Replacing the battery on an iPhone 4S?

Feek

Feek

Feek

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Anyone done it? How straightforward is it to do?

My daughter has upgraded to an iPhone 6 and she's given her old iPhone 4S to my wife but the battery is pretty rubbish. I see I can get a replacement battery on eBay for about a tenner but I have no idea how easy or difficult it is to swap the battery.

I've taken one iPhone apart a long time ago, it was a 3G which I managed to replace the battery successfully but destroyed the screen when I tried to swap that out so my record isn't very good!
 
Just about to replace mine as well (launch 4S so about 3.5 years old), although I went for an official replacement from www.appleipodparts.com rather than cheap eBay one. It doesn't look too tricky and you can get the tools for a few quid which should make it easier.
 
I It is an absolute doddle. Should take ten mins absolute tops. Two screws (one either side of charging port) which will be either Phillips or Pentalobe, probably the latter which usually comes with the part.

Remove these then put some pressure on the glass back and slide it up towards the top of the phone. It should move 3-4mm at which point you simply grab the overhanging part and simply lift the glass off. If it doesn't come off fairly easily, slide it up a little farther.

Once that's done, you're in and there only two Phillips screws holding the battery in. You will see at the lower left of the battery there is a small chrome connector. That's the part you need to remove once you take the screws out. Just be very careful here when trying to prise the connector off. Use a flat plastic tool and ensure you only have it under the edge of the chrome and not the plastic connector beneath as I've seems people rip them off through carelessness.

Once the connector is off, all you need to do is loosen the battery (it's glued down with double sided tape) by wedging a plastic or similar tool at the edge of it and gently prising it up. Lift it out and simply reverse the process...job done :)

Check out ifixit.com for a foolproof guide, but it's easy as :)
 
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make sure when u put it back together, you dont put your sim in straight away, connect it to wifi so it updates your time and date properly, or it can cause issues, then put it back in, been workin in my cousins phone shop for a couple of years, its a common problem we see when other people have changed their batteries
 
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Sounds good, thanks all.

Duke, I know a load of the places on eBay claim to sell official Apple batteries and obviously I take that with a large pinch of salt. What's different about the site you linked? Just because they say that they're OEM batteries and they charge double the price of everyone else doesn't necessarily mean that they are genuine parts.
 
Feek I just done one of these 4S batteries and it's really easy as long as you get a tool set as there is a set of screws inside that are different from the rear case ones.

I purchased one for 8 quid which I thought I would give it a chance and the battery life is much better after 4 days testing! It's now back with the owner.
 
ifixit.com has all the teardowns and step by step guides... infact I found them better than the offical apple tech manuals! :)
 
Feek said:
Sounds good, thanks all.

Duke, I know a load of the places on eBay claim to sell official Apple batteries and obviously I take that with a large pinch of salt. What's different about the site you linked? Just because they say that they're OEM batteries and they charge double the price of everyone else doesn't necessarily mean that they are genuine parts.
Click to expand...

Only Apple fit genuine parts don't be fooled
 
Watch out for the little clip under the battery cable screw that grounds the rear chassis of the phone. Make note of it's orientation before removal.
 
Holy thread revival!

OP have you managed to get the battery changed??

I need mine done but I don't know where to get the battery from. They all say they are genuine but the price differences are day and night everywhere
 
MichaelAwkward said:
Just noticed that they don't actually stock iPhone 4/4S batteries anymore!
Click to expand...

It's alright I have an iPhone 5 anyways :p
I was reading that some companies are selling used batteries packaged as new. It's the first time I will be opening up an iPhone so I want to get something that people have tried before
 
ADT said:
Holy thread revival!

OP have you managed to get the battery changed??

I need mine done but I don't know where to get the battery from. They all say they are genuine but the price differences are day and night everywhere
Click to expand...
I've got one, just not got around to doing it yet.

Don't believe any of them that say they are genuine. Only Apple (and official repair centres) have genuine parts so just find one that you're happy to pay the price for and take the gamble. I think I paid about a tenner from eBay with the basic tools and it looks OK to me.
 
Getting genuine apple parts are a pain in the backside...

I used to order and get parts as part of my previous job.

For one they are assembled at foxxcon and we all see the videos on the security there, so there's no back route in getting them.

All parts needs to be ordered with an apple serial number and it's logged against the device.

Parts are sent and the faulty part needs to be returned within two weeks.

I've recently got re-cert'd and was thinking about doing the engineers one again, but I've spoke to my apple account manager first to see if it it was worth it, as ideally; I would want them to send the part out, for me to fix onsite and return the faulty. The response I got was that they are refusing all applications for Self-Servicing Accounts in the UK.
 
Just thought I'd add that I did this in 10 minutes last night following the iFixit guide and a kit off the river place.

All seems to be well so far, it's definitely staying charged longer than before (based on today's usage).

The real test will be whether it decided to turn itself off at 30% like the old battery.

It will also be interesting to see how long this battery lasts…
 
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