Apple will no longer deny repairs if you have a third-party iPhone battery

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If you’ve repaired your iPhone with a third-party battery, you can once again get service at Genius Bars or Apple Authorized Service Providers (AASP). That’s according to an Apple internal document that MacRumors got hold of, after reporting from French blog iGeneration.

That’s pretty big news from a company that has long-standing issues around its first-party batteries (and the pricing of a replacement). Complaints of battery-throttling were eventually handled by Apple instituting a cheap battery replacement program. That program did so well that while 11 million iPhones were saved from the landfill, it was blamed by Apple for missing financial forecasts of iPhone sales.

Before that replacement plan was instituted, many iPhone owners already got their handset batteries replaced by cheaper third-party installers, effectively cutting them off from getting future repairs from Apple. Now, that’s changed, with new guidance saying that if the repair isn’t related to the battery, the Genius Bar or AASP are allowed to repair the device.

READ MORE: Apple will now let you buy parts to repair your iPhone

If the battery is actually the issue, technicians are instructed to ignore that it’s not an Apple battery and offer to replace it for the standard fee. If the battery can’t be replaced safely, they can replace the entire iPhone for the same fee as a battery replacement.

While this is undoubtedly a win for consumers, not everyone is happy about the policy change. Cheap lithium batteries often have quality issues and could be unsafe for technicians to work on. The CFDT union section of Apple Retail France tweeted out that Apple appears to have forgotten that any new procedures involving worker safety need to go through the French authorities.

According to multiple sources, iGeneration has updated its original post to say that this third-party battery policy is temporarily suspended (presumably just in France).

What do you think of the news? Happy to see that Apple is working more with consumers and third party parts? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.