Prepare your iPhone 18 Pro Max to ship
Learn how to enable Prepare to Ship on your iPhone 18 Pro Max.
Learn about Prepare to Ship
iPhone 18 Pro Max offers a huge increase in battery life, in part due to increasing the battery capacity to over 20 watt-hours (Wh). Devices with a single-cell battery over 20 Wh have additional shipping requirements in most countries and regions. To address these requirements, iPhone 18 Pro Max uses an innovative battery-firmware solution that limits battery capacity to below 20 Wh from the time it’s manufactured through its transport from the factory. When you activate your iPhone, the limit is removed and the battery’s full charging capacity is available.
After activation, if you need to ship your iPhone 18 Pro Max for a repair, trade-in, return, or as a gift for example, use the Prepare to Ship feature in Settings. This feature discharges your battery to below 20 Wh and sets a charge limit so your iPhone stays below this limit while shipping. This can be reversed and you can reset your charge limit after shipping.
The battery in iPhone 18 Pro Max is safe, including for shipping and air travel. This process is needed only to meet shipping requirements and isn’t required while traveling or for any other iPhone model.
What you need
iPhone 18 Pro Max
A cellular or Wi-Fi network
Prepare your iPhone 18 Pro Max to ship
If the screen on your device isn’t usable, contact Apple Support or the company you’re sending your device to before shipping it.
If you purchased a new iPhone 18 Pro Max and haven’t activated it—or taken it out of the box—the battery is temporarily limited to under 20 Wh already. In this case, you don’t need to enable Prepare to Ship.
There are several reasons you might want to ship your iPhone 18 Pro Max, including to repair, trade-in, return, or send to a family member. Learn how to enable Prepare to Ship.
Ship to repair, trade in, or return
If you’re enabling Prepare to Ship to send to Apple or an iPhone reseller or carrier to repair, trade in, or return, the battery charge limit will be capped at 80 percent for 14 days, so that it remains below the 20-Wh requirement.
If your iPhone is connected to a charger, disconnect it. This speeds up the process.
Contact Apple or the company you’re planning to ship your iPhone to. Sometimes, companies have steps for you to complete before you enable Prepare to Ship.
Open Settings, tap General, tap Transfer or Reset iPhone, then tap Prepare to Ship.
If you're returning your iPhone to Apple or another company, select Repair, Trade-in, or Return.
If asked, enter your Apple Account password.
You might be asked if you want to continue without a recipient, which means that Apple isn’t aware of which company you’re planning to ship your device to. Tap Continue.
Follow the on-screen instructions, including choosing if you want to erase your iPhone and sign out of your Apple Account. If you're returning or trading in your iPhone, you must remove Activation Lock. It’s best to erase your iPhone, but it’s not required.
When you reach the screen that shows that your iPhone is ready to ship, follow the instructions that Apple or the company you’re planning to ship your iPhone to shared.
If the Prepare to Ship steps were unsuccessful or you don’t see “Your iPhone is ready to ship,” contact Apple or the company you plan to ship your iPhone to for instructions. Don’t ship your device, because you’ll likely need specific packaging.
Ship for other reasons
If your iPhone 18 Pro Max has been activated and you’re sending it to another individual, enable Prepare to Ship:
If your iPhone is connected to a charger, disconnect it. This speeds up the process.
Open Settings, tap General, tap Transfer or Reset iPhone, then tap Prepare to Ship.
If you’re planning to ship your iPhone to another individual, select Other—for example, if you’re planning to give or sell your device to someone.
Follow the on-screen instructions, including choosing if you want to erase your iPhone and sign out of your Apple Account. It’s best to erase your iPhone, but it’s not required.
When you reach the screen that shows that your iPhone is ready to ship, you can ship your device.
Learn about discharging the battery
Your iPhone 18 Pro Max might need to discharge for Prepare to Ship to complete. While your iPhone battery discharges, it might become warmer than usual. This is expected. Your iPhone will cool down again when it’s ready to ship.
You can use your device as usual while your iPhone 18 Pro Max discharges. This might take only a few minutes, but if you start with a full charge, it can take up to a couple of hours. When the Prepare to Ship process is complete, the Settings app will display “Ready to Ship” with a red badge. If you erase your iPhone, you won’t be able to use it while the battery discharges.
If you've erased your iPhone, you can find your Prepare to Ship status on the Hello screen. On the Hello screen, tap the Info button. You will see Yes next to “Ready to Ship” when “Prepare to Ship” is enabled.
If you need to undo Prepare to Ship
If you activated the Prepare to Ship feature to repair, trade in, or return, the charge limit of your iPhone 18 Pro Max will be capped at 80 percent for 14 days. After the 14-day period, you can disable Prepare to Ship and enable full charging.
If you turned on Prepare to Ship for another reason, you can disable Prepare to Ship at any time.
Open the Settings app, tap General, tap Transfer or Reset iPhone, then tap “Ready to Ship.”
Tap Undo Shipping Preparation.
If you want, you can change the charge limit: open the Settings app, tap Battery, and then tap Charging. Then change the charge limit.