iPhone Battery and AppleCare+ - All you need to know in 2023
Are you planning to get your battery replaced soon? If you subscribed to the AppleCare+ plan, here what you need to know
A battery replacement on iPhone is free if you subscribed to AppleCare+, and that your battery has less than 80% battery health.
I’ve already got in touch with Apple to replace the battery on my old iPhone. As I had AppleCare+, I’ve checked all the Terms & Conditions to understand if Apple will charge me for a battery replacement. Here is all I found about the topic, and all you need to know about iPhone battery and AppleCare+
Is iPhone battery replacement free with AppleCare?
Yes, a battery replacement on your iPhone is completely free if you subscribed to AppleCare+, and if the conditions are respected.
If your iPhone battery meets the conditions defined by Apple, that the battery is original, therefore Apple considers that your battery has to be replaced, and as you subscribed to the AppleCare+ warranty, you don’t have to pay anything.
You only need to either contact Apple Support or ask directly to an official Apple Store. They will check that all conditions are matched, and find a date with you for the battery replacement, which should take less than 1 hour.
Will Apple replace a battery above 80% if I have AppleCare+?
No, Apple won’t replace an iPhone battery that still has more than 80% of battery health unless the battery has an issue, even if you subscribed to AppleCare+.
They specified this information multiple times, a battery can be replaced for free by AppleCare+, but only if your iPhone battery has less than 80% of its original capacity.
Many people have already tried to get their iPhone battery replaced even if it was still above 80%, but every time Apple declined.
I also know people that asked for a battery replacement on their iPhone when their battery was at 79%, but Apple refused saying that the battery is still good. If it happens to you, gently remind them that you signed a contract while subscribing to AppleCare+, with Terms & Conditions clearly saying that the battery can be replaced if it’s under 80%.
You can still try to ask for a battery replacement if your iPhone's real battery health, which you can check using this Shortcut, is under 80%
What is covered by AppleCare+ about iPhone batteries?
As I’ve explained before, an iPhone battery can be replaced by Apple if it’s under 80% of its original capacity and you subscribed to AppleCare+. There is a specific line in AppleCare+ Terms & Conditions about this, but there are still other things that are covered by AppleCare+ concerning iPhone batteries.
Apple says that every damage caused to the iPhone, even due to an accident, can be covered by AppleCare+. Some fees can be applied depending on what has to be repaired.
For example, if your iPhone battery is dead because of a liquid accident, and you subscribed to the AppleCare+ plan, you can still ask Apple if the battery can be repaired. They can charge you up to $99, depending on how bad are the damages.
Also, if your battery has any over issues, not due to an accident, such as a swollen iPhone battery issue, it should be covered by AppleCare+.
Of course, if you bought your iPhone less than a year ago, there are other warranties about your battery. Don’t forget to check them out to see if they can help you.
If Apple decides that the battery replacement can be covered, they can ever choose to replace the battery with a new official iPhone battery or replace the entire phone. In the last case, they can give you an iPhone that does not exactly match the one you had, it only has to be an iPhone with the same capacities as the one you had. It means that they replace an iPhone with a different color for example, or a refurbished iPhone.
Can I buy AppleCare for a month and get my phone battery replaced for free?
Theoretically, yes, you can subscribe to AppleCare for a month a get an iPhone battery replaced.
But as you can only subscribe to an AppleCare+ plan during the 60 days following your purchase, I’m not sure it can help you.
Unless you have an issue with your battery during the 60 days following your purchase, but in this case I would recommend trying the one-year warranty instead.
Conclusion
AppleCare+ is quite expensive but can be worth it if you plan to keep your iPhone for more than 2 years, as your iPhone battery health won’t reach 80% before 2 years.
In case you subscribed to an AppleCare+ plan, you should never open your iPhone, or let someone outside of Apple open it, or AppleCare+ won’t cover it anymore.
If your iPhone battery is not covered by the AppleCare+ warranty but you still want to replace it, you can try to replace it by yourself, here are the best iPhone replacement batteries.
Author
Maxime Levesque is a technical engineer with more than 5 years of professional experience. He is an expert in computer and phones, mostly on Apple products. Maxime is also the founder of TechBrowser.
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