iPhone 4s battery replacement – any good experiences?

My 4S needs a new battery and I’m looking at options.

Getting someone else to do it will be around £30-35 while doing it myself could be £15-20 including buying tools.

I’ve heard horror stories about dodgy batteries so has anyone had any good experiences? Either DIY or 3rd party.

I’d rather get someone else to do it for me but it’ll take longer and cost more so I’m tempted to do it myself as it does look easy. At least if someone else does it, it’s done by someone experienced and comes with some kind of warranty.

Cheers

Gaz

As I always say. One shops £5 battery is another’s £30 one. Buy a battery from eBay from a shop with good sales rate, 20k plus. Don’t pay more than a tenner and fit it yourself.

Did mine. Was enjoyable to do (but I am weird like that) and sorted the problem. Cool story bro

Did my g/f’s, the actual work was easy but the battery & seller were rubbish

Took one look at the instructional video. By the time we were 5 mins in and the phone was in 20 tiny pieces I realised this wasn’t for me.

I’ve read and re-read wysiwyg’s post above about five times. I’m still none the wiser as to what he, or she is on about.

He means that the price you pay has no bearing on the quality of the battery. Find a seller with a good rep.

The only way to be sure of getting a genuine battery seems to be to pay Apple. There’s a lot of crap about and even shops with a good rep only really tells you it worked when it arrived. My experience of aftermarket batteries (laptop, power tools, phones) is that lifetime is always worse than oem

The only way to be sure of getting a genuine battery seems to be to pay Apple.

This.

The other thought is that the 4S is coming to end of life.

What Simon Nicolai said. I have the app that counts charge cycles and tested a load of batteries I got as new from varying sources and they all had many hundred cycles on them so I messaged the various sellers and they all said they just solder new cells onto the old boards so ignore the count. Basically there’s a few factories in China bashing these refurbs out and a million sellers on eBay. Just buy a cheap one and if it’s crap which occasionally they are send it back.

If you DIY just don’t pop the battery, I had to chuck a 5c one out the window the other day as it went up in smoke. The amount I do it was bound to happen sooner or later. The 4 series are less well secured though so you’ll be fine.

Cheers for the advice wysiwyg, one question; what do you mean by “If you DIY just don’t pop the battery”?

Cheers

Oh and where do you stand on the pentastar screws vs Philips? Worth the “upgrade”?

Definitely a DIY job. Easy to open the case with the right driver, the battery is glued in place but comes out with a plastic pry bar. A battery kit should supply the necessary tools.

I changed my battery a few times on my iPhone 4. It was pretty easy to do but I shouldn’t have needed to do it so many times. The cheap eBay batteries were cheap and behaved oddly (jumping from 30% to nothing, charging to a claimed 100% in a few minutes only to go flat quickly). I got a couple of replacements – eventually one worked fine although it still didn’t have the capacity of the original.

I’d almost be tempted to pay Apple prices for less hassle.

I had mine done for £30 and it was as good as new.

If you try to pry it out and pierce the skin.

Use a credit card or something similar and work it under.

Which is what happened to me the other day with a particularly stubborn 5c.

Changed battery on my 4S (ebay £8) ok but not as good as original but at least I have it as a backup. Fairly easy to don with care – eagle eyesight and fingers of a small Chinese person are useful

If I needed a new battery on a more recent/valuable phone I think I’d just pay Apple next time

I changed my battery a few times on my iPhone 4. It was pretty easy to do but I shouldn’t have needed to do it so many times. The cheap eBay batteries were cheap and behaved oddly (jumping from 30% to nothing, charging to a claimed 100% in a few minutes only to go flat quickly). I got a couple of replacements – eventually one worked fine although it still didn’t have the capacity of the original.

I’d almost be tempted to pay Apple prices for less hassle.

Even a gen apple battery can do that. Wifes phone does that.

My replacement battery from ebay has been better than both the oem batterys in term of working for longer before dying as in original battery lasted 2 years before only holding charge for a couple of hours…. New battery from ebay fited for about 8 quid has been excellent for a further 4 years.

Phone only needs to be in about 5 bits to change battery on the 4 chassis…. Were you following a change screen video ?

Was that aimed at me trail rat?

I changed the home button a couple of times on my iPhone 4 which basically necessitates completely dismantling the thing. A bit unnerving but not too hard following instructions online (ifixit). But yes, the battery is much more straightforward and can be done in about 5 minutes with the correct tools.

the first bit … the second bit was in response to

“Took one look at the instructional video. By the time we were 5 mins in and the phone was in 20 tiny pieces I realised this wasn’t for me.”

Home button is fun. I did that for the wifes phone. printing the photos out off ifix it and pushing the screws through the paper was the only logical way for me ,,, so many diferent length screws ready to write your phone off if put in the wrong hole 😀

Not sticking it in the wrong hole is of upmost importance. It may look like it fits but can cause untold consequences

wysiwyg – Member
Not sticking it in the wrong hole is of upmost importance. It may look like it fits but can cause untold consequences

I’ve had similar conversations with the wife.

I’ve changed the battery in my 4S with an eBay one at its exactly the same as it was before (battery life is hopeless).
It was an easy enough job, so would do it again, just buy from a reliable source.
Luckily I don’t use it as a phone, just a music player, so just leave it on the dock.