ihpone battery permanently damaged by sub freezing temperatures?

From: http://www.ibtimes.com/5-effects-extreme-cold-smartphones-how-protect-your-iphone-or-android-device-elements-1532650

"Battery drain is one of the most immediate effects of cold weather. Devices may spontaneously shut down with a dead battery in the extreme cold. Over time, extended exposure to cold temperatures can kill a smartphone battery all together."

Which iPhone? If it's an iPhone 5 sold between September 2012 and January 2013, see this page:
https://www.apple.com/support/iphone5-battery/

I could just be a bad battery.

Mike

Cold weather dramatically reduces the voltage of lithium cells, so if the voltage was low when the phone was warm, it's highly likely that the cold dropped the voltage too low for the cell to recover from.

You also need to be VERY careful charging in cold weather.

If you fully charge the battery when it's cold, the cells voltage will increase if it warms up, like for example if it's put inside a coat pocket.
At best this will dramatically reduce the life of the battery, at worst it has a very high chance of the cell going into thermal runaway and self igniting.

So it pays to be careful when moving lithium based batteries in and out of cold weather, especially if charging.

Thanks for all the replys. I wouldn't call it an extended period of time, but now I know it's possible.

And now my phone is unable to turn off. I turn it off and it turns back on by itself. This happened with my old android phone when the battery was crapping out.

Take it to an Apple store. Even if it's out of warranty, they'll give it a full a diagnostic for free. Who knows, you might even luck out and get a free phone out of it—worst case scenario you get a heavily discounted replacement.

Yes, the Apple Store can give you replacement pricees much cheaper than buying a new phone.

I've destroyed a few cell phones with minor exposure to sea water. I've damaged the charging circuit of an iPhone with a brief exposure to fresh water. I also killed a laptop when I took from days in a -10F car into my hotel room and plugged it in. Swapping batteries later didn't remedy it. I suspect the very cold circuit boards got condensation from the relatively warm, humid indoor air. To do it again, I'd wrap it in a plastic bag to prevent that possibility and wait till it was near room temp to use.

Also note that glass and plastics are more brittle at low temps. I see more shattered screens among Alaskans than elsewhere.

Reason #32 to leave the phone at home :)

A few weeks ago when it was roughly -10F here in the Front Range, I had that phone issue going to work!

Even with the heat on, it did not get quite warm enough in the car for the ~20m drive. When I came into the office, and actually looked at my phone, I had the temp warning.

My computer glasses, kept in my pack, were also ubercold to the touch.

Don't know how much it affected my phone, but I've never seen it before.

My slightly older iPhone 4s kept turning off when higher than 9,000 feet this summer and when it was cold, despite claiming as much as a 50% charge. I tried all combinations of pre-waming, etc. From this I learned that it is important to take a fresh battery in the phone, and that no amount of external charging power will save the situation. One can replace the internal battery with a small kit for $15, its super easy.

be careful using the cheap li-on bat kits from china

theres been cases where they have exploded or caused fires

i theres one place NOT to cheap out … its with li-on bats

you basically have an explosively device next to your ear

edit to add a recent incident

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/girls-galaxy-s4-smartphone-burns-under-her-pillow-as-93135039699.html

Last week, a 13-year-old North Texas girl plugged her Samsung Galaxy S4 in for its nightly juice-up before hitting the sack, only to be awoken by the smell of something burning hours later. When she got up and searched around for the source of the stench, she realized that she had wedged her charging phone under her pillow. And not only was the backside of the pillow scorched, but the phone was fried into an unrecognizable slab of plastic and melted components.

The battery in the Galaxy phone was an aftermarket replacement, something a Samsung representative told FOX could have been part of the problem. The other issue, according to Samsung, was that the phone was being smothered by a pillow, restricting airflow while charging. This is something the manufacturer warns against in the device’s instruction materials.

In nearly all of these devices, the battery charge estimator circuit is based on the voltage of the lithium battery. In most cases with a new battery, this estimate will be fairly valid. However, in some cases when the battery gets older and starts to develop battery funk, and then when it gets cold as well, the battery is able to maintain a respectable voltage for the battery estimator, yet it cannot deliver sufficient current to the load. Then the load is disconnected in shutoff.

–B.G.–

OK, I have learned two things from this thread:

1. Don't charge Li battery while cold
2. Place electronics in plastic bag before bringing from cold to warm/humid air

I still wonder if Li batteries are really damaged by cold, at least in the 0 F and up range. I have had my iPhone shut off from cold, but that doesn't imply damage to battery. I suspect a lot of such reports are really condensation issue.