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My iPhone 8 Refuses to Die: Now It's a Solar-Powered Vision OCR Server

(terminalbytes.com)
447 points hemant6488 | 1 comments | 18 Jun 25 15:49 UTC | HN request time: 0.271s | source
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crazygringo ◴[19 Jun 25 14:42 UTC] No.44319142[source]▶
> The phone’s battery health held up reasonably well. After over a year of constant operation, it’s at 76% capacity.

I have an iPhone SE that I've tried keeping plugged in all the time and its battery has turned into a spicy pillow three times, first with Apple replacing the whole device (since they won't touch it with a swollen battery), then using third-party replacement kits.

This isn't going to work for long if the battery is usually at 100%.

My #1 wish for being able to repurpose old phones is to operate without touching the battery, and/or keeping the battery at 50%. Newer Apple phones have an 80% limit option which is an improvement, but I'm not sure how much. And unfortunately the option isn't there on any but the most recent phones, even on up-to-date iOS.

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1. rollcat ◴[19 Jun 25 14:55 UTC] No.44319253[source]▶
> since they won't touch it with a swollen battery

Interesting. I've had a spicy pillow on a 2017 MBP, they fixed the poor thing, and while at it: replaced the cursed keyboard, and left some kind of tape to reinforce the loosened USB-C ports.

Unfortunately, they didn't do the thermal paste - I had to do DIY, which is something I will never touch again. It did pay off though, it's cooler by some 10°C under load, and runs faster too. It's still loved and in everyday use.