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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 still not working after replacing it

Here's the long story on the phone:

Six months ago, gf broke the screen. I ordered a new one (not from here) and replaced it... no problems everything worked including the fingerprint scanner and the home button. Over time, the fingerprint scanner stopped working. She dropped the phone and broke the screen again. She used it with the cracked screen for a while. During this time, the home button started getting flakey, having to press it multiple times to get it to work. Problem got worse and worse over about a week or so until it stopped working altogether. I ordered a new screen and home button. Screen replacement went fine, it works 100% again. All functions working....except the home button. After replacing it, it still does not work (I know the fingerprint scanner won't work, but I don't care about that). I tried doing the "re-calibration" and I've also done a factory restore using itunes that wiped everything off the phone and installed ios 10. The home button is still not working.

During the replacement of the home button this time, I noticed that the cable that the flex cable plugs into in the phone lifted up i.e. the adhesive let go, but no undue tension was put on it and it looks ok. Attached the cable and secured it with the bracket. Checked it a few times, carefully unplugging and plugging back in. No dice.

My question, before I assume that the new home button I bought is defective, and waste more money on this... is there any way to tell if it's the home button that's the problem or whether it's the mating connector / cable etc?

I have my own iPhone 5s. I know it's a bit of a risk, but could I open up my phone and without removing my home button from the display, could I unplug my flex cable and plug in either of the two other ones (original and replacement) to see if they work? If I plug in one of the other buttons, in my phone and power it up with the home button loose, can I try pressing it to see if it works or does it need to be installed in the display for it to work?

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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You don't have to remove your own home button, just open up the phone, unplug the button and move the button you want to test over, plug it in and test.

Flip the button over and you should see a big dome switch, click that and see if it works.

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Awesome, thanks, I'll try that. So if I try it on my phone and it works, I assume that the other phone is toast? Other than using assistive touch home button or is there something else I can replace?

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tried the replacement home button in my phone and it doesn't work there either. Put my phone back together and it works with my button, so I guess I got a faulty one. Any suggestions on where to get a good one?

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A good one? Well I'm pretty sure you just got unlucky. Buy one from another supplier iFixit I can say is reliable at least and the iPhone 5S home buttons are pretty cheap.

Most likely you got a defective home button and the chances are you will get a working one when you buy the next one from anywhere.

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I just ordered from ifixit. very very very expensive though, but I didn't want to take the chance that the next one wouldn't work. I appreciate what you're saying and I likely got hosed paying 29.99 instead of getting one for 7 bucks off ebay, but oh well.

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Plus shipping costs more, this is why I buy phone parts on other sites instead of iFixit.

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Loren Kowalchuk will be eternally grateful.
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