In all the years since 1986 this is the first Apple product that has failed me since I started buying and using their products. I’ve only had the iPhone 7 for 3-4 years but today the power switch has failed to respond to any effort to shut down or do a restart with the Home/Power routine. I’m pretty certain that it’s the power switch causing the problem. Now admittedly I’m about a week from having upgraded to the IOS 14 software but I somehow don’t think that is the problem. It wouldn’t take much for me to go for a new SE model but I’d still like to consider a repair. Can anyone advise how much this might cost ((replacing the switch)?
Lots of things still work on the phone but I cannot bring up any of the five or six pages of Apps I’ve installed. I cannot dial the phone but can ask Siri to make calls from from the device or from my car. I can also answer a call through my watch and can still play my music in the car. Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this problem.
By “power switch,” do you mean what Apple calls the Side Button? If you hold the side button for ~4 seconds, does the “slide to power off” slider no longer appear? When your iPhone is unlocked, does tapping the side button no longer lock the phone?
I don’t know what “Home/Power routine” refers to, Apple says to Restart your iPhone (on an iPhone 7), hold the side button until the power off slider appears, use the slider, then once the phone is completely off, hold the side button again until the Apple logo appears. The Home button isn’t involved.
If you simultaneously tap the side button and Home button, the iPhone will take a screenshot of the phone. If you try to simultaneously press the side button and Home button, the iPhone will ignore the side button and activate Siri because the Home button was pressed (I think this has always been the case but with iOS 14, Siri just shows it’s icon instead of blanking out the whole screen).
Problems with swiping between screens or dialing numbers on the keypad sound like a separate issue, having to do with the touchscreen. If you can restart your iPhone, I’d try that to see if that problem goes away.
Okay…Side Button. No it does not offer the slider to shut dow. Pressing the Side button and Home button together used to offer a reset after the Apple symbol appears. Doesn’t do anything although I can hear camera clicking. No way to view its image though and no images appear on my iPad or Mac. I cannot view any of my App pages, including the Home page. As I look back on my use of the power or side button on the phone over the past year I think I could detect a problem developing.
My research today suggests that the power or Side button failure might be common in the iPhone 7. I’m still trying to get an idea what fixing this might cost, ballpark, of course.
Is your phone locked? Does tapping the Home button bring up the Enter Passcode keypad?
Even if the phone is locked, holding just the side button for at least 4 seconds should bring up the power off slider.
Hearing the camera click after tapping Home + Side indicates it took a screenshot. That means the side button is not physically broken.
If holding just the side button for a long time doesn’t make the power off slider appear, I would next use the USB Lightning cable to connect the iPhone to a Mac to first make a backup and then use Restore iPhone.
Give Apple Care a call (1-800-aplcare). They support out of warranty phones. They can help you troubleshoot and even setup a free appointment with a genius at your local Apple Store.
Curtis—You are the man!! You assessed my problem perfectly. Connected the phone to my Mac, had to remove it from Find My, then erase it and restored from a Sept. 5 backup via iCloud.The phone is currently re-syncing with my watch so I’ll know better how the restore went. Sync is done and all seems good. I can’t thank you enough.