My iPhone 6s is starting to show its age, with the battery barely lasting a day, and much less if actually used, it is time for a new phone or battery. The original plan being to do this ahead of my Christmas travels. A positive Covid test put paid to the Christmas travels, the kit was already on its way.
I opted for the iPhone 6s Battery kit from iFixit, containing the new battery and all the tools needed to make the replacement. Then followed their iPhone 6s Battery Replacement guide.
Possibly the most important instruction, and one that I think saved me from some trouble, is to discharge the existing battery before commencing the work. I then spent considerably longer than the suggested 45 minutes making this change. Reasons for spending so long:
- I only have this kit and no spare parts. Unlike a repair shop, if I break something I’d then have to order replacement parts and be without a phone over that period. I was particularly fearful of breaking the screen and spent an age gently warming with a hair dryer before gently releasing it from the frame.
- A surprising amount of dirt had found its way into the phone and needed a good clean up, along with the old glue strips from the screen on which I used a good amount of isopropyl alcohol to clear them up.
- The old battery peel-back strips both immediately tore, leaving the battery firmly fixed in place
I realised I had pierced the battery when it emitted a sweet pear-drop kind of smell. Fortunately it had little or no charge, and I think only the outer skin was pierced. Moving more quickly I finally pulled it out, sealed the tear in the battery skin with electrical tape, and placed it in an unsealed tin box for a number of days. Later taking it to a recycling facility and advising that the skin had been pierced as it was handed over.
The new battery lasts well and gives the phone a new lease of life.