My Problem

The power/lock button on my wife's phone quit working. The Apple guys at the mall wanted $200 to fix it. I ordered the power/lock button and tools from iFixit.com for about $40.

My Fix

While wife and daughters were out celebrating the grandson's birthday I had time to open up the phone and replace the button. But that wasn't the problem. More reading at iFixit.com and I found that there was supposed to be some kind of spacer between the button and the micro-switch. One of the posters said nail polish worked. Step daughter brought home a bottle and after a little painting on the bottom of the button I had a spacer. Put the phone back together in less than half the time it came apart.

My Advice

Read the posts. There's bound to be someone else with same problem you have. The tear down was pretty easy for me. I've taken apart my Dell laptop a few times. The parts are a bit smaller. But have to take same care with the parts. Watch out for the flex cables. You CAN flex them too far. I LOVE the magnetic mat. Did a great job keeping the itty bitty screws from getting lost.

My Problem

My picture quality had gotten really bad on my iPhone 4 and I am not up for renewal for a couple of months. I didn't want to spend the money for the original black back so I decided to try this clear one.

My Fix

This went really smooth. I actually have a Verizon phone and not the AT&T (didn't see a clear back for the Verizon) but I was able to trim one tab, eliminate another and it fits pretty good. The instructions were easy to follow and the repair only took a few minutes.

My Advice

This is so easy, if you have never taken apart your iPhone before it can be a little intimidating but it is no problem at all, just keep good track of the 2 screws (maybe use a paper plate or something to set them on.

My Problem

Order the liberation and immediately could open the phone. Now to order the home button and watch your video to fix my water damaged phone. Thank you for "liberating" us to be able to fix our own phones!

My Fix

Working on it.

My Advice

Pentalobe screwdriver works perfectly.

My Problem

I replaced the iPhone 4 battery with no problems using the screwdrivers that I bought.

My Fix

No problems.

My Advice

Anyone can do it !

My Problem

Daughter's eBay Refurb iPhone 4 got wet (?), then went dead. The Apple Store wouldn't swap it as it was not their Refurb. I took it apart, cleaned it with electronic cleaner per various YouTubes, and surprisingly it worked! Missing some screws along the way, however, and wanted to get some better tools for the next time.

My Fix

I ordered these parts and received them in less than a week at an APO in Germany (Priority USPS). This is record-breaking speed for us to receive something from Stateside! Most suppliers won't deal with APO's at all or only ship "standard" (??) shipping, which comes to an APO in 6-8 weeks.

My Advice

I Googled instructions for taking apart the iPhone and ended up following one of your overview instructions showing how to pry the display off. Unfortunately, it did not indicate, at least in that overview, that the screws holding it in place needed to be loosed and removed, so ended up breaking several corner tabs. Managed to superglue these later and it went back together OK. Might want to edit into your overview that there are screws, or in bold to look at the detailed instructions.

My Problem

The power button stopped working: it wouldn't turn on or off, and there was no click sensation when you pressed it. It felt like the button was pressed in all the time, but somehow disabled. There was still a bit of play, and nothing was corroded or dirty. It just didn't do anything when you pressed it.

My Fix

The iFixit guide was invaluable for showing how to disassemble the phone and remove the power button, but it did not explain how the button and power switch actually worked. Once the actual micro switch was exposed, I realized the switch itself still worked if I pressed on it directly, it just didn't work with the button, so I ordered another button hoping that was the problem, and reassembled the phone while I waited for the new one to arrive. I verified the exposed power switch was working, then covered the opening with tape to keep the schmutz out until the replacement arrived. Unfortunately, the new button didn't fix it! There was nothing wrong with the button itself, it turned out there was a small dot on the surface of the switch that was shown in the iFixit guide that was missing. I used a minute dab of nail polish applied with a toothpick to the center of the switch, and shaped it into a tiny 1 mm dot in the center of the dome as it was drying. This worked like a charm!

My Advice

The trick was realizing there was a difference between my phone's switch and the switch shown in the photo in the iFixit guide. The photo showed a tiny black dot on the surface of the yellow tape covering the tiny dome switch, and this was missing on my phone. This dot makes contact with the center of the small cylinder in the back of the button, and sets the distance the button travels when it's pressed. Without it, the button just bottoms-out and doesn't actually push on the dome switch. I wish the ifixit guide explained this.

My Problem

Recently my two-year old iPhone 4 stopped working -- black screen, holding down the top button neither turned the phone off or on. On my laptop, iTunes recognized the phone but said it was in "recovery mode" and must be restored to factory settings. It started the recovery process however, just after the step of contacting Apple to verify the phone, it put up the message "The iPhone "iPhone" could not be restored. An unknown error occurred (2001)."

I took it to the Genius Bar at the downtown San Francisco store. James plugged the phone into his laptop and received the same message. After a few more quick tests he said the error message is related to a security issue and there is no way to bypass it -- the only solution is to replace the phone.

Not satisified with that answer, I went home and called Apple support and worked my way through four different people. The last person was Cindy, a senior advisor. She said the same thing as James.

My Fix

I researched online and found that someone with a similar problem had opened the iPhone and simply reset the battery using the iFixIt iPhone 4 Liberation Kit. I tried it (pulled the battery out following the excellent instructions and then put it back in) and ten minutes later iTunes kept going and was able to restore the phone. Unbelievable. The Liberation Kit saved the day!

My Advice

I'm a software developer. There is always a way to bypass an error and get to where you want to go. How can Apple, with its megawatts of software engineering power, just fold their cards over a single error message? I know, they just want to sell me a newer phone. They want money instead of the satisfaction of a good solution. But do they really have no way to bypass an error message to restore a phone? Can't they access an arsenal of simple fixes like resetting the battery? Apple has really let me down on this one. But iFixIt has come to the rescue. I appreciate a resource like iFixIt who does care about solving problems.

My Problem

Wi-fi not working

My Fix

Alright

My Advice

Uploading photos was impossible. I lost all my story. Your guides are very well done. Your spare parts are very useful. Your uploading system is driving me crazy. My advice is: improve it. Thanks

My Problem

I needed to replace my iPhone4 battery.

My Fix

Having the right tools made all the difference! The 5 point screw driver provided worked perfectly! Got the battery replaced in short order.

Thank you iFixit!

My Advice

I will check iFixit first from now on!!!!!!!

My Problem

The SIM Card wouldn't eject.

I wanted to be able to change out the front and back myself. Without spending a ton of money to swap out the phones.

My Fix

It went well

My Advice

Your tools and instructions are pretty awesome. I like the freedom from the Apple machine.