When I found an iPhone 6 on eBay for only £75 ($95, AU$145), I was delighted. But I was less pleased when I found out the battery had aged to the point where the software throttled its performance. But instead of casting off the phone and getting buyer’s remorse, I decided to buy a replacement battery and tools from iFixit to have a go at replacing the battery myself.
After an hour of work, I swapped out the battery and the iPhone 6 was running perfectly again. I’m not giving step-by-step instructions here — head to iFixit and grab a kit if that’s what you’re after — but I do want to give my experiences, including how easy it was to do, and hopefully answer some of the questions you may have if you also need a new battery.
Note that any maintenance you do on your own devices is done entirely at your own risk.
1. Why do you need to replace an iPhone battery?
Batteries age over time, and considering that the iPhone 6 was released six years ago, it was no surprise that the one I bought wasn’t running in prime condition. One time, the phone unexpectedly restarted while in use, and it flashed a warning dialogue that read, “This iPhone has experienced an unexpected shutdown because the battery was unable to deliver the necessary peak power. Performance management has been applied to help prevent this from happening again.” Even the phone itself knew it had a bum battery.
