One of the common problems that Apple has admitted to is the broken iPhone lock button. Some users have even taken the tech giant to court over it, in attempts to sue them over what they say is faulty design. In a complaint filed by two iPhone owners in the US in February 2013, the plaintiffs say that Apple knew the iPhone 4 and 4S lock button designs had a problem, and that the fault could be hazardous as users can’t even turn off their phones like on a flight.
The case was thrown out as the District Judge Gary Feess dismissed their claims because they failed to prove a breach of warranty and RICO. An almost similar case was filed in May against Apple, but this time the plaintiff argued that the power button’s flex mechanism stops working after extended use.
If your power (also known as sleep, off or lock button) isn’t working, you won’t be able to turn off the iPhone, put it to sleep or even take screenshots for that matter. The main cause of the problem is the flex cable mechanism as detected.
However, unlike iPhone 4, Apple offers a replacement programme for the iPhone 5’s power button, after it confirmed that some had defective ones and offered free replacements. Sadly, if yours isn’t an iPhone 5, you may not get a replacement.
The good news though, is that you can get a workaround that will help fix the broken iPhone lock button.
How to fix a broken iPhone lock button
Perform a hardware repair
If your iPhone lock button is broken, and the device is still in warranty, you may get a free hardware repair from Apple. You can make an appointment with Apple to check if you’re covered or see their warranty guide for more information.
However, if you’re not covered, you can consult an Apple Store Genius who can tell you the cost of getting your iPhone repaired. If this isn’t within your budget, you can also try to repair the problem by yourself, but we wouldn’t recommend this unless you’re confident that you can do it as it is difficult.
Furthermore, it’s not the same as getting a new lock button and fitting it into your iPhone – there’s probably some little parts missing from the power button flex cable. Plus, when repairing iPhones, this is usually one of the last components to be removed so you’ll need to fiddle about a lot before you get to it.
Trying to repair the iPhone yourself can also invalidate your phone’s warranty, which means you’ll likely have to pay if it doesn’t work.
Software fix
You might not know about it, but ios has a little feature that could help when the lock button or other buttons stop working on your iPhone. To get it, take these steps
- Open Settings
- Tap General and then tap Accessibility
- Scroll down and click AssistiveTouch
- Slide the toggle to on or green
Elsie is a tech writer with 8+ years professional experience. For Tech News Watch, she brings rich experience contributing to topics such as Windows, MacOS, Android, and iOS among others. In her spare time, she loves checking out the latest tech trends, gadgets, and news, listening to music and cars.
Leave a Reply