iPhone battery Swelling - Here is what to do
I recently saw my iPhone’s battery swelling, it’s pretty rare but here is what to do if it happens to your iPhone.
I’ve been completely chock when I found my iPhone’s battery bloated once my case was removed. It already happened to me on another electronic device years earlier so I knew what to do, and above all what not to do with a swollen battery.
I will start here with what you should not do or try, it’s very important as it could make the battery-expanding situation worse and could break the entire iPhone. No worries though, if the swollen battery is the only symptom you see, it’s not a big deal.
Then I tell you what to do to fix the issue on lithium-ion batteries, read until the end as there are a few steps to do to be sure you won’t lose any of your data during the process.
Why does the iPhone battery swell?
Let’s first dig a little to understand why an iPhone battery can swell. It’s not an issue only happening on iPhones, the battery can swell on every electronic device that contains a lithium-ion battery.
When the battery is aging, the chance that the inner cell release gas increase. A chemical reaction can occur, especially with high temperatures.
As the battery is safely protected by an impervious casing, the gas is not released outside of the phone. And hopefully that it’s not, as the released gas is inflammable and could damage your iPhone or even yourself.
The more gas is released by an aged battery, the more the battery expands. Lithium-ion batteries rarely swell but it still randomly occurs, it often happens on an old iPhone.
Do not recharge the iPhone.
It’s important to not charge your iPhone with a swollen battery, the battery could expand even more and therefore make more damage to your phone.
iPhones are quite tough phones, but the more the battery expands, the more chance other parts of the phone could be damaged such as the screen.
A lot of people are complaining about a damaged screen appearing because of a swollen battery, a green line is appearing on the screen because it is folded due to the bloated up battery.
So instead of waiting until such things happen to your iPhone, do not recharge it until the issue is fixed.
Do not try the swollen battery replacement yourself.
You should not try to replace an expanding battery yourself. The gas released by the inner cells of the battery is dangerous.
The gas can catch fire and harm your iPhone or even yourself, only a professional should change a swollen battery.
For you to understand how dangerous it is, even the employees at the official Apple repair store do not always change the battery themselves and prefer to send the phone to a different place that has the needed equipment to replace the battery safely.
Finally, swollen batteries need to be recycled properly, professionals will better know where to recycle them. If you still think that you know what you are doing, I reviewed the best replacement batteries for iPhones.
Do not try to flatten swollen batteries
It’s even more dangerous than trying to replace the battery.
To flatten the swollen battery, you will have to break through the battery. Therefore the gas contained inside the swollen lithium-ion battery will be released. You want to avoid this as the gas can be harmful to you.
Even if you can flatten the battery, the battery case won’t be impervious anymore. First, it’s dangerous, and the battery life will be drastically reduced.
Turn off your iPhone
The first thing to do when you see that your iPhone’s battery is expanding, you have to turn off the phone. You might want to make a backup of your data before, as I explain at the end of this post.
With the phone turned on, the battery ages more, releasing more gas. As it releases more gas, it will continue to bloat up and could damage other parts of the phone such as the screen.
With the phone turned off, the iPhone will continue to use a small amount of power but not enough for the battery to swell more.
How to turn off an iPhone
To turn off the phone, press and hold the volume up and power button for a few seconds to see the option to power it off.
Reach out to an official Apple store
Once the iPhone has been turned off, you need to get in touch with an official Apple repair store as the battery needs to be replaced, the battery replacement will not take long.
If your iPhone is still under warranty, the replacement cost should be handled by Apple as there is a faulty battery and it’s not because of an action you made.
Will apple replace a swollen battery on iPhone?
They might not try to replace the battery by themselves. As I said before, replacing a bloated battery can be a dangerous operation, depending on how much the battery is swollen and the equipment of the repair store, they might not decide to replace the battery.
If the repair store thinks that the battery replacement is too dangerous, they might change the entire phone, giving you another iPhone. Moreover, the battery health of your iPhone could have been impacted.
Will you lose your data?
It depends. You should not lose any of your data if the battery is replaced. A battery replacement has nothing to do with the phone data. Storage and battery are not related parts.
But if Apple decides that the swollen battery can’t be replaced and therefore change the entire iPhone, then yes you might lose some of your data.
In any case, it’s better to make a backup to save the most important of your data or transfer them to your iCloud account.
Conclusion
As everyone is using a phone case on their mobile phones, a swollen battery is not something we can detect as soon as it happens, and the situation is often already serious when we detect it.
It's important to not use your iPhone, or plug in the power source, as it could harm you. It's preferable to let Apple put in a new battery or change the phone.
If you want to avoid a battery swelling and protect your iPhone battery, be sure to use a good iPhone charger.
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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