock" of batteries is not depleted). What's the big secret?

"It's just our policy."

For the life of me, I can't see why a marginally "green" company wouldn't at least let me make an informed decision about whether the trip was worth it or not. "Yep, we have some in stock and they're going fast, so get you're patoot in here so we can run diagnostics to see if you need one. No guarantees and we can't "hold" a battery for you, but, if you get in here and diagnostics show you need a new battery, you'll be able to get one assuming our stock hasn't run out." Why would I want to risk two trips?

FWIW - I just chanced it by going to another store than the two above (why waste my time calling). Again, first world problem, I know. They freely told me they had batteries in stock. They ran my phone's ID through a what looked like a database on their own iPad and then said, OK, we'll replace the battery. Never did run any diagnostics on the phone. Didn't connect it to anything or do anything with it (other than have me temporarily take off the passcode protection - so that when they powered it back on they could get into the phone to do ... whatever).

My wife's didn't qualify but is definitely failing (she's getting around 6 hours of mild use, but her classroom has very bad signal which probably contributes). I ordered a replacement kit from Amazon and will likely do the swap tonight. I've done the same and also a screen replacement on her previous iPhone 4, so I'm fairly confident it shouldn't be much trouble (video walk-throughs don't show any "gotchas"). Any tips or gotchas to be pointed out by those of you who've done it yourself?

Do come back and tell us how things went. I've done several 4 and 4s replacements but under the impression 5 et al were much more difficult and better to just pay the $79....

Good luck!

The most difficult part for me with the iPhone 5 was prying the battery loose from the underlying adhesive tape: slowly and carefully are key. Don't apply so much force that the case edges get distorted. Once the old battery was removed there were pieces of tape left stuck to the phone base. I removed some of this but left the pieces that were flattened out completely so that 1) the new battery would be at the same height inside the case as the old and 2) so it would stick in place like the old one.

Another tip: don't remove the display cable, just be careful not to tilt the display up beyond 90 °. Overall it was well worth the ~$50 saving between the $25 Amazon battery kit I bought and the iStore repair and iExperience.

What I don't understand is why mine doesn't qualify. It qualifies for the sleep button replacement (it's a Sept 2012 phone) but not the battery replacement. My phone now powers off at 7% remaining and with moderate use it lasts 5 hours (no wifi or bluetooth one during this time)

I'm in the same boat, but $15 and 15 min is all it takes to DIY.