I’ve got an Apple Watch Series 5 ( non cellular) which has been great for my needs. The battery has become degraded though hitting the 10% charge warning after 12-14 hours depending on use. Has anyone replaced a battery in one of these, and if so did you do it yourself or use a third party provider or just pay the apple tax and get them to do it? Keen know whether going the cheaper non Apple route can work.
Apple Watch Battery Replacement
contrafibularities on 12/11/2023 - 13:30
Comments
What’s the price of a third party installer? Only one I could find a price for was $20 cheaper, not worth it. They won’t wear the risk if they damage is usually, where Apple will.
Going by the price Apple charges, they give you a refurbished watch with a new battery. If you have any marks/scratches on yours I’d go with that.
What about water resistance after a battery replacement?
I just upgraded from an Apple Watch 3 which I swam with regularly.
I'm now on an Apple Watch 7 refurb from a 3rd party store, they have 12 month warranty but excludes water damage…
How long ago did the battery degradation start? Apparently there was something in a recent software update that has caused battery deg for a number of users - I'm lucky now to get 12 hours' battery life, whereas prior to the update about a month ago I could go over 24 hours. It is anticipated that a fix will be issued in 10.2 release, currently in beta. So can you hang in there just a little bit longer?
10.1.1 was supposed to have fixed it already. If you're still experiencing greater than normal battery drain, I suggest filing a bug report so they can look into it, otherwise you're not gonna find a solution with 10.2.
That might explain it I noticed it in the last few weeks. I will keep an eye out for the update.
If the prices aren't much different, I'd rather go with the Apple route as you've got no guarantee a third party will have resealed everything properly for water resistance.
I queried swimming with my Apple Watch 7 refurb (from 3rd party) and got this reply:
"As our watches are refurbished some have been opened to be repaired and therefore the water resistance might be damaged. Please note that our watches are not covered for water damages therefore I would advise you to avoid at the maximum any contact with water or liquids."
Don't think I'll be taking the risk this time round…
I bought a preowned series 6 and it seems to default to charging to just 80%. And even though it's almost two years old the battery health is 100%. I also have a series 5 which lasts probably 18 hours and battery health is 80%. I just wear the 5 at night and the 6 in the day.