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iPhone Sleep / Power Button Broken? Lock & Shutdown Apps Have Got You Covered

posted on Jun 17th 2008 at 7:24am by PatrickJ

shutdownscreen1

I’ve seen a surprising number of people mention in forums and elsewhere recently that their iPhone Power/Sleep buttons are broken.  Always sorry to hear that – but here’s a bit of very good news for all those muddling by with busted buttons …

Today’s release of two single-purpose utilities from Hackintosh forum member XianLi – Shutdown.app and Lock.app – should prove a *big* help for anyone getting by with a crippled Power/Sleep button.

The two utilities let you turn off the iPhone or place it into sleep mode without needing to use the hardware button – and they work as advertised.

Shutdown and Lock are available now on Installer via the iClarified repository, which is: http://installer.iclarified.com/

  • Bogdan RB

    ok. but now how the hell do you turn it back on?

    • Ryan Beckett

      Plug it into a power source

      • joseph

        How the crap do I get my iPhone to turn on it only turns on if plugged into wall

        • Dires

          Push HOME button twice

  • Chillman

    LMAO!!! I was just about to download it right now and I saw Bogdan's post!!!

    How to turn it back on is the issue now!!! ha lol

    • Scott

      Plug it into your computer and it turns on.

      • qwert

        it doesnt turn on

    • roberto073

      haha well lets say just plug it into USB?
      mine turns on then

  • curious

    and if it gets locked up and stuck? how to do a force reboot? Do you have to let the power run down?

    And if you need to upgrade some jailbroken phone? can that be done without that button?

  • Stuck

    I am stuck trying to upgrade my jailbroken phone and cannot enter DFU mode. Is there a way to do so without this button

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/patrickj patrickj

      Sorry – I honestly don't know of one, don't recall hearing of one.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Art__Vandelay Art__Vandelay

      I just had the hardest time trying to do the same. Try this method http://www.xsellize.com/showthread.php?t=55484 I found it googling. Never got it to work before I was able to fix power button but he says he got it from MuscleNerd so it's gotta be legit. Hope it helps

  • Bobby

    How do you download?

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/patrickj patrickj

      Honestly I'm not sure, sorry – but this post is from over a year ago, and Installer no longer exists as a jailbreak app store. I would try on Cydia, and then check the iClarified site.

  • DonGus

    you can put in DFU using only de HOME button. First you have to turn it off (be creative :P ).

    Then, press and old the HOME button and connect to your computer. Keep holding the HOME button until the "connect to itunes" logo apears on screen. Then you can release the home button and you are in DFU mode.

    Espero que les haya servido. Saludos!

    • http://www.mobil-mac.ch luke

      That is not DFU ode but recovery mode… Never the less it helps getting into recovery mode without power/sleep button, thanks!

    • dee

      How do i turn it off with out the power button? do you just let it die?

      • http://www.facebook.com/patrickj1 Patrick Jordan

        You used one of these two apps, at the time this post was published. Not sure if either of them still exists now – you might want to research via the iClarified source.

      • http://intensedebate.com/people/patrickj patrickj

        You used one of these two apps, at the time this post was published. Not sure if either of them still exists now – you might want to research via the iClarified source.

  • RJ faIzI

    o thanks.. it helped me to enter in DFU mode :)

  • Jake

    I have a jailbroken iphone 3g with a broken lock button, thing is I am already stuck in the synchronizing mode and I have no idea what to do :S

  • dreee

    my jailbroken iphone has froze and i cant reboot it the lock button is broken.. what do i need to do to restart or have my phone to start working again.. the touch screen feature has stopped working… what do i do? anyone encounter the same problems? please inform me

    -dre.

    • kasey

      same thing happend to me…how did you fix it?

      • http://www.facebook.com/artform.ca Ahmed Sagarwala

        Just download SBS settings from Cydia or Rock. Once it is installed, you can simply swipe the status bar (at the top with the time) and you'll see a drop-down containing "Power". Tap power and you can reboot, shut down, respring, etc.

  • Ben

    Is there anything out there that is similar to this because the iPhone power button has broke on mine too

  • iphoneuser

    I dropped mine for the last time, and the power button is not functioning.

    I am considering sending it to iresq.com to fix the button for $80. FYI.

  • Craig

    Try the app IReboot. Its in Cydia! Hope this helps!

  • dorianchucky

    I have the same problem, I'm currently at endless boot with the apple icon on screen, and my sleep/wake button is
    totally busted – I even had it removed, there's a hole there instead. I kept the home button pressed for a little while(about a minute or two) and then I finally got to the "plug in to itunes screen" …phew…

  • sean

    i have the smae problem the only diffference is that i have a password on the iphone. hep!!!!!

  • tim

    If your power button doesnt work try squeezing the phone together right underneath the button at the same time you press the button. Usually this works because the iphone case has started to separate due to dropping it.

    • Casey

      This actually worked… I was able to reboot while connected to iTunes with the help of a friend who held down the home button while I squeezed and pressed the power button. More than that, it fixed the 0xE8000065 error in iTunes that sent me down this road in the first place… and I deeply resemble your assertion that it might have had to do something with being dropped. ;)

    • John Lim

      Thanks Tim! Great advise! My power button has been dead for some weeks and I have been getting along without it by setting 'sleep' to the minimum 1 minute. That is until it went into auto shutdown when the batteries ran out and I could not turn it back on. Squeezing the phone like you mentioned worked like a charm! Cheers!

    • sophie

      THANKYOU!!!!
      now i can lock my phone without having to wait for it to autolock after a minute =]

    • Rajan

      Excellent!!! It worked like a Charm. Thank you so much.

    • Martin

      Squeeze… can you please be a little more specific. Really hope its works but is there some kind of trick, as squeezing on the screen upwords?

    • rwt

      omg… i can't believe this works! thanks a 1000 times !

    • John

      work very good try to squeez the phone like the isntruction of this guy saying in his comment

    • rubot

      yes it works hahah!!!

    • Mike Smith

      thanks mate! works like a charm :P

    • jenn

      this totally fucking worked

  • RainMan

    I have my 3G jailbroke my power/sleep button is broke as well. I downloaded SBsettings from cydia and you can respring if froze or running slow also you can shutdown restart and lock as well. then when it tuns off u can just USB to computer and should turn on. its still a pain i wish i could just hit that top little button!

    • Lance

      lol, thats exactly what i do! im thinking of getting it repaired for $45 so i can dual boot android

  • guest

    my i phone 2g isnt jailbroken, is there any app for the button problem

  • chqp

    It's far better to use the app mQuickDo -> just google it.
    this is not only a "virtual" power button.

    Instead of launching an app for locking the phone, you just swipe/do a gesture.
    You can also set a guesture for opening a power-dialog. Here you can select the device to reboot, power off, …

    I'm posting this here because I tried & failed to find & install the apps mentioned in the text and would have been glad to hear about mQuickDo in the first place.

  • Felipe

    Is it me, or does most of the people having lock button problems has a jailbroken phone?I have a one as well, as I am having the same problem. The button stopped working over night.

  • http://www.peterpillsbury.com Peter Pillsbury

    SWEET!!! Thank You for posting this. I squeezed the top-right back and the top-right glass together and pushed off. Pushed center bottom circle button to get back on as usual. Still don't get the red slider off virtual button in screen.

  • erik

    i have an iphone with a passcode i dont know and my sleep button doesnt work any idea how t turn it off with out the sleep button. please help

  • rwt

    I cannot seem to find either mQuickDo OR the Lock.app.

    I'm using Cydia, not installer… where can I find the Lock.app with a Cydia source ? please help.

    • tmart

      did you find this out ?

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1800498867 Radu Bonatiu

    there is a simple method to fix the power button – I just fix mine like this:

    • moyokaay

      how did you fix yours

  • Paul

    i cant belive it – that actually worked.,.. I thought the phone was for the bin and I just followed what that guy said to do; squeese hard just below the power button (hard as you can) and it started working again… this is the best tip I have gotten in a long time and saved me alot of cash… good stuff…

  • Jeff

    Thank you! THe press method solved it for me also.

  • Kaka

    HAHAHAHAAH!!! unbelievable! it worked!

  • MicroLao

    I just discovered a very easy alternative method for rebooting without using any buttons or any jailbreak apps / tweaks…and I discovered it purely by accident. Take a metal magnet and place it down by the home button and charging port. This will reboot your iPod instantly (and I assume it will reboot the iPhone as well). Its very fast and very convenient when your froze up and/or in safe mode, whereas all those reboot & respring apps are rendered useless. Make sure to use a fairly strong magnet like a metal one and not one of those weak rubberized refrigerator magnets. It doesn’t have to be a super magnet, just strong enough, because a rubberized refrigerator magnet won’t do anything. So there you go everybody….your welcome!
    \(^o^)/

    • http://isource.com/ Thomas

      @MicroLao
      that may well work just fine, but it really doesn’t sound like something I’d want to try — esp. if I want the insides of my device staying in one place.

  • fuzzles

    @MicroLao
    Wow your a life saver. I just tried the magnet method and it works perfect. My ipod has been froze up for days and trying to wait for the battery to die just to reboot is redundant. Great find MicroLao. This is definitely the safest way for a manual reboot when frozen, unlike some methods on this forum (like squeezing the screen as hard as you can. Thats stupid, and talk about a good way to break you shit even more and/or cause pixel damage as well)

  • Fuzzles

    @MicroLao
    Wow your a life saver. I just tried the magnet method and it works perfect. My ipod has been froze up for days and trying to wait for the battery to die just to reboot is redundant. Great find MicroLao. This is definitely the safest way for a manual reboot when frozen, unlike some methods on this forum (like squeezing the screen as hard as you can. Thats stupid, and talk about a good way to break you shit even more and/or cause pixel damage as well)

  • Mrs. Chanandler Bong

    @MicroLao

    Dude what an awesome discovery. Who would’ve thought that a magnet would save the day…lol. I spent countless hours scouring the internet for days with no luck until I stumbled upon this lil tidbit of info. Thanks for reviving my iPhone.

  • Sophie

    I keep trying the ‘squeeze’ method and I can’t get my sleep/power button to work! I need to turn off/turn back on as I didn’t pay my phone bill on time, after they unblocked my phone I have to restart so that my emails/fb etc work, how can I do this without the top button!!?!

    xx

  • fuzzles

    @ Sophie
    Try sliding a fairly strong magnet across the bottom part of the phone by the charging port…your phone will reboot. This has been reported to work.

  • steph

    so my lock button on my iphone is broken, it has recently just frozen up and now all it is doing is coming up with that spinny loading thing it does when it turns off help !!!

  • Jess

    I dropped my phone down a toilet and it broke the lock button, the squeeze mothod didn’t work but I will try the magnet, thanks for your help, hopefully my iPhone will come back to life sooner or later :L

  • http://flike.jimdo.com leuname

    hi dudes
    my jailbreaked iphone 3gs is stuck in recovery mode and won’t get out of it. the power button doesn’t respond so i can’t get it into dfu mode to restore. can some one please help

  • tiger7070

    I tried holding the home button and connect the iphone to the pc and it worked perfectly.
    thanks to DonGus

  • Skjhfadfhe

    Hey ummm. i have a itouch that i need jailbroken because i broke the top button and how do you just regularly turn of and ipod touch without the sleep/wake button? HELP ME email me with any help at spootrash@gmail.com

  • Kevin

    Holy sh*t, the squeeze trick worked!!! My power button was dead and not its fixed!

    For those who dont know how to do it (it took me some minutes to understand where to sqeeze) , while looking at the front of the phone, hold the phone from top right next to vertical hole where the speaker is above the screen. Put a fair amount of pressure and then see if the power button is fixed :)

  • Alexandra

    hello there! i have a very big problem! i have an iphone too, and his button on/off is dead :D and when it’s frozen the phone it’s turning off.
    now my problem is how can i turn on my phone without plugging it into a power source because his battery was full before it turns off, and it’s not charging. can anyone help me? some ideas? thanks a lot

  • Alexandra

    OMFG!!! i can’t squeeze!!! damn it hurts:)) my fingers are red :) ) and i m afraid not doing some damages, more damages, to my phone, is this possible?:)) i really need help, i lose my patience!

  • Andrew

    Well after spending an hour researching on the net I finally found the program to fix a frozen iphone with a broken power button. Its called RECBOOT if you have Windows make sure you get version 1.3 and version 2.0 for mac works like a charm kicks your device into recovery mode and then you can kick it back out!

  • anon

    iphone 3g with broken power button is off..plugging in to computer or wall power supply wont turn it on…helllppp:(

  • dishan

    hei.my friend put my i phone 3g to reset.after that i can only see apple mark in the screen and i cant do any thing.please help me.

  • Really though…

    So i have a disabled iPhone 4 and that’s all cool and fine cause i can fix it,problem is the lock button doesn’t work so…what now?