Stuck home button iPhone 7

[raylo32]

So, I collected an old iPhone 7 from a relative who is no longer using it. The battery was toast, lasting only a couple hours on standby. I figured I'd replace the battery and repurpose the phone for something and practice smatrtphone battery swapping so I can do mine if and when it needs done.

Got the kit from iFixit, swapping the battery was no problem at all. The phone fires up and works fine except the home button doesn't work. I literally did not touch that at all during the battery swap. For now, I have the virtual home button activated while troubleshooting. The home button seems to have zero mechanical travel which makes no sense. No movement, no click. Anyone else had this issue? I am not going to replace the button, especially since I don't see what could be wrong with the existing button. And I really don't know what I am going to do with this thing, if anything.

 

[Bigwaff]

I don't see what could be wrong with the existing button.

It’s not a real mechanical button. iPhone 7 introduced haptic home “button” which uses Force Touch.

 

[raylo32]

Getting no haptic either.

It’s not a real mechanical button. iPhone 7 introduced haptic home “button” which uses Force Touch.

 

[Bigwaff]

Getting no haptic either.

Then you damaged the button cable that attaches to the motherboard when you opened the iPhone to replace the battery.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

I figured I'd replace the battery and repurpose the phone for something and practice smatrtphone battery swapping so I can do mine if and when it needs done.

Get a couple more batteries, and keep on practicing 😉

 

[BugeyeSTI]

Getting no haptic either.

I'm with @Bigwaff. You might want to open up the phone again and see if you pinched or damaged the home button cable

 

[raylo32]

Agree, it almost certainly has to be the cable. Alls I did was unplug the cables to detach the screen but is it possible it got bumped by the guitar pick when opening or pinched by the case when closing. But I am really not going to be using this phone, so I probably won't mess with it any more. And that virtual home button activated via accessibility works really well anyway.

Next battery replacement I do will be my old XR, which I also may repurpose for something. But since that one is still at 84% and still plenty functional for such uses it'll be a while. Good news on that, no home button to complicate things. LOL.

My main takeaway from this is how good that old IP7 feels, so thin and light. And the screen still looks really good. Makes my 16P feel like a dumbbell at the gym. Oof.

Then you damaged the button cable that attaches to the motherboard when you opened the iPhone to replace the battery.

 

[BugeyeSTI]

Agree, it almost certainly has to be the cable. Alls I did was unplug the cables to detach the screen but is it possible it got bumped by the guitar pick when opening or pinched by the case when closing. But I am really not going to be using this phone, so I probably won't mess with it any more. And that virtual home button activated via accessibility works really well anyway.

Next battery replacement I do will be my old XR, which I also may repurpose for something. But since that one is still at 84% and still plenty functional for such uses it'll be a while. Good news on that, no home button to complicate things. LOL.

My main takeaway from this is how good that old IP7 feels, so thin and light. And the screen still looks really good. Makes my 16P feel like a dumbbell at the gym. Oof.

Another possibility is the connector wasn't seated properly. I would give it a try if you find some time to tinker with it some more

 

[raylo32]

I actually did disassemble it again immediately after I got it back together the first time. Cable was seated fine and looked OK otherwise. So, I disassembled the button to see if there was anything obvious there. Nope.

Another possibility is the connector wasn't seated properly. I would give it a try if you find some time to tinker with it some more