New Apple tool lets iPhone 6s owners check for free battery swap eligibility

People worried about whether their iPhone 6s qualifies for Apple's free battery replacement program can now check directly via the company's website.

Owners must enter their serial number on the program's webpage. The easiest place to find the number is in the About section of the iOS Settings app, but alternately it can be retrieved from a packaging label, or by connecting an iPhone to iTunes and selecting the Summary tab for it.

Affected iPhones were built between September and October 2015, and can potentially shut down without warning, even if they should have plenty of charge left.

To actually obtain a replacement battery, people must contact Apple technical support, an Apple store, or an authorized service provider — carriers aren't participating in the initiative. If a person has already paid to fix the issue, they can potentially get a refund for their repair costs.

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19 Comments

metrix 256 comments · 15 Years

About 7 years ago

I am totally surprised my iPhone 6 still has decent battery life since I often leave it running Dishanywhere overnight

aenghus 14 comments · 12 Years

About 7 years ago

I wish there was a similar program for the iPhone 6. Ever since iOS 10, my phone, when battery percentage is below 30%, suddenly jumps down to 0%, and shuts down. Then, after I plug it in and it re-starts, the battery level will immediately jump back to 30-40%. I've re-insalled the system twice, as advised by Genius Barkeepers, but the problem persists.

mobius 378 comments · 18 Years

About 7 years ago

Well I just used that tool and it says my iPhone 6s is eligible for a replacement. Managed to book an appointment. I'm impressed by how quick and easy they have made it.

anantksundaram 20390 comments · 18 Years

About 7 years ago

mobius said:

Well I just used that tool and it says my iPhone 6s is eligible for a replacement. Managed to book an appointment. I'm impressed by how quick and easy they have made it.

Actually, it took them a while. People were complaining about this issue for a fair amount of time. Even now, it is a staged response.

My daughter's 6s was having this problem: would shut down when the battery reached 40%. When she was home for TG last week, we called Apple support. We were told to install the new iOS update (which had just recently come out, and funnily mentions nothing at all about a battery fix in its features), and report back in a few weeks if the problem persisted. Let's see what happens.

It is nice to have this serial number check, though. I'll ask her to check it later today.

dysamoria 3430 comments · 12 Years

About 7 years ago

Mine is eligible too. The question is whether it needs to be done or not. The requirement to delete all data tells me I might get back a refurb phone rather than my own. I don't want a refurb with potentially worse screen color inconsistency than the one I have now.

I'm really unimpressed with the 6s + iOS 9.x battery performance compared to my iPhone 4 with iOS 6.x, but I haven't had any spontaneous shutdowns (none that I've noticed at least).