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Repair information and guides for the Apple iPhone 5s that was announced on September 10, 2013. Model: A1533, A1453, A1457, A1528, A1530, A1518

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Home button not working after water damage?

My iPhone 5s was in its Otterbox, recharge and ear bud flaps closed, when I noticed there was water between the screen of the protective cover and my iPhone! This was just after I had been out in the rain and briefly checked directions to where I was going, thinking its ok since its in a protective case. Wrong! Apparently there is no guarantee for it to be waterproof.... 90 bucks wasted. I removed my phone from the case to find it had been sitting in enough water to wet both sides! More than if i had used it without the case in the rain! I quickly powered it off, used the vacuum hose to extract moisture, and put it in a container of rice for 48 hrs. It now powers on, but the home button does not work at all, and the sound from calls has static. I dont have tools to take apart my phone. What should I do? And thanks so much for any help!

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Besides following the great advice by PhoneOpsPlus, you do not want to try to charge, sync, or turn your phone on. This potentially can make a bad situation worse.

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Thank you oldturkey, yes, I agree, charging, syncing or even turning on the phone will make things a lot worse!

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Hi john,

You are wasting your time putting the phone in rice as that does absolutely nothing.

It's more than likely corrosion has started to settle in, and that's why the home button won't work.

You would need to open the phone and clean it all up with 99.9% isopropyl alcohol.

Since you don't have the tools, I would highly recommend you take it to a professional repair store that uses ultrasonic cleaning to remove the water damage and corrosion.

The speaker and ear piece speaker will be distorted due to the water inside them, they will likely need replacing.

The longer you leave it the worse it will get. :-)

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John Moorehouse will be eternally grateful.
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