One of the most common issues we see clients stumble across every day is their iPad, iPhone or laptop no holding a charge like it use to. Maybe the device will randomly turn off or reboot even at 60% charge. Perhaps your iPhone drains completely just from playing your favorite game or watching your favorite shows.

 

So what are you suppose to do when your phone or computer seems to be lasting less and less through out your daily routine? Do you buy a new phone? Maybe you purchase a portable charger or a battery case? Well the solution we recommend is simple. Just have your battery replaced.

 

Most customer we talk to are unaware that the battery can be replaced in their smartphone or tablet and a simple battery replacement will provide them with another 2-3 years worth of life out of their device. The most common battery nowadays in electronics are lithium ion batteries. Lithium ion batteries overtime start to degrade and are unable to hold as much of a charge as they could have when new. The average life cycle of a lithium ion battery in smartphones is between 2 to 3 years, with degradation beginning roughly at 18 months of use. When your battery begins to deteriorate within your device, you might start to notice some unusual issues.

When iPhone and iPad batteries begin to fail, the majority of the time the device will randomly reboot. Once rebooted the battery status will say that the device still has some sort of charge. Once the battery has completely failed, the lithium ion battery begins to swell.

Swelling

Swelling will ultimately cause the screen on your iPhone to separate and your LCD on your iPad to crack. This will increase the cost of repairing the device and might lead you in the direction of purchasing a new one. Just make sure you are regularly backup your data in the event of said damage.

In absolute worst case scenarios, a swollen battery is more likely to rip open under pressure and catch on fire! If you recall, this is what caused the Samsung Note 5 to be recalled and banned off airplanes.

MacBook Batteries

Laptops experience the same issues, however it takes much longer for batteries to fail in laptops due to their larger design capacity. Your computer requires more power to run than your smartphone does. Because of this  laptops are equipped with much larger batteries designed to last for hours to days at a time.

If you have a MacBook, your computer will let you know when it is time to replace your battery by notifying you with a message that says “Service Battery Soon.” Overtime, the battery in your computer will begin to swell just like the iPhone and iPad batteries do and in most cases will prevent you from using your trackpad normally.

Damaged Trackpads

The battery in a MacBook is located underneath the palm rest and trackpad. When the battery begins to swell due to old age, then the battery will push up against the trackpad and prevent the trackpad to click. If not properly taken care of, the battery will swell so much that the battery will push the trackpad completely out of the MacBook permanently damaging the trackpad.

You can always replace the phone or the computer, but if you are on a budget or just not ready to say goodbye to one of your dear devices then the best thing to do is have your battery replaced when you begin to notice your battery draining faster than normal. This philosophy always brings us back to where we stand on, which is revive your device, don’t replace it.

Extend your battery life.

Unplug

The best tip to properly care for your device and will ultimately prolong the life of your smartphone or laptop is to unplug your device from a charger when it is fully charged to 100%. Lithium ion batteries have a limited amount of charge cycles they can go through before they begin to deteriorate. The more your device charges, the more charge cycles the lithium ion batteries go through. We recommend only charging your phone or computer when close to 0%, that way you get a full use of one single charge cycle. Plus, its better for the environment to cut back on energy consumption as well!

 

If you are experiencing battery drain, feel free to bring it to our shop and we will run a FREE diagnostic to determine if your device needs a battery replacement or not.

iRevive is a smartphone and computer repair company that specializes in Apple/Macintosh devices in Greenville, SC