How I Used a Credit Card Perk to Replace My iPhone Battery Without AppleCare

I was using my country iPhone 12 Pro Max A little more than three years ago, it is still a great device for my needs. But after this time a lot, it is clear that its battery no longer bears the shipping it is used to. For some people, this may be a reason for trading in phone For a new one, especially now after Apple iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro Phones include a more powerful processor and better cameras.

But my country iphone It still works well in all other respect.

Despite its release nearly four years ago in 2020, I am still completely happy with the IPHONE 6.7 -inch 12 -megapixel camera, and I am satisfied with almost operating my phone in each application in the store application, regardless of the most intense games Which works exclusively on iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max And iPhone 16 phones. the iPhone 16 Pro Max It has a very improved camera, USB-C support and access to Apple Intelligence feature suiteBut I don’t desire these features now. I don’t want to pay more than $ 1,000 for a new phone, and I do not want that Trade in my device To obtain support for having to adhere to the T-Mobile service for another two years.

The battery replacement decision, a repair of any Apple Store or Apple approved service provider, could be made, easy because it is much cheaper than buying a new phone. Doing this will prolong my device with a much smaller investment than buying another full phone and will help my phone to continue in a full day again by running on a new new battery. The only problem with this choice is that I have no Applecare plan or traditional phone insurance plan Connected to my iPhone. This may mean that I should take a full price before the $ 89 taxes that Apple receives a battery service with this iPhone.

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Instead of Applecare, I instead managed to partially compensate for my battery service through the cell phone insurance feature for my credit card. This feature, which has several credit cards, allows you to submit a claim when breaking your phone and compensation, incomplete to the opponent. To qualify, you must use the qualifying credit card to pay the price of the cell phone bill every month and collect a variety of documents during the repair process that you will need to submit when submitting a claim.

The exact bases will differ depending on your credit card, but here I will talk about how to take advantage of Perk using the Chase Freedom Flex®*. This card is the global elite MasterCard, and in this way, the steps will be similar to any other credit card bearing the same appointment. Some global elite tools have annual fees, but freedom flex no. This makes it more negative for phone insurance, without the need to prepare a frequent boost with Apple for Applecare or with a wireless transportation company.

The first decisive step to make a claim

The first step to use this process included a little deliberate waiting for my iPhone battery capacity to deteriorate less than 80 % of its capacity. This is due to qualification as a repair, my iPhone needs an advertisement that the battery needs to be served. This is a little frustrated, as I definitely noticed that my phone has a lower age when I decreased to 85 % and less. However, until the battery was exhausted less than 80 %, the phone was not considered in need of repair.

You can check the state of the battery health by clicking on settings, then the battery and then go to the battery health and charging. On this page, the iPhone will display the current maximum of its current capacity. Once my battery capacity decreased to less than 80 %, this page offered a message stating that the health of my battery was “deteriorating dramatically”, along with an option to find your service options. Pick a screenshot for this page when you get it, as it will help when submitting a claim later.

When clicking to find your service options, your phone will direct you to either make a reservation in a genius bar in Apple Store or a certified service provider. Instead, you can also arrange to fix the mail. This page will also display the cost of repair before repair, which is $ 89 for me. Pick a screenshot for this page as well.

Transfer iPhone to the Apple store

I chose the personal option and set an appointment at the Apple Fifth Avenue store in New York for my iPhone battery service. If you choose the Mail-in option, many of the following steps should be applicable.

After arriving at the Apple Store, it represents the Genus Bar actor who met me made me out my phone from Find My repair and confirmed that I need to know the password of my Apple ID to reach the phone after the repair, in addition to the remach to find my country. The actor will conduct a diagnostic test to verify the exhaustion of the phone battery, and to ensure that there are no other problems with the device. After that, you will receive the reform estimate, which must match the prices offered earlier in this process and will also be sent to you in an email. Save a copy of this estimate, as you will need it later.

Genius Bar employee will ask you to agree to the cost of repair, but you will not be downloaded until it is time to pick up your phone. After that, you will receive time to return to receipt, during which you will need an identification card to check that you are the owner of the device. I got 6:50 pm after my phone was dropped around 5:30 pm

During the overlapping time, I was hoping to use a cellular Apple Watch SE to keep up with any calls or texts, but I noticed some problems that I did not expect. While stopping my phone, on its own, Apple Watch has not been able to make phone calls, and I cannot use SMS/MMS services. I can send a text message to people on iMessage or make via faceime voice calls. It is a moderate inconvenience, especially since the time of transformation was not very long, but it is worth planning for it, especially if you are hoping to use any other Apple device like an iPad or MacBook to cover it for your iPhone while waiting. It is better to schedule this repair on a day when you do not expect any important phone calls.

When it’s time to return to the Apple store to receive, I used my driving license to check my identity, and I was directed to a table in which a genius employee was brought on my phone. Before leaving, I received the full bill of $ 96.90 after the tax and paid it. Then my phone came back, and the inside was completely a new battery. Make sure to send the bill to you via email, and stick to the next section.

Submit the claim

Now that you got the new battery, it’s time to submit a claim to get the most money as possible. As for the Freedom Flex chases, this means the visit MasterCard Benefits website Log in to start the deposit.

You will need to send a series of documents, which define the full MasterCard In the benefits guide. If you need more time to find some of the required documents, you can save your demand as a draft and return to the website when you are ready to download. The documents you need include:

• Your latest credit card statement shows that you paid for your cell phone bill with the qualified card

• A copy of the statement of the wireless service provider

• A copy of the repair estimation offered (in this case, by Apple)

• Evidence of buying your phone, which I had to get from T-Mobile since I bought my iPhone through the carrier

• A copy of the repair bill

• Any other relevant screen shot

In my case, all of these documents were available online or sent me via email as PDF. This means that I either take clips of documents such as proving my purchase or downloading the provided pdf files. In the event of these material documents, using you The built -in scanner in iPhone It will quickly help you create digital copies.

After submitting my demands, I received an email after a few days of insurance examinations that asked to correct some of my models. I accidentally submitted a screenshot to Benini Banking and asked this instead to submit my June card statement and match the T-Mobile invoice. Once these documents are sent, I waited slightly more than a week and then I saw a balance of $ 46.90 applied to my credit card bill. I did not receive a call that the claim had been approved, but the money is definitely sufficiently evidence.

For my card, the cell phone protection feature has $ 50 discount for each accident, which is why the amount only covers the amount that I paid over this amount. This is approximately half of the cost that I return, and certainly deserves some emails and documents that must be obtained.

This benefit will also cover other types of damage to the phone or accidents, including if you need to fix a broken screen or if the phone is stolen (unless it is from the specified luggage). It does not cover a phone that disappears mysterious or lost, so if you are a person who has a tendency to lose devices in this way, it is best to look at Applecare or traditional phone insurance.

This was the first time that I took advantage of the cell phone insurance on my credit card and found it a relatively easy way to recover some of the repair costs without having to participate in a full insurance plan.

*All information was collected about Chase Freedom Flex independently by CNET and has not been reviewed by the source.