iPhone sleep/wake button problems

Lately there has been a lot of attention on problems with the iPhone 5 sleep/wake button. It seems there are people suffering from intermittent results or failure to work at all.

Luckily Apple has caught on and this time have come up with a solution to help - The iphone 5 sleep/wake button replacement program.

If you are (un)lucky enough to own a particular model of iPhone 5 you will be able to get the button mechanism replaced FREE of charge. Just head on over to https://ssl.apple.com/support/iphone5-sleepwakebutton/ and type in your serial number (found under Settings > General > About). If you get a positive result you can post your phone to Apple or take it into a store where they will(/may) provide a loan phone while yours is repaired. Caution: sync and backup your iPhone before taking into a store, just in case.

Now then, what if you are one of those suffering from this same problem but you don't qualify for the FREE repair? You don't want to pay for it do you?

There is an alternative, a relatively unknown feature available on iOS - AssistiveTouch.

You will find the option in Settings > General > Accessibility.

Enabling this feature will place a 'button' over the top of iOS throughout and is even accessible on the lock screen. Tapping the button will give you instant access to a variety of functions.

Firstly you will be shown the following:

• Siri - Activates straight away
• Favourites - In here you can add some custom gestures to do various things like pinch to zoom
• Home button - Will do the same as the physical Home button, including double/triple tap
• Device - This will open up access to 6 more functions shown below

• Volume Up/Down
• Mute/Unmute
• Rotate Screen
• Lock Screen (the one you have been looking for)

As well as these you will also find a further option labelled More where you can pickup 4 more functions (below).

• Screenshot - This will not capture the AssistiveTouch buttons
• Multitasking
• Shake
• Gestures (further below) - this provides access to 2-5 finger gestures

The AssistiveTouch button can be moved around the screen's edge, very helpful for using within different apps, especially when changing orientations. It will also fade a little when not in use to help reduce distraction further.

Obviously this button can only help so much, if you have problems with both your sleep/wake button and your home button then I suggest getting at least one of them replaced. You will also be stuck with powering off/on if your sleep/wake button is faulty as there is not an option to 'reboot' your iphone. Holding the physical Home button and the AssistiveTouch Lock Screen button will not force a reboot, shame.

I recommend heading over to Replace Base for your parts if you need to do your own repair.

iPhone 5S parts
iPhone 5C parts
iPhone 5 white button set
iPhone 5 black button set
iPhone 4 button set
iPhone 4S button set

Hopefully this will help those in trouble.

If you have any issues I'm always here to answer your queries.

NPH