Introduction
Follow these instructions to replace the glued-in battery in your MacBook Pro using an iFixit kit with adhesive remover. The adhesive remover helps weaken the glue securing the old battery, making it easier to remove.
iFixit adhesive remover is flammable. Follow this procedure in a well-ventilated area, and don’t smoke or work near an open flame.
To minimize risk of damage, turn on your MacBook and allow the battery to fully discharge before starting this procedure. If a charged lithium-ion battery is accidentally punctured, a dangerous and uncontrollable fire may result. If your battery looks puffy or swollen, take extra precautions.
Note: The solvent used to dissolve the battery adhesive can damage certain plastics. Follow all instructions and take care where you apply the adhesive remover.
Tools
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Power on your Mac and launch Terminal.
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Copy and paste the following command (or type it exactly) into Terminal:
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sudo nvram AutoBoot=%00
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Press [return]. If prompted, enter your administrator password and press [return] again. Note: Your return key may also be labeled ⏎ or "enter."
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sudo nvram AutoBoot=%03
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Use a P5 Pentalobe driver to remove the six screws securing the lower case:
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Two 6.2 mm screws
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Four 3.4 mm screws
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Apply a suction handle to the lower case near the front-center area of the MacBook Pro.
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Lift the suction handle to create a slight gap between the lower case and the chassis.
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Insert one corner of an opening pick into the space between the lower case and the chassis.
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Slide the opening pick around the nearest corner and halfway up the side of the case.
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Repeat the previous step on the opposite side, sliding your opening pick under the lower case and up the side to pop the second clip free.
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Insert your opening pick once again under the front edge of the lower case, near one of the two centermost screw holes.
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Give the pick a firm twist to pop free the third clip securing the lower case to the chassis.
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Repeat this procedure near the other of the two centermost screw holes, popping the fourth clip free.
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Pull the lower case firmly towards the front of the MacBook (away from the hinge area) to separate the last of the clips securing the lower case.
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Pull first at one corner, then the other.
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Remove the lower case.
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Set it in place and align the sliding clips near the display hinge. Press down and slide the cover toward the hinge. It should stop sliding as the clips engage.
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When the sliding clips are fully engaged and the lower case looks correctly aligned, press down firmly on the lower case to engage the four hidden clips underneath. You should feel and hear them snap into place.
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Carefully peel up the large piece of tape covering the battery connector, on the edge of the logic board nearest the battery.
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Remove the tape.
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Use the tip of a spudger to flip up the small black locking tab securing the cable in its connector.
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Disconnect the battery board data cable by sliding it out from its socket.
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Slide parallel to the logic board, in the direction of the cable.
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Use a T5 Torx driver to remove the 3.7 mm pancake screw securing the battery power connector.
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Use a spudger to gently lift the battery power connector, disconnecting the battery.
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Lift the connector high enough so that it stays separated from its socket. If it accidentally makes contact during the course of your repair, it could damage your MacBook Pro.
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Use a T3 Torx driver to remove the two 1.8 mm screws securing the trackpad cable connector bracket.
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Use a spudger to disconnect the trackpad ribbon cable by gently prying its connector straight up from the logic board.
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Prepare an iOpener and lay it on top of the trackpad ribbon cable for about a minute, in order to soften the adhesive securing the trackpad ribbon cable to the top of the battery.
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If you don't have an iOpener, use a hair dryer to warm up the cable instead. The cable should be warm, but not too hot to touch. Be careful not to overheat the battery.
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Use a T5 Torx driver to remove the ten screws securing the trackpad assembly:
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Two 4.3 mm screws
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Eight 5.8 mm screws
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Swing the display open slightly to access the trackpad.
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Carefully thread the trackpad ribbon cable out through the hole in the MacBook Pro's frame.
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Remove the trackpad assembly.
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Be sure not to lose the six small washers (two circular and four rectangular) resting on the underside of the trackpad.
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To protect your display, place a sheet of aluminum foil between the display and keyboard and leave it there while you work.
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Additionally, use some tape and/or foil to seal off the area under the trackpad. Optionally, you may also layer an absorbent towel directly underneath the trackpad area to soak up any excess adhesive remover.
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Cut a length of packing tape or painter's tape, and slide one edge between the battery and the speaker on the left side.
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Press all along the edge of the tape with your spudger to stick it securely to the MacBook Pro's aluminum case, sealing off the speaker from the battery.
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Fold the tape over and lightly adhere it to the speaker to keep it out of the way.
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Repeat the previous two steps on the opposite side in order to seal off the other speaker from the battery.
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To control the flow of adhesive remover and direct it away from the speaker, raise the right edge of your MacBook Pro a few inches using a book or foam block.
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Now that your MacBook Pro is fully prepped, it's time to prep yourself.
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Wear eye protection when handling and applying the adhesive remover. (Eye protection is included in your kit.)
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Do not wear contact lenses without eye protection.
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Protective gloves are also included in your kit. If you are concerned about possible skin irritation, put your gloves on now.
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Pull off the black rubber stopper from your bottle of adhesive remover.
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Use scissors to cut off the sealed tip of the applicator.
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Cutting close to the narrow tip will give you better control so you can apply the adhesive remover in small amounts.
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Apply a few drops of adhesive remover underneath the far right battery cell.
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Wait about two minutes for the adhesive remover to penetrate and soften the battery adhesive before you proceed to the next step.
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After a couple minutes, insert one corner of a plastic card underneath the far right battery cell, starting from the front edge.
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Wiggle the card from side to side and slide it all the way under the battery cell.
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Lift to fully separate the adhesive, but don't try to remove the battery cell yet.
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Leave the plastic card temporarily underneath the cell to prevent it from re-adhering while you continue.
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If you have difficulty getting the card underneath any of the battery cells, try working a piece of floss or wire underneath the battery cell. Pull it side-to-side in a sawing motion to separate the adhesive.
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Repeat the last few steps to separate the far left battery cell.
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Begin by elevating the left side of the MacBook Pro to direct the flow of adhesive remover away from the speaker.
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Apply a few drops of adhesive remover under the far left battery cell, and wait about two minutes for it to penetrate.
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Slide one corner of a plastic card underneath the far left battery cell, and carefully separate the adhesive holding it in place.
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Leave the plastic card temporarily underneath the cell to prevent it from re-adhering while you continue.
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Next, raise the back edge of your MacBook Pro to direct the flow of adhesive remover away from the keyboard/logic board area.
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Apply a few drops of adhesive remover under each of the remaining three battery cells.
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Be mindful of leaks, and apply more adhesive remover in the following steps if needed.
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Wait about two minutes before you continue.
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Slide a plastic card all the way underneath the far left battery cell—which you already separated in the previous steps—and then insert it carefully between the remaining left-side battery cell and the MacBook Pro's aluminum case.
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Use your plastic card to fully separate the remaining battery cell on the left side.
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Leave your plastic card in place temporarily to prevent the left-side battery cells from re-adhering.
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Slide the corner of one of your plastic cards underneath the top edge of one of the cells and then work it underneath the other cell.
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Wiggle the card from side to side and slide it underneath the battery cells to fully separate the adhesive holding them in place.
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Remove the battery.
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Peel off any large strips of adhesive using tweezers or gloved fingers.
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Scrape away any remaining chunks of adhesive with a plastic tool, and clean the underlying areas with adhesive remover or isopropyl alcohol. Wipe in one direction (not back and forth) until the chassis is clean and ready for your new battery.
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When you're done, carefully remove the protective tape from the speakers.
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Be mindful of the battery data cable and make sure it doesn't get pinched or trapped under the battery board.
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If your battery came with adhesive pre-installed on the bottom, flip it over and carefully peel away the liner to expose the adhesive. If your battery did not come with adhesive, apply a thin double-sided adhesive tape such as Tesa 61395 to keep your battery in place.
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Carefully position the battery and set it into place.
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Press and hold each cell firmly for 5-10 seconds to secure it to the lower case.
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To reassemble your device, follow the above steps in reverse order.
Take your e-waste to an R2 or e-Stewards certified recycler.
Repair didn’t go as planned? Try some basic troubleshooting or search our Answers community for help.
7 comments
Why doesn’t this kit contain a P5 pentalobe screwdriver? It’s literally the first step, and now I have to buy another tool to even get started?
Hi John, which kit did you purchase? We don’t sell a battery replacement kit for this exact model, only the part, so you’d have to make sure you have all the tools listed in the guide before you buy the part and add anything you don’t have to your cart.
If a P5 was supposed to be included in the kit you did purchase, reach out to customer service and they will promptly send one to you.
Great guide… worked for me. Only comment I would make is that finding the Adhesive remover on its own was impossible so I removed the old battery with some patience, floss and the the plastic levering tools. I cleaned off the remaining old sticky stuff and residue with basic sticky stuff remover and it worked just fine :)
Great guide to at least get to unplugging the battery. My daughter’s work computer was black screened and would not arise despite working the power button and changing chargers. I figured it just needed a super hard reset. So, this guide helped me get the back off and the battery unplugged. Put it all back together and - I’m a hero for a minute!
Paul -
Is this step necessary? I can’t perform this step as I am attempting to repair water damage and need to remove logic board & most likely replace the battery.
Macrepair SF -
@mac_medic You definitely don’t want the power coming on while the board is wet. In your case, I think powering on the machine to disable Auto Boot would do more damage than it prevents. I agree, skip this step and be prepared to disconnect the battery quickly if the laptop automatically powers on. Good luck!
Jeff Suovanen -
Thats right! You don't want power running while working on your logic board.
Dan -
This did not work when running High Sierra.
Kyle B -
Tried this on a 2018 MBP 13” Touchbar (there’s no iFixit guide for this model yet). Need to replace a broken screen.
Luckily I managed to connect to an external screen (Cmd-Down Brightness to switch displays) and enter above command. Seems to work, but there’s another problem with this model - it powers up as soon as any key is pressed……. ffs <gnashes teeth>
Cool_Breeze -
I unscrew the battery first and wrap electrical tape over the logic board battery connector before attempting any repairs to the board. Haven’t had any problems yet and I’ve worked on about 10 of these models already. Also when you open the bottom case use a suction cup at the bottom and pull up then run a plastic spudger along the edges to disconnect the clips. Also only use a plastic spudger on the board. Saw a youtube video from a repair shop and he did not disconnect the power and used all metal tools during the entire process of removing the board. His last step was to disconnect the battery terminal.
Brian -
Is this step necessary if my mac can turn on? Battery fully dead(
Nursat b -
BEFORE YOU START: The included torx head stripped off before I was done (and you might need an additional T4) so stop now and go buy a good one. Also they fail to warn you above to get some blue threadlocker ahead of time.
Jason Sherron -
This command did not work for me and I read that sometime in later 2020 Apple stopped this command from working…any ideas on a work around?
Patrick Machacek -
Not able to do that with damaged screen
richardjgreen -
If you have a damaged screen you can still use a converter from thunderbolt (USB 3) to HDMI and plug your Macbook Pro to your TV as monitor display. Just make sure to chose the right Source (HDMI IN) in your TV. I did it and to make it work I unplug and plug again in my Macbook and so I could disable the Auto boot
Roberto Sanchez Bustos -
Hi. This does not work on 2018 13” MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. I did exactly this to disable auto boot. But when I check by using nvram -p it says: auto-boot true. Am I doing something incorrectly? I did everything step by step. Copied and pasted the sudo command, pressed enter and then entered my password. I have Big Sur 11.1 installed. Is there any other way since I need to replace the screen. Thank you. Adrian
Adrian Vizik -
Hi everyone. This is also a little pointless if you can’t see anything on the screen, and you don’t have a display adapter to USB C to display it. I agree with Brian about removing the back and disconnecting the battery cable before you even think about opening the lid of the MacBook. Applying the insulation tape is also a handy little tip that just makes sure there is no way to discharge from either the board or battery.
Roberto Enrieu -
running `nvram -p | grep 'AutoBoot'` in terminal verifies that it was accepted
result: `AutoBoot %00`
Marek Polák -
Running Big Sur 11.6.7 on a 2019 16" MBP, it's "auto-boot". So it's:
nvram -p | grep 'auto-boot'to display the current state, the default istrue- and then to change it,sudo nvram auto-boot=falsewhich turns it off.Ed Mechem -
This step is completely unnecessary if you follow the guide to disconnect the battery properly. Just put some tape between the battery and logic board connection to prevent it from accidentally touching and therefore powering on the laptop.
Grant Ormsby -
It took me a few tries to make this command work, as I was able to copy and paste the command into Terminal, but could not type in my laptop’s password. I finally typed my password into a text document, copied it (command C), and then pasted it into Terminal and it worked.
tommy404 -
I didn’t do this. Mine never auto-booted before I replaced the battery. Now it does.
hatuxka -
BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING - CHECK THE BATTERY!
I-fixit sent me a bad battery, which I didn’t realize until it was already install. They sent me a new one, but I wasted hours uninstalling and reinstalled.
Get a volt meter and measure the voltage on the output of the battery pack. If it reads 0 V, SEND IT BACK. It should read over 2 V.
bcardanha -
When I did this from Terminal.app within Recovery Mode, the “sudo” was not recognized but I could invoke it without the sudo part. It seems to have been accepted when looking at “nvram -p”
johann beda -
When in Recovery Mode, you already have superuser powers. So you don't need to prefix commands with the sudo command to invoke them with root privileges; you already have them. Do a
pwd(print working directory) after opening Terminal in Recovery Mode, and you'll see that you're in the root user's directory.Ed Mechem -
I received the battery kit for my 2018 MacBook Pro and as per the above comment from bcardanha - Oct 12, 2021, I checked the voltage on the pads marked + and - . It was zero volts so I panicked a bit.
I sent a message on the iFixiT Facebook page and I got no reply. I finally found the customer service email for Ifixit Europe and sent them an email voicing my concern as I was not keen to work for couple of hours just to discover that the battery is faulty. I had an almost instant reply on the email (kudos to them) and they adviced me to go ahead and install the new battery as the voltage measured when battery is not connected is not relevant.
I took a leap of faith and after two hours… the new battery showed 50% charge and everything seems to be working just fine. I am happy it worked.
Mircea Comanici -
After removing the old battery and installing the new battery I powered up the MBP before screwing the bottom on. I discovered the my keyboard would not function. It took a few hours of investigation and frustration that I discovered the track pad power ribbon had become partially dislodged from the trackpad. I was able to see that this through the little machined slot where the battery sat. I had to remove the trackpad to reinsert the power ribbon back into the connector in the trackpad. after reassembling and reinstalling the battery etc the keyboard worked. Just food for thought if your run into the keyboard issue.
Ed Mease -
This should be the default. IMO I tell you to power on - not the lid.
G Sena -
Est ce que cela fonctionne sur un macbook pro 2017 sans touchbar ?
maël muzelet -
Bonjour Maël, oui, ce tutoriel concerne "les MacBook Pro 2016 (et plus récents) et les MacBook Retina 12" 2017 (et plus récents)"
Claire Miesch -
Excellent instructions. I was able to follow and install the new screen. I recommend that you get a good set of tools before you begin. I started with an inexpensive repair kit bought online. The Penta and torx bits failed. I bought an IFIXIT kit with quality bits and I was able to do everything I needed.
Tom Markham -
If you're not running an admin account the sudo command won't work (which honestly, you should not be running admin). Rather than logging in to your admin amount via the OS, in the terminal type "login [admin username]," then the password and you'll be able to do the sudo command as described above. Once you're complete, type "logout [admin username]" and you'll be good to go. Obviously replace [admin username] with whatever the account name for your admin user is.
arichard2401 -