If your iPhone’s sleep/wake button stops working, here’s how to power it down with AssistiveTouch!
The iPhone only has two main buttons, the Lock (sleep/wake) button, and the Home button. Day in and day out we use these two buttons constantly. So what happens if one of them fails? In this case, a reader asked how they can completely power down their iPhone if their Lock button has stopped working. AssistiveTouch doesn’t make it very obvious, but you actually can power down your iPhone with it. Follow along and I’ll show you how!
This how-to is part of our iOS Help feature, where every week I try and help you fix the problems you’re having with your iPhones and iPads. If you have a question or need help with something iOS related that you just can’t figure out, I encourage you to drop a question in our iMore forums, no registration required, or send me an email at [email protected]
If you’re under warranty — all iPhones come with a 1 year warranty against defects — we would recommend visiting an Apple Store and having them correct the issue free of charge. If you’re out of warranty and have some DIY skills, you can always fix the broken button yourself too. We’ve got the guides to walk you through step by step:
- How to DIY fix a broken iPhone Lock button: The ultimate guide.
Apple is aware of a particularly nasty issue with the iPhone 5 Power button that causes it to fail more often than normal. They’ve issued a replacement program for these affected units. You can hit the following link to see if your iPhone 5 is covered:
- iPhone 5 Sleep/Wake button replacement program
Regardless of your particular situation, the following steps will allow you to not only Lock the screen on your iPhone, but power it completely down until you can properly address the issue.
How to power down your iPhone if your Lock button doesn’t work
