Chosen Solution

I think I may know what I did wrong now that I look back…I had yanked this old iphone cable from my iphone without realizing that it had those side lock buttons… Then my home button stopped working. I took it in and they told me to re install everything. I did that twice and it went to the emergency screen. So I brought it back…and they said they’d fix it only to tell me that they couldn’t because I had “unlocked” it and therefore voided the warranty. I actually had to ask them what “unlocking” was!!!! Anyways, so frustration aside, I picked it up today and was able to restore everything from my backup. But then it started acting up. Now the screen goes back and forth as if fingers where swiping to the search screen or the second screen of apps. If I open an app, it automatically goes back to the home screen and then jumps around to other things. It’s acting like it’s possessed!! Anyone know what’s really wrong here?

The home button problem may be related to damage to the dock connector when you removed the USB, if you take a look at the dock connector part you can see on the top some gold squares which are the contact points for the bottom of home button. You may find that if you open the phone the dock connector is loose or moved/broken mounting screws, which is why you have contact problem. Depending on what you find either repair the mount or replace the dock. The problem with the touch screen may be resolved by just reseating the cables for the touchscreen, no2. it may be that the nice people who claim your phone to be unlocked and jailbroken have not put the phone back together properly! have a look at the connection, make sure it’s not damaged or dirty, reseat connection, reset phone and see what happens. Old turkey makes a good point about screen protector and covers.. they may be tricking your digitiser!

kathryn, you could try doing a hard reset. Hold down the lock and home button for 25 seconds. then turn it back on. It that does not totally resolve it then do another restore. Hold the home button then plug it in to you computer, that will start the restore process. Of course make sure you back it up before you do this so you don’t loose any data. Now what about the home button? Did it get fixed, does it need to get fixed? What is it doing that you think it needs to be fixed. Are there any other issues with the phone that could be responsible for that. It is possibly that all your issues are related to an upgrade if your hardware is okay.

This may be related to an app conflict. There are three things I’ve tried that seem to help.

  1. Double-tap the home button to see the apps running in the background and swipe up on each one until they’re all gone (except the home screen).
  2. Delete any apps that you don’t need or use.
  3. You should also go to Settings, look through your list of apps, and tap each one to see what kinds of things they’re doing in the background. You can set Location to Never or While Using the App instead of Always, turn off some or all notifications, and turn off Background App Refresh. Check all your apps and only allow the things you need turned on.

According to Apple, this is a hardware problem. My phone began living a life of it’s own several weeks ago by the screen going blank, texting by itself, iTunes shutting off, etc., but the most annoying thing is that the touch screen won’t work when you need it the most, like trying to answer a phone call. I discovered that by hitting the phone fairly hard on a flat surface, the phone begins working again sometimes days at a time and other time hours or minutes, but it works! Make sure the touch screen is facing up and slap the phone on a hard flat surface. Works for me and I hope it works for you too. I do have a new phone on the way though!

Replace the dock connector assembly about $10 on ebay and about a 15 minute fix for me anyways. The home button makes contact to that board and these do go bad. Thats why your holding the cable in and it is somewhat working. You can also replace the home button also that is a bit more involved but the part is again like $6 or so. Spend the $20 and have someone who can take it apart and fix it for you will work like new again.

I have found that using some cheap after-market chargers causes my iPhone5s to do that. It quits as soon as I unplug it from the charger. No trouble with using genuine Apple cords. A Belkin also worked. I just watched it runthrough some of my sent text messages and then it typed a gibberish word and sent it without me touching the phone! The first time I saw it act like that it flased all kinds of screens and apps and suddenly tried placing a call to an unknown number beforeI could unplug it! While it is under that “influence”, I couldn’t get any control using the home button. Glad to know it isn’t being remotely hijacked. See if that is what is causing your problem. I assume some kind of electrical incompatibility. The first time I also noticed the phone get very warm in a short time!

It is difficult to address the issue because it is a strange problem, but from your story it seems your problem arises from the system connector ( charging port), so try these steps. 1- switch off the device and remove dust/dirt/lint from the port with a paper clip or large needle because it could be causing a short which interferes with the digitizer. Run the paperclip sideways very lightly across the contact points to clean the contacts. 2- open the device and clean the contacts on the home button and press and tape the flex connector at the bottom of the device to ensure proper connection. 3- check that digitizer connector is properly connected. 4-replace digitizer

I encounter this kind of problem too to my 5s. I have done hard reset, soft reset and erase all setting but nothing of the method works. I’ve thought this is cause by the latest update 9.3.2 but it was not. I keep on reading some help from this forum too and have a try. The electric static cause by the lcd body and the cable and cause the ghost appear to the screen. I open the lcd and put some paper on the lcd cover and the cable too. Its help and the ghost gone. Still working properly now but not sure later.

My home button done nothing when I pressed no matter how hard I did to fix it I hit the back whet the home button is like 3 time activated hey Siri I restarted my iPhone I left in the charge for a bout 1 and a half hours then I picked it up to see if it working it’s fixed! Did you know I’m using that same iPhone 5s

I have tried all of these things including the hard reset a year ago. Now I am back to the possessed state and have tried everything up to the hard reset. Recovering from that was stressful, I am hesitant. Advice?