Repairment policy- iPhone unfixable?

Your issue is with your carrier. They voided any warranty and forfeited all rights to service by Apple when they replaced the display with a counterfeit. Talk to them about it.

Yes, if you had gone to a quality independent repair shop you would not have this problem.

The glass digitizer/LCD itself is not part of touch ID and error 53. Competent shops will carefully transfer your original home button from your original broken glass to the new glass leaving touch ID intact. It is not necessary to install a new home button with every screen swap, but careful transfer of your original button is.

No, every time your glass shatters you do not need to buy a new phone. You can either go to an Apple Store where they will replace the glass and the home button and reprogram the new button to your logic board. OR, you can go to a quality independent repair shop who has the experience necessary to carefully transfer your old home button to the new screen without damaging it. You have to do your research on this---the cheapest guy around is not going to be the best.

Yes, your Touch ID is still original. You would have greyed out fingerprint sensor 100% of the time if it was not. The most likely explanation for your experience is either damage to the home button/fingerprint sensor from the original drop, or damage to the sensor or one of the flexes/connectors that it uses to talk to the board during your screen swap.

mendonipadrehab wrote:

Yes, if you had gone to a quality independent repair shop you would not have this problem.

Who is a "quality independent repair shop"

Tell me that please.

Great questions,

1.) Quality independent repair vs carrier lab. I don't think that all carrier labs are necessarily not qualified to do general repair on iPhones. The better question might be "how do I identify a quality independent repair shop/ carrier lab?" The reality is that it is possible for any repair service to botch an iPhone job, so you want to find one that has a robust warranty. A good shop will do a complete pre-check and post-check in front of you when your bring your phone to service. This allows them to document pre-existing conditions. If your touch ID works at intake, it should also work when you leave.
Will the shop be around to honor the warranty? Take a look at the reviews online to see how long the shop has been in business, and how many positive reviews they have vs negative reviews. Also pay attention to how they respond to the negative reviews online. It really is no different than finding a really great mechanic, electrician, hairdresser or any other service trade. Ask about pricing. If you get a quote significantly cheaper than other stores, this by definition means they are either willing to do precision work for pennies, or are using inferior parts---both are things to avoid.

Ask good questions---where do you get your screens? It is widely known that true Apple original screens are not available in the independent repair marketplace. A quality shop will be forthcoming with this information and will have reasonable answers. Sketchy shops may try to convince you that they are using true Apple screens---this is a huge red flag.

2.) If your carrier does INDEED have Apple original screens, then by definition they are an Apple Authorized Service Provider. Ask them if they are. If so, I think it is telling that an AASP is not willing to take responsibility for a mistake they made. AASP will continue to get referrals for business by virtue of the fact that some people will always choose AASP over independent repair. On the other hand, an independent repair shop will have to work harder to build a business based on the overall satisfaction of their customers. Your ultimate satisfaction will be more important to them for their continued success.

3.) A grayed out fingerprint sensor is something that you notice in settings--passcode/touch id. If the fingerprint sensor is not working, you will have no option to 'add a new fingerprint' and the function will be 'grayed out' This is a sign that your fingerprint sensor is either not original or damaged.

Whenever someone that doesn't get a paycheck from Apple opens your phone, you are potentially at risk for voiding your option with Apple to buy a refurbished phone from them at a discount---$299 for iPhone 6 when you trade in your phone. This is the out of warranty phone service option from Apple. In my experience, I've never seen anyone get denied OOW swap.

If you can find a quality independent repair shop, they can take a look at the phone and see if there is any visible damage to the home button and its flexes/connectors and give you some guidance. A good shop will present your options with Apple as well as what they might be able to do for you, if anything.

best of luck!
jessa

amigo1989 wrote:

As I understand even if the iPhone was perfectly untouched, Apple still would treat (not treat) me the same.

If your phone had not been repair by someone unauthorized, yes, Apple would have helped you. However, once the screen was replaced, you voided not only your warranty but your eligibility for out-of-warranty service. This is why avoiding unauthorized repairs is generally a good idea.