If you purchased the iPhone 5 early in its life and your battery seems to need charging more often than usual, pay attention: Apple has just announced an iPhone 5 battery replacement program for phones that "may suddenly experience shorter battery life or need to be charged more frequently." The affected phones were all sold in the first few months of the iPhone 5's life, between September of 2012 and January of 2013.

Apple's program page, linked above, will tell you if your phone is eligible based on its serial number, which can be found in iOS' Settings app under the "About" subheading. Affected users will need to take their phone to an Apple service provider, an Apple Retail Store, or make arrangements with Apple's phone support technicians. Before taking your phone in for repair, Apple recommends that you back your data up using iCloud or iTunes, turn off the Find My iPhone service, and reset the phone to its factory default settings.

The program launches today in the US and China, and it will be available in other countries on August 29. It will be available for two years after your purchase date or until March 1 of 2015, "whichever provides longer coverage."

This program follows another ongoing replacement program for the iPhone 5's power button, which affects phones sold between September of 2012 and March of 2013. As with that replacement program, Apple won't replace your battery unless your iPhone is in good working order and has an uncracked screen—if you take a broken iPhone to Apple to get the battery replaced, you'll need to pay for any other repairs first. If you don't want to pay Apple's often-steep repair fees, there are always alternate solutions available from third-parties.