MagSafe Battery Pack
In July 2021, Apple announced the MagSafe Battery Pack for the iPhone 12 line, although it’s also compatible with the iPhone 13 line as well. Here’s everything you need to know about the Smart Battery Case successor.
Table of contents
MagSafe Battery case: features and design
More than six months after the launch of the iPhone 12 series, Apple unveiled a new first-party MagSafe accessory in the form of a wireless battery pack. The MagSafe Battery Pack has a 1,460 mAh battery with 11.2 watt-hours of efficiency.
It has a smooth, hard plastic finish, different from the Smart Battery Case, which was made of silicone, and is almost the same size as the MagSafe Leather Wallet, although it’s significantly thicker.
This accessory is made to give extra juice to your iPhone 12 or iPhone 13, it attaches magnetically to the back of them. The user can charge the pack with a Lightning cable, and it can pass through a charge to the attached iPhone at the same time. Apple recommends using a 20-watt USB-C charger for the fastest charge times.
At your desk and need a charge? Just plug a Lightning cable into the MagSafe Battery Pack for up to 15W of wireless charging. Short on time? With a higher than 20W power adapter, you can charge both the accessory and your iPhone even faster. And you can track the status of your charge on the Lock Screen.
When the MagSafe Battery Pack is attached to an iPhone 12 or 13, a small icon appears on the Battery widget as the iPhone asks if you want it to charge up to 90% of your battery or enter Low Power Mode.
MagSafe Battery Pack prototype
Twitter user Internal Archives published a prototype of the MagSafe Battery Pack. Here’s what they say:
This unit has a side engraving and seems to be missing the fabric that is usually found on the front of these devices. There also seems to be a status LED on the front, a placement that didn’t make it to production (on bottom)
As you can see in the image, this prototype had a glossy finish, which could’ve given a cool look to the product, with an iPhone 3G-ish style.
Although Apple opted for a matte finish, it’s nice to see what the accessory could have had looked like.
Compatibility
The MagSafe Battery Pack is compatible with the iPhone 12 and 13 lines with iOS 15.
- iPhone 12 mini
- iPhone 12
- iPhone 12 Pro
- iPhone 12 Pro Max
- iPhone 13 mini
- iPhone 13
- iPhone 13 Pro
- iPhone 13 Pro Max
This accessory works as a Qi charger, so any Qi-compatible devices are able to receive a charge from it.
MagSafe Battery Case tidbits
The MagSafe Battery Case doesn’t come with a power brick or a Lightning cable but you can use the one that you have at home. Apple says a 20W or higher power adapter on the accessory can charge the iPhone with up to 15W of charging power.
Here’s more information about this accessory:
- MagSafe Battery Pack was designed to attach directly to your iPhone or through a case with MagSafe. If you use any other case that holds items like credit cards, remove them before charging with your MagSafe Battery Pack.
- Your iPhone might get slightly warmer while it charges. To extend the lifespan of your battery, if the battery gets too warm, the software might limit charging above 80%. Your iPhone will charge again when the temperature drops. Try moving your iPhone and charger to a cooler location.
- MagSafe Battery Pack includes a charge management feature to help maintain battery health in cases where your MagSafe Battery Pack is connected to power for prolonged periods of time.
- If you have Optimized Battery Charging turned on, you’ll see a notification on the Lock screen that says when your iPhone will be fully charged. If you need to have your iPhone fully charged sooner, touch and hold the notification, then tap Charge Now.
- If you keep your iPhone in a leather case while charging with your MagSafe Battery Pack, the case might show imprints from the compression of the leather. This is normal, but if you’re concerned about this, we suggest using a non-leather case.
- It’s possible to use the iPhone 12 with reverse wireless charging on the MagSafe Battery Case, as you can learn more about it here.
How to update MagSafe Battery Pack firmware?
The MagSafe Battery Pack is currently in version 2.7 of its firmware. This update lets you charge your iPhone faster by offering 7.5W charging on the go, compared to only 5W before the update in April.
To update it, follow these steps:
- Using a Mac or iPad, plug one end of a Lightning to USB cable into the Lightning connector on the Battery Pack;
- The other end, connect it to your Mac or iPad;
- The firmware update will take about 5 minutes.
Price
The MagSafe Battery Pack costs $99 at Apple.
Lower prices may be available from Apple’s official Amazon store.
MagSafe Battery Pack review
In our first look at the MagSafe Battery Pack, 9to5Mac’s Parker Ortolani says:
The MagSafe battery pack fits nicely on the back of the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro Max sizes, but it can feel a bit awkward because of how thick it is. On the iPhone 12 mini, though, it feels more natural. This is because the MagSafe battery pack is just as wide as the iPhone 12 mini, so it feels flush with the case. One concern I have is that you can see the thin white edges sticking out from the front of the iPhone 12 mini. This is because the magnets let the pack shift around a bit.
You can check our full video review of this accessory below:
Deals
Over at 9to5Toys, you can find the best deals on the MagSafe Battery Case and other Apple products. Download the 9to5Toys iPhone app to receive push notifications for new deals as well.
