To summarize other comments and add some suggestions:- If you're going for the brute force method then use some heavy duty gloves to save hurting your fingers. Or even better - tie the wire around 2 sticks/screwdrivers/spoons/keyrings. As an alternative to nylon, dental floss, fishing wire and cheese cutting wire I would suggest using an individual strand of Paracord. As others have suggested soaking the string in alcohol helps too. I would avoid using anything metal. Detach battery clip from rest of laptop before starting and hold down on the power button for 10 seconds to discharge. Running the battery to empty first might also be a sensible idea. Take your time and be careful not to damage or lean on any other parts of the laptop (the speaker clips are quite fragile at the sides). Use Goo Gone / Sticky Off or equivalent (it's an orange-smelling liquid) to help remove the adhesive strips once you have taken out the batteries. Prepare for a worst case scenario. Wear safety googles and have a fire extinguisher to hand as the batteries can easily be punctured and catch fire/explode. I normally sellotape the case screws to a sheet of A4 paper with a rough drawing of the laptop, showing where I removed each screw from. Thanks for the video, helped to visualize what was required and where the adhesive strips are. Someone should let iFixit know that total dissambly is not necessary.

Thanks for your method, worked great. A tip I don't see anyone saying is before doing the work, use the laptop and discharge the old batteries until your mac shutdown, so the old batteries have less energy and there is less of a chance of fire from the cells. Also is safer to dispose the old batteries.

Excellent idea. I knew when I saw your video I had the answer to all your struggles. I made a garrot out of .020 stainless steel wire and two, one inch, rings of steel. The key for me was to saw back and forth with the wire. The rings were perfect. They allowed me to apply a lot of pressure without any pain whatsoever. I'm certain that you could have done the same with your thin cord. The battery removal took only a few minutes. You paved the way and I just improved on your method. Thank you.

Best solution - took me 5 minutes to remove battery, used nylon fishing line and a couple of rings as handles, Thanks

Thank you!! You helped another person save several several hundred dollars and lots of concern over damaging systems with alcohol! My batteries were swollen to ridiculous sizes, and this method was perfect for the safe removal. Thanks for posting, and I love your honest and humble narration throughout the process. Much appreciated!

I just did my early 2013 MBP 2 days ago with this technique. I used a couple of 1/2" x 4" long galvanized carriage bolts as garrote handles, and about 18" of 24-gauge steel wire. My kid held the laptop, and I was able to quickly and easily slice through the adhesive pads to remove the original LiPO battery cells. It was nearly effortless. If you don't disconnect the original battery first, well, you're foolish. The only thing I'd recommend is that you're very careful when using wire ... don't forget that it's bare steel and it's quite conductive (DUH)! I lit a small section of mine up like a lightbulb filament for a second - no damage, no burns, but it was glowing yellow hot and smoking nicely, and of course freaked us out. :) After that, things were uneventful and the old battery was out. Great idea - thanks for the motivation to do this myself!

Awesome! My 12-yo son and I just did this and it worked great! I just had Teflon “Glide” floss around, didn’t feel like going to a Home Depot. It took several pieces (broke at least 10 times) but easy to slip behind the batteries. Slow and steady-let the floss do the work. Even left a minty-fresh smell when done! Thanks for posting-very helpful!

"It's surprisingly easy" - *struggles to catch breath*

Today I just used this method to remove and re-install a new battery on my MacBook. I bought an adhesive remover and used a syringe to squirt the liquid in between and under each battery. Then used some string that you use to fly a kite to slither my way underneath them. Adhesive remover made it so much easier! I Used a plastic flat tool to pop each one out. Also, when I was removing the two middle ones I accidentally removed the plate with them. Be careful as that plate is easily bendable and the flex of the trackpad is under the plate. However, all went well and inserted my new battery. Remember to unplug the battery flex and remove the two screws that are part of the flex. Also, the bottom part of the two middle batteries was stuck tight under the two screw holders, so just be extra careful. If it wasn't for this video I would have had to remove the whole board. Cheers!

Tried this, ordered battery and 1.5mm nylon twisted thread. Took around 10 minutes maximum to get the old battery out. Broke the thread a few times and wore motorcycle gloves when pulling to avoid hand injury. Thanks for this tip. It's brilliant.

This is probably the safest & quickest method out there. Just use the new battery's included screwdrivers as handles with the string ends wrapped-tied around them and you're good to go. Thanks man!

great video, thx. any idea where I can get a good quality replacement battery for MacBook 15" 2015?

Great guide, I used thin metal hanging wire, cut straight through the adhesive easily. Guitar string would also work well. New battery cost £50, so I saved £150 from the Apple repair price of £200!

you are an absolute legend man, i mean thank god we have smart people like you out there, i watched your first video it was awsome thank you sooooooooooo much.

Thank you so much. You made this process so easy for so many people. Thanks again

Thanks!! Awesome video! Used a hair-dryer on hot to get stuck batteries out since I didn't have glue-remover.

Nice! This is great, thank you! Worked fine for me. Just used a little nylon hanging wire and rubbed a bit of alcohol on it. Came right out, not much struggling. (Discharged battery first by running down to 0% and letting cool off)

Thanks a lot for sharing this and putting it on video. I was going to follow the iFix guide, but didn’t want to as it basically was a full tear down to un glue the batteries. I had been putting it off repair for about a year before I swapped out batteries.

Thanks, worked like a charm. I used butcher's (cotton) twine and the battery was out in 5 minutes although I didn't seem to experience as much resistance as I saw in the video. I tried soaking the twine in rubbing alcohol for the last couple batteries based on some of the other comments but it didn't seem to make a difference.

haha omg I am out of breath watching this!! thank you, I just got a mid 2014 mbp that needs a battery replacement, and I was debating on taking it into a shop or taking out the logic board, i'm so glad I don't have to do the long route anymore, thank you so much for this you are a hero

Thankyou Tarunpreet Ubhi. The shop a rang up to get mine replaced with told me it would take him 4 hours at a cost of £160.00 You Legend!

Excellent stuff, thanks! Lots of great addons in the comments here too like soaking the thread in alcohol etc.

Is the touchpad protected by a plate? Does this mean it is okay to put the IPA all over that area as long as its tilted down and not towards the motherboard?

Simply perfect ! Thank you very much indeed Tarunpreet Ubhi ! This for sure is astute !

Will be trying this out soon! Thanks!!

Bravo ! Thanks for sharing your work !

Love the simple and easy solution, This video should pop-up as the first way to remove a battery on the retina MacBooks. I followed the iFixit way and disassembled my complete logic board. With the bigger chance now that when reassembled it might not work.

You sir, are brilliant -- thanks for the innovative approach ^,-

A guitar b string wrapped around 2 bolts and some electrical wire did the job nicely! Thanks for the videos!

thanks for this

That’s the way I’ll do it. Thanks for the video!

I know this is probably a stupid question, but im just trying to get prepared before i try this. How do you install the new battery once you've taken out the old one? and are there any wires that need to be disconnected and reconnected to the batteries before removal and during installation of the new ones? My battery's on 1123 cycles and i kind of bought a new battery without realising that it was a hugely difficult task.

Great video - thank you for being so brave! I'd never have dared just go for it like that but seeing the result I bought a new battery from Duracell Direct (fits well enough if not absolutely perfectly lined up to the screws by the plug). I used whipping twine from my sailing kit (stronger than floss and thinner than the cord you used). It took about 5 minutes to get the battery free and I avoided bending the screw lugs at the front of the case by being a bit less gung-ho! LOL. I used a bit of IPA to help clean the residual glue but was very careful around the trackpad. Total cost £74.40. Total Time about 30 minutes. Total satisfaction at completing the job. Compared to local computer bod £160 + machine away all day Compared to Apple - £199 + 2 x 65 mile round trips but they had no appointments available anyway + machine away for at least a week Compared to nearest Apple reseller - £297.42 + 2 x 10 mile round trips + machine away for 3 days Compared to big city Apple reseller - £390 + 2 65 mile round trips because they insisted they needed to replace the entire top assemby including keyboard and trackpad! So I am typing this on a newly flat Macbook pro. All working fine, battery calibrated and between us we've save a top assembly from landfill. Well done fella! Thank you so much!

Nice video. The key is to use something non conductive (better safe than sorry), like fishing line , very thin and strong , the thinner the less force you apply. For thick lines like the video , soaking with alcohol also dissolves and lubes the path. Also put some rings as handles so it wont cut your skin :).

Thanks! it worked great! Folks, do remember calibrate your new batteries and dispose off your old batteries properly, there are videos on youtube.

I just bought a second hand MBP that has over 1750 battery cycles, the cost to replace the battery by an Apple service dept. is 300 euros, no way I would throw that money on top of the 1000 euros I already spent to purchase the laptop. Your amazing video saves me 150 euros, I just removed the battery cells all by myself. Did you install a fresh genuine Apple battery, if yes where did you buy it and how much did it cost. Best.

What did u use to glue ur new battery back in..?? I just did this to my rMBP but the new battery just slides around in there whenever i pickup my laptop.. Would like to secure it down, but don't see what people use to secure the new battery.. Thanks..

Had changed my macbookpro 2012 too ,it takes so much effort to take of those glues

This worked really well for me!

thanks, this method is workable.

You sir, are a genius! Thank you so much for saving my MacBook Pro!

Such an obvious and simple solution once you see it. Someone should update the iFixit tutorial with this technique. My MBP battery just died, and this will save me a ton of work. Thank you for sharing this!

Worked like a champ

Maybe alcohol could help smoother the glue? Or acetone if it doesn't damage other stuff

really cool, i am gonna try this as well... might put on a pair of nice thick workinggloves though...... Where did you buy your new accu?

thanks so much, really helpful!

Battery ordered. Fingers crossed it all goes well! I did notice there are two batteries for the 2012 mid Retina MacBook pro 15" which look identical, one with 6460mAh and 8460mAh. Not sure if both would work but I ordered the 8460mAh as it is the same one as in my laptop.

So... what kind of battery did you buy for your macbook, and are you satisfied with the new one ? lasts as it should ? Genius way of taking them off with thread.

what about Molybdenum Wire ??

Waxed dental floss works better as it cuts the glue but its a workout. You get a like buddy and deserve your beer. Lol

Nice idea bro.

Thx

so do u still think solvent will damage the track pad? since its under that plate ...

Good info, I was afraid I would break anything important under there..

To the commenters: floss isn't strong enough, and likely something like butchers twine isn't, either. It'll work, but you'll go through quite a bit of it. Bit of advice anyone with soldering experience will tell you: bust out the heat gun set on *LOW*. Will take two seconds to complete. Direct the heat *under* the battery as you begin to pull it away. You can also cover the top of the cells using something like tinfoil or better, kapton tape. A quick blast of heat should do the trick. Rule of Thumb: if it won't burn your hand, it's completely safe to direct onto your components. I found my way here from ifixit's battery replacement guide, which is total garbage because it has you disassembling the whole machine (obv. not the intent of Apple's engineers).

Was it ok after placing the new battery? Did it work well? Thank you

Excellent video, i've just got my new battery from ebay and will copy your method. Screw messing around will solvents, lets get this over with quickly!

Just a silly question from a guy who's about to try this because the cell in his Mid--2014 are so swollen up the back cover can't really hold them anymore: why would I want to glue the new battery? I'm not even sure why the original one was glued in the first place! Is it just me?

Grab that beer and next time use grommets for hand protections and dental floss. Great 2 part video and thank you. I will be doing this soon. God Bless You.

Interesting method but it seems like you've bent the two screw holders upwards at the trackpad

Fishing line would be good also. Nice idea

I tied a small screwdriver to each end of the string, saves your hands and makes it easy to use a sawing motion to cut the tape.

I have exactly that model and am in need of a new battery. The Apple store wants to charge $478 to replace the battery, the track pad and the keyboard keys!! I told them no thanks... Any chance you'd replace mine? Thanks for the info...well done.

Next time coil the rope on some pencils ✏️ or spoons 🥄 so it doesn’t cut into your fingers

Is it possible to take the battery out without destroying it? I just need to replace the trackpad cable.

Any idea if that would work with a fishing string? It should cut easier through the adhesive. And also, it's easier to anchor around the corners.

Hi. What macbook pro exactly is this? thanks

Thank you for risking your laptop to make life easier for the rest of us LOL 😂 😂.. Just kidding... Very helpful video indeed especially when iFixit has 100's of steps to do just that ;-)

Where did you get your replacement battery?

after that you can save the thread for eye brow threading

After replacing battery does the cycle reset?

O hhh man what a stressful video, im sweating ...... Nice method thank you, did the new battery work?

You can use a pure-wire guitar string, with each of the ends wrapped around a dowel of wood, to cut through the stickers under the battery blocks. more easily A strong nylon fishing line will work as well. Anything thick like this nylon cord is going to have a tougher time cutting through the adhesive pads, as deomnstrated.

That’s how they remove windshields in cars 🚗

It worked fine with a new battery?

thx worked! saved 200 € ^^ (now the battery just has to work)

Great vid man. Wear some gloves next time though lol

i am used dental floss, its better choice :)

wow, 3 dislikes ... what's there to dislike in this video ... trolls I tell you :P

I'm here because I just swapped out the battery on my Macbook Air mid 2012. There are literally 5 screws and no adhesive, it's a 10 minute job. This is purely done to make you pay apple. What a farce. I admire your courage to DIY though, 10/10.

Did the touchpad cable survive?

Some dental floss and a little 91% isopropyl Alcohol works well to get each battery out. No need for bigger string and you should have floss on hand.

Gloves my friend!

Er, it would help if we saw the Macbook Pro with the new battery installed up and running and everything working as it should. I assume it was, but . . .

You wouldnt have been so out of breath if you would have sawed more and less trying to pull it though the adhesive. Try fishing line too.

You could have tied the ends of the string around a pencil to minimize the pain on your hands...

What apple store are you all going to charging you $250? They quoted me $750!!!!!!!!! and a 2 week turnaround time for it to be done.... WTF

Success

After watching several of these battery replacement videos, I'm starting to think: 1) It should be possible to remove the battery without destroying it. Any reason this is not possible? (for example if I just want to disassemble an aging machine, clean it, and reassemble, clean the track pad, etc.) 2) I like the idea of wearing gloves and using a cotton thread soaked in ISOpropyl, great idea. 3) I like the idea of not attempting it yourself and having a helper. And I like the idea of not allowing your touchpad to soak for 30 mins in alcohol.

Use pieces of wood as handles for the thread.

probably my accent I think :D

Which t-shirt you put under your MacBook Pro is very very important. :)

wear thick gloves when doing this....!

fucking new macbook pro..to much separative battery hards to take out..

Lighter fluid and an old credit card

this could have been attached with coupe of screws fucking apple

A word of advice: Do your best NOT to touch any of the printed circuitry on the Logic Board. The static electricity stored in your body can blow minuscule holes in the circuitry which you will not see. Your computer will probably work fine but you may have diminished its total life-span considerably without realising. That is why certified technicians must use anti-static procedures and why all printed circuit boards are transported in anti-static bags. It's very sensitive equipment. At the very least you should make sure the battery is completely flat before disconnecting it (to avoid possible fire by piercing a battery cell) and once disconnected, press the power button for approximately 10 seconds to discharge any power left in the system. Cheers.

Someone introduce apple to freaking screws... The only reason I stay away from Macs. How the hell did we get to a point where this is normal and acceptable??

you just destroyed the poor MacBook! I wouldn't do this ever! I prefer to use alcohol and spend 1 hour to take them out gently rather than using a thread.]

If you are out of breath from that little bit of physical exertion ... maybe you should spend less time on the pc and more in the gym or equivalent !