Replacing iPhone Battery

[BobW]

Has anyone here replaced an iPhone battery?
In particular, an iPhone 5 battery. Mine is shot. Local Apple service place wants $150 to replace it. So, I've ordered a replacement battery and an iPhone tool kit to do it myself. It should arrive in the next day or two. Wondering if anyone has any advice/warnings, etc.

 

[gophert]

Has anyone here replaced an iPhone battery?
In particular, an iPhone 5 battery. Mine is shot. Local Apple service place wants $150 to replace it. So, I've ordered a replacement battery and an iPhone tool kit to do it myself. It should arrive in the next day or two. Wondering if anyone has any advice/warnings, etc.

Watch the YouTube videos. You have little to lose by trying, the iPhone 5 is worth way less than the $150 Apple repair price.

 

[BobW]

Aha, Youtube. I should have thought of that. I'll check it out.
As you say, the phone's not worth anything, so I have nothing to lose.

 

[BobW]

Turned out not to be quite as straightforward as the various videos showed.

I took out the two bottom screws, and then used the suction cup to try to lift the display off of the case. However, the adhesive that holds the display together had let go, and only the top part of the display came loose. The rear housing of the display was still firmly stuck into the case. Took me a while to figure out how to get that out. I did some gentle poking, prodding and prying, and finally got that part out.

Changing the battery was easy enough once that was done. Then I had to fix the display. I glued it back together with superglue, putting a dab of glue in the same places as the original adhesive. Reassembled everything and crossed my fingers, hoping that the display would still work, and that the new battery would be okay. The display was okay, but the phone went through several power up cycles after I connected the charger. I thought maybe the battery connector wasn't making good contact. I gave the phone a few good shakes, and taps on the table, and the power hasn't cycled since then. Hopefully, it'll be okay now. I'll have to keep an eye on it for a while though.

 

[Mickster]

I think that the screen should be warmed up first, before using the suction cup, to soften the glue and ease removal.
Some folks have 3D-printed a kind of reverse version of these, with suction cups on both jaws, to open the iPhones:
https://www.sears.com/craftsman-mic...SellerId=Sears&prdNo=7&blockNo=7&blockType=G7

Actually, there are ones which could be modified already on the Sears site:
https://www.sears.com/craftsman-2-i...SellerId=Sears&prdNo=5&blockNo=5&blockType=G5
Remove the orange pads, attach suction cups, then warm up the phone with a hair-dryer or heat gun, and pull it apart.

Regards.

 

[BobW]

You definitely do NOT want the glue to let go. The entire screen assembly should just unclip from the case, in one piece, after the screws have been removed. Mine came out in two pieces, and I was lucky to get the display back together so that it worked.

There have been some comments about using heat to soften the adhesive that holds the battery, but that's a different thing entirely. In my case, I didn't need to heat the battery. I just gently pried it loose.

 

[Mickster]

Ah, ok Bob, now I got ya.
The vids/tools I looked at were probably aimed more at screen replacement rather than just changing the battery.