Several years ago, my beloved Samsung Galaxy phone was starting to die. It was the first cell I’d owned where I could not pop open the back and swap out batteries.
Ahh well, I thought. I can just take it to a cell phone store and have it replaced. There, near NYU in New York City, I got schooled. ( Pun intended ). The owner said they had to link my cell phone to Samsung servers and scan the entirety of the contents. And let Samsung do the same. If not, he risked losing his right to service Samsung phones.
Now, I’ve no way of knowing if Apple will deploy the same heavy-handed policy. And if they do, I’ll have no way of preventing it.
So here I sit, with my much-enjoyed iPad 9.7” Pro. And clearly the battery capacity is dying off. I need to replace it. I am not willing to let an Apple Store, or some corner tech service joint, scan and clone my entire hard drive.
What options do I have?
Before anyone asks, no. I do not do anything illegal. No, I have no security clearances. I’m a Camera Operator. I make t.v shows. Not really the point. My data, my music, my files are MINE.
I don’t want to throw out an expensive item like an iPad because the only choice is to let a stranger clone everything I have stored on it.
I’ve swapped batteries myself and never needed the upload the entirety of the phone to anyone. I don’t think the phone even noticed I did it.
WRT a Samsung phone, I don’t know where you took it, but you could try an iFixIt place to see what they say.
WRT an Apple device, you don’t have a whole lot of choice as to where to take it, but I doubt the Apple Store is going to clone your device just to change a battery. Also, what the cell phone place told you is going to unrelated to what an Apple Store tells you.
The only reason I can think of for uploading your cell phone contents to swap a battery is if, for some reason, the battery has to be ‘paired’ with the phone and that can only be done from Samsung’s end. But I doubt that’s the case.
As for your options, I can think of two:
1)Clone your device onto something else (or at least back everything up), do a factory reset, have the battery swapped, then restore your device.
2)Do it yourself. Just because you couldn’t get the back off your Samsung device doesn’t mean you’ll have the same issue with your Apple device. I would, however, watch some tutorials. For me, personally, I won’t do any repairs to a device that requires removing a glued on screen. Also, fair warning, I’ve never, ever seen screws as small as the ones in an iPhone. Do yourself a favor and pick up an iFixIt tool kit with the tiny screwdrivers and magnetic tray.
IIRC, when I did the iPhone batteries, the (I think, non-iFixIt)kit even came with, not just the tools necessary, but the magnetic tray had a diagram of the phone so you could set the screws on the picture from the area they came out of.
ETA, A few weeks ago I removed the battery from an old Samsung galaxy I was getting rid of. IIRC I ended up breaking the front bezel to get it open.
That sounds like a whole big pile of horseshit to me. (From that guy, not from you.) The only way that would make any kind of sense is if they were doing a full backup so that if they FUBARed your phone during repair they would restore it to a new one. Are you sure you weren’t falling for a con?
That, or a misunderstanding somewhere along the way. Not to suggest OP misunderstood, but maybe the person they talked to didn’t fully understand or do a good job explaining the process. But, yeah, the idea that they were making a backup in case they brick it sounds like it’s probably the right answer.
I had an iPhone battery replaced a couple of months ago. Prior to giving it to the Apple Store, I was asked to fully back it up. I was also asked to disable location services while it was in their shop. I have no idea why.
Now that I think about it, I’m kinda surprised phones don’t have a ‘service mode’. Something that would lock everything that wasn’t necessary for (at least the basic) repairs. That way techs could, for example, get into your network settings, but not your facebook app.
Kinda like a Valet Key for your car.
I searched on YouTube for “replace battery in ipad 9.7 pro” and skimmed a couple of the videos. I’m moderately handy, but this looks like a pretty complicated and fiddly process that I would not be comfortable doing myself.
I don’t see why the shop would need to scan the device in order to replace the battery. The videos I saw gave no indication that the battery swap involved anything other than a bunch of physical steps to remove the old battery and shove in the new one. If it were me, I’d call the Apple Store or drop in and just ask them what’s involved.
Every time I’ve had a device repaired the company has recommended that I backup the device before giving it to them. I’m sure that’s just to mitigate the damage if something goes wrong and they accidentally brick the device. But I really doubt that Apple is going to tell you that they have to scan the device to change the battery.
If you’re worried about it, just backup your iPad to something (PC, iCloud) and then wipe it before you give to them for the replacement. You can restore it afterwards and it’ll be just like it was before. No big deal.
So Apple does require this. The reasons I’m seeing are that (and this is probably it) they simply can’t do some of the repairs while that’s activated since it locks parts of the phone they’ll need access to as well as someone saying that it proves the phone is yours, but I’m not sure about that one.
Turn off Find My: Go to the Settings app > your name > Find My, then tap “Find My [Device]” and turn it off*. If you can’t turn off Find My this way on your iPhone, go to the Find My app or Find Devices - Apple iCloud, select your iPhone, then select Remove This Device and follow the onscreen instructions to prepare it for repair.
*To prevent anyone else from getting service for your device without your knowledge, Apple might not be able to service your device if Find My isn’t turned off.
Also, how much of your phone is already backed up to the cloud in the first place? When I’ve gotten a new (non-apple) phone, as soon as I activate it, it just about restores itself.
What do you mean by “this”? You linked to a page that says you need to turn off Find My Device, but are you also saying that Apple will scan all the device’s data, which is what the OP asked?
Just because a new phone can restore a backup doesn’t mean that Apple has access to it. The backup may be encrypted in a way that only someone with the account password can access it. (I don’t know if Apple actually does this, I’m just saying it’s possible.)
Actually I just searched this, and it appears that Apple does have something called Advanced Data Protection which does indeed encrypt the data so that Apple can’t access it.
When I had my iPod Touch(es) fixed (battery issues), I wound up getting it swapped for a refurbished device. The back-up allowed my to restore the new unit with my files and settings. I wonder if you actually do get your own iPads back if you send it in for service.
And who created that encryption, and who told us that Apple can’t access it? I stand by I said: If they want your data, they can already get it. If they’re not already getting it, it’s because they don’t care about it.
The idea that Apple is lying about how the encryption works borders on conspiracy theory thinking. A huge company cannot get away with something like that; typically that kind of stuff is audited by external agencies. Apple would not risk the enormous fallout from the revelation that they had the ability to access users’ data after saying that they did not.
I used the Samsung experience by way of explaining my reticence about walking into an Apple Store. Handsome Joey’s iPad Hutt is likely where I will go with this problem. ( This is a made-up name, but…well, there might be something there. )
Re: opening up devices. I’m not affeared of that idea. I’ve opened up an awful lot of my devices. Used to have the whole kit of tiny tiny screwdrivers. Still have my lovely cobalt blue Spuder took for prying open Apple cases of all stripe.
Maybe the YooToobes are my friend in this case. I’ll poke at them.
I DO know that buying cheap Chinese LiIon batteries is a wonderful way to burn down the apartment. So I will either replace this myself and get an OEM Apple battery ( or, whatever brand name is ON the battery ) or have it done by more seasoned hands than myself.