If you’re skipping the upgrade to an iPhone 6 this season, odds are, your iPhone 5 battery is starting to show its age (and even some 5s batteries are fading now, too). Of course, you may also be transferring your iPhone 5/5s to a friend or family member and want to ensure they have a great battery experience. What to do?

You have two choices, really:

    1. replace the battery with a fresh new one
    2. get a battery case

How to Replace Your iPhone Battery

You can ship your iPhone to Apple for a replacement battery (for an iPhone that is beyond the standard one-year warranty or two years with AppleCare+), but there are pros and cons. On the pro side, you’ll have Apple’s experts replace the battery with an official Apple battery. That’s good. Unfortunately, it’s going to cost you $79 plus $6.95 in shipping. And the cons?

First, it will take about a week for Apple to get your iPhone back to you. (If you’re on AppleCare, you can use the AppleCare Express Replacement Service get a second iPhone in your hand before you ship your iPhone to Apple, but I’m assuming that your iPhone is off AppleCare.)

Second, Apple will erase all the data on your iPhone . . . and might even ship you an entirely different iPhone, possibly new, but possibly refurbished, too. The point is the data. You must back up your iPhone before you send it off to Apple. (Which is always smart, of course.)

There is, however, another way.

iFixit to the iPhone Battery Replacement Rescue

If you’re willing to risk breaking your iPhone, you can crack your iPhone case and replace your iPhone 5 battery by yourself, in the comfort of your own home. Is there danger here? Yes. Some. You might accidentally break some other iPhone component while you’re installing the battery, which could lead to needing to buy another component to complete your repair.

But replacing your battery is entirely doable for regular humans — and it’s a 5-minute job for the iPhone 5/5s. It requires removing five tiny screws, as well as a plastic spudger and suction cup.

Just make sure that you don’t buy any old battery from some dubious source online — stick with a trustworthy source. The last thing you want to do is install some cheap knockoff battery that either fails within a month . . . or catches fire while your iPhone is in your pants pocket.

Personally, I recommend iFixit. These guys are case-cracking geniuses, and they believe that regular people should be able to repair their own devices. They’ve built a business around repair, and I think they truly care about what they do. They not only produce kits to help you make repairs — or replace your battery — they also publish clear and easy-to-follow repair guides.

For instance, you can get an iPhone 5 Replacement Battery Fix Kit for $29.95, plus shipping, with options that range from next-day air ($27) or USPS First-Class Mail ($5).

There are other companies that offer battery replacement and repairs, but you should do some research before you use them.

Skip the Case Cracking and Go with an iPhone Battery Case

One of the easiest options for extra battery power is using a good battery case. If your iPhone battery is truly dead, offering just an hour or two of use before it’s empty, you really should just replace the battery. But if you get decent-but-not-great life out of your battery, the ease of just using a battery case can be compelling.

Again, I would avoid any cheap knockoff cases and stick with more established brands.

These cases all pretty much work the same way — they contain a battery in the back part of the case. You slide or snap-in your iPhone, connecting your Lightning port to the case’s Lightning connector. This means that your iPhone gains about a half-inch in length and gains a bit of weight, too.

Some cases have Micro-USB cables that you use to charge your iPhone and the case. Some cases, like the TYLT ENERGI Sliding Power Case (which I use, full review here), also let you sync and backup your iPhone using the Micro-USB cable when you attach it to your Mac or PC. Some battery cases don’t transfer data over this connection, which means you’ll have to take your iPhone out of the battery case to sync . . . or sync over WiFi or via iCloud. So pay attention is old-school cable-based syncing is important to you.

To use an iPhone battery case, you pretty much always just slurp the power from your iPhone . . . and then when you need to add more battery power, you turn on the battery case, which starts charging your iPhone. Super easy. Works as if you’ve got your iPhone plugged in — it’s just mobile.

Quick Recap: Replacement Battery vs Battery Case Options

If your battery is mostly dead, replace it via Apple or iFixit. If your battery is ok but not great — or your want on-the-go extra battery power — consider the ease of an iPhone battery case.

Replace Batteries:

Get a Battery Case:

 

About the author

Chris Maxcer

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I've been writing about the tech industry since the birth of the email newsletter, and I still remember the clacking Mac keyboards from high school -- Apple's seed-planting strategy at work. I'm a big fan of elegant gear and great tech, but there's something to be said for turning it all off -- or most of it -- to go outside. Online I like to call out cool stuff on Wicked Cool Bite and blog with my buddies at Man Makes Fire. To catch me, take a "firstnamelastname" guess at the url of this site.