A few of my friends have had issues with the top button on their iPhones not working anymore. This makes it tough to lock your iOS device and can really drain your battery depending on your auto-lock time setting. If your warranty has expired or you don’t have AppleCare+, there is a little trick you can do to fix this until you get a new phone.
In the iPhone’s (or various iOS device) Accessibility settings there’s an option to turn on a feature called Assistive Touch. This normally helps people to use their iPhone if they have difficulty touching the screen or if they require an adaptive accessory. But, it can also come in handy if your top button is broken.
To turn this feature on:
- Open up your iPhone Settings
- Under General choose Accessibility
- Scroll all the way to the bottom of the Accessibility menu and find the Assistive Touch option and turn On
You’ll see a transparent icon appear on your screen. This will remain on every screen and give you options to choose Siri, Device, Favorites and Home. You can move it around the screen by touching and dragging depending on where you’d like it to be.
The option to lock your screen is under Device. In that menu, you’ll be able to turn your volume up or down, unmute, rotate the screen and lock the screen. This could also be helpful for some who might have broken volume or mute buttons as well.
Voila! You might have thought you were out of luck until your next upgrade, but this easy solution has proved very helpful for many. Enjoy!