This week, Apple decided to relax the rules surrounding the eligibility of an iPhone for repair at either a Genius Bar or Apple Authorized Service Providers (AASS). Before now, third-party batteries installed in an iPhone meant repair wasn't allowed, however, the policy has now been changed.
As MacRumors reports, new guidance has been sent out from Apple informing both Genius Bar staff and AASS outlets that a third-party battery should no longer stop a repair being offered. Repairs to all the major components within the iPhone can be carried out for Apple's standard fees, with the only prerequisite being that the unofficial battery be drained to below 60 percent before a repair commences.
The new rules extend to the battery itself, with Apple allowing a damaged third-party battery to be replaced with a new, official one for the standard battery replacement fee. If the iPhone battery tabs are damaged or there's "excessive adhesive," Genius Bar staff or AASS employees can decide to replace the iPhone while only charging the battery replacement fee. This decision is left to the discretion of the service representative.
Although Apple is relaxing the rules around batteries, the same is not true of other major components including the logic board, enclosure, microphone, Lightning connector, headphone jack, volume and sleep/wake buttons, and TrueDepth sensor array. If any of those are third-party replacements then a repair will be refused.
One final bit of good news: the policy update covering third-party batteries is worldwide, so wherever you live in the world as long as there is a Genius Bar or AASS local to you these new rules should apply.
If you're wondering why Apple decided to change this long-standing policy, the most obvious reason is the cheap battery replacement programs that ran last year. 11 million owners took Apple up on its offer of a $29 battery, but it wasn't just Apple offering cheap batteries. iFixit matched the offer and has since extended it well beyond the end of Apple's end date. That's a lot of iPhones with third-party batteries Apple must have realized it couldn't repair due to a policy it could easily change, so it did.