iPhone 4 Power Button Stuck

Happened to me too today! Was working if I pressed hard till some time ago but now its completely given way. Cant turn off the phone. Whats more my warranty got over just 15 days ago. Will apple consider giving me a replacement or will I have to pay.

I just went through this with Apple - iPhone 4 that I got at launch. Power button became stuck after I pushed it. Got a genius bar appointment and he basically said it's out of warranty. Either pay $150 for a replacement or phony up $300 for a new 4S. He pretty much accused me of dropping it and breaking it. At any rate, I ended up just getting the 4S which is a nice phone, but I would have much rather had my original 4 for a reasonable fee.

Called the Apple service centre in Mumbai. They said if the product was not bought in India, they will not touch it even on a chargeable basis. I found this to be a very stupid policy since its still an Apple product which I bought from an Apple store in another country by paying the full price prevaling there! Apple needs to learn something from Sony whose products can be repaired anywhere in the world for a reasonable fee irrespective of where they were purchased from.

Anyway, took it to a repair shop that specializes in Iphones - fixed it for approximately $25. They said if it was only the switch itself it would have cost only $10 but since they had to replace the circuit too it cost a little more.

Does'nt say much for Apple service centres ripping their loyal customers off for $150 for what is obviously a manufacturing / design defect.

This is a DEFECT. Users should NOT be paying $149 to rectify a manufacturing defect. Mine only lasted 15 months, otterboxed, and handled carefully.

APPPLE SHOULD HANDLE THIS FOR ALL USERS...including out of warranty.

Many users have had this problem.

It's a joke and Apple should make good on it.

Not amused. What a ripoff. :-(

Most of the time you can temporarily fix the sticky button issue by:

1. Turn on iPhone

2. Plug it into charger cable.

3. Press down on the sticky button and hold it until Voice Control appears.

4. Unplug charger cable.

Nine times out ten this frees the button. Over time the sticky button will finally get stuck for good.

This is known issue by Apple and it would seem to be in their best interest to replace defective product regardless how long it has been out of warrantee.

If you are not covered by warranty and cant get it fixed by apple consider fixing it yourself. You can get the parts on ebay. Here is a link with directions:

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing-iPhone-4-Power-Lock-Button/4332/1

WARNING: This will void your warranty and if you choose to follow these instructions you do so at your own risk. I am not liable for your device if you break it while trying to conduct your own repairs. I am not affiliated with this link or www.ifixit.com.

You may also have to replace the flex cable as well. Im going to replace both just to be certain.

The instructions are on the same site.

Umm may I ask why, we are discussing self repairs??, I'm about to lodge both my iphones for replacement, my desk top iphone has gone in 4 times now, and the oncall is going in for the first time.. on-call phone has a grand total of 20mins of total usage, and has not been used for 4 months.. apple cant tell me if its a warrenty repair, or if i need to pay.. kinda rethinking my switch stance.. yo..

-Sam Fonzo Esq..

Button stuck, wont power on or off... called Apple Monday night, luckily only 10 months old,, sent it off UPS Tuesday morning, received package from Fedex, Thursday before noon...

Letter from AppleCare Service:

After thorough diagnostic testing, it has been determined that a replacement iPhone*

(enclosed) is necessary..

Occupy Apple!!! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas ... My iPhone 4 on-off button is getting harder and harder to turn off or to turn on. I'm sure that I'm out of warranty. How do we get Apple to have a product recall? I cannot afford to continue to buy a newer version iPhone when these product defects slams me! I wish I never bought the **** thing! Then, there is the 2 year contract with AT&T ... You cannot get out of it, so you forced to buy another crappy iPhone! Occupy Apple and occupy AT&T!!!

UPDATE: My self repair was a success. It cost me $8 to repair

The problem seemed to be that the copper pad the button presses into wears away over time, it's located on the "power and sensor flex cable" I purchased a replacement off eBay for $8 and installed it using a guide on

IF you're out of warranty, and are prepared to take the risk, that's the the solution, if not, best to talk to apple about a replacement.

I'm not liable for any damage you do to your phone by conducting any self repairs. Make sure you know what you are doing and do so at your own risk.

Replacing the button wont help. You need to replace the power flex ribbon cable, not the button itself.

My iphone 4 is a couple weeks past its 1 year warranty and it seems fishy that all of these issues seem to be happening just after the 1 year mark. Is apple designing their products to only have a certain life expectancy. I called apple and the customer service rep at one of the stores garunteed that the failure rate is low which i highly doubt based on the fact that there are many people with this issue, let alone the exact same issue.

I was also told my a rep at the genious bar that i would be obligated to purchase a new phone. When i took it in, he went into the back for about 5-10 minutes and comes back and says "you need a new phone". Thank you for your wisdom but when i take my car to the mechanic to find out whats wrong, i expect an answer, not simply, you must pay this much....

I am absolutely disgusted by apples customer service since the release of the iphone 4. I have gone through 2 previous iphone 3G/3Gs and never had a problem. Whenever there was an issue, they would be more than happy to replace the phone. Not anymore. And after purchasing 2 macbooks, 2 macbook pros and a bunch of other apple products, i feel like my business is no longer valued.

There must be a solution to this problem that doesnt involve purchasing a new phone.

I share your disgust. The iPhone4 power switch MUST be a known problem by Apple. The local Genius bar probably doesn't have access to the wold wide statistics on this problem but over time they will notice the trend. I guarantee you the Apple engineering department is hearing complaints about this switch as I write this.

Remember the iPhone4 antenna issue? You can add this power switch to the FAIL list. :-(

If Apple is going to make junk quality power switches I'll just buy an extended warranty next time.

I know I'll use it and get my money's worth.

-CT

Do you have a replacement part number?

I'll try it since I'm a whopping three months out of warranty.