IPad Issues - Advice Required

placeholder · 28 Nov 2017 at 08:04

Both my elderly parents have ipads which they use daily for various things, both have recently developed issues which may be terminal I'm not sure. I'm wondering if in either case repair would be either possible or too expensive. Both my parents use their ipads enough to justify buying new ones if required but as the issues don't actually affect the functionality it seems a shame to have to go down this road if it s not required. Can anyone offer any advice?

1. My mothers Ipad has a charging issue whereby when the charger is plugged in nothing happens until the charger is wedged against something at a funny angle. This is getting increasingly awkward and last I checked there was an arrangement with heavy books in her living room with pad and charger jammed in between holding it in a charging position! Obviously checked with various cables to make sure the fault is with the ipad side of the connection rather than any cable issues

2. My dads Ipad is simply going through the charge really quickly I guess this just means the battery is on the way out. Is this an easy fix?

Hades · 28 Nov 2017 at 11:07

1. Faulty charging port (most likely the point where it is soldered onto the motherboard has a slightly loose connection). It will only get worse to the point of failure. Probably fixable either at Apple or an independant place for a charge. I've replaced several for a few points on android devices in the past. No idea how much they would charge you though.

2. Yes sounds like battery may be on the way out. But there may be a batter checking app somewhere. Again can be replaced for a charge.

placeholder · 28 Nov 2017 at 11:34

Thanks, Ive just been given a recommendation from one of the IT guys at my work for a company that does all their mobile phone repairs but also do tablet repairs too so I think i'll get them to do the charging port and do a bit of further investigating about what state the battery is in on the other one.

placeholder · 29 Nov 2017 at 09:04

It turns out Ive got my wires crossed and the issues are on the same Ipad Air.

Having looked at the company recommended to me it appears it would cost around £45 to fix the charging port and a new battery is £45 too. That's £90 all in. Now my question is does that effectively return the ipad to as new condition or is it something that will fail again with lesser replacement parts? The iPad does absolutely everything required of it and would be good for a few more years with these faults fixed but obviously if this will begin a cycle of issues it may be better to just buy a new one - although that would be overkill given its current use is simple games, media and browsing.

EDIT: Battery checking app says the battery is in a bad way and is only operating at 55% so that being replaced is clearly going to solve that problem!

--Mike-- · 29 Nov 2017 at 11:39

Which app is that please?

Solus · 29 Nov 2017 at 22:16

£45 for iPad air charging port replacement is very good. It requires soldering, which isn't the easiest with the amount of connections