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Once upon a time

I got iphone 4s from 2012. It has been used for 3.5 year. In the beginning of 2015, the mute button started to behave abnormally. When switching to silent mode, you can find the screen showing ring mode automatically sometimes. A few second later, it turns into silent mode again. This is real annoying that the phone vibrates in your pocket but you find no coming message, just a self vibrating iphone.



There are lots of cases that mute button malfunction among my friends. Almost every one of them using iphone4S has this problem, except for one who never uses the silent switch.






Most people use alternative ways to have a workable silent mode. Please check the following FAQ solution.

How can I fix a broken ring/silent switch on the iPhone? by The iPhone FAQ



Few people may spend some money to replace a silent switch thru 35 steps. And it may cost ￡29.99 or $60.

iPhone 4S Silent Switch Replacement by IFIXIT

iPhone 4S silent/mute switch repair and replacement Price by iPhone Repairs & Spares LTD

iPhone 5 Volume and Silent Switch Keypad Repair Replacement Service on ebay



A silver lining

Occasionally, I heard one method to treat a not working home button. It is to utilize high concentration rubbing alcohol (95-99 percent isopropyl alcohol). First, turn off your phone. Secondly, apply 2~3 drops isopropyl alcohol directly to home button. Thirdly, repeatedly tap the home button so that alcohol seeps into the frame.



It reminds me that all of these abnormal phenomenons should results from “bad contact” which will increase the electrical resistance. So, rubbing alcohol works for home button. It should also work for silent switch.



A guinea phone to test

1. Turn off the phone and prepare 95% rubbing alcohol, tissue paper and tweezers. The higher concentration of alcohol, the better. Make the water contain less to reduce short circuit possibility.



▼95% rubbing alcohol





2. Apply just 2~3 drops alcohol by tissue or dropper.



▼Alcohol dropped thru tissue





3. Fast-switching the silent switch with tweezers. Then wipe off the dirt with tissue. Furthermore, dig out the dirt in the crevice with tweezers.



▼Apply tissue to wipe off the dirt

 



▼Apply tweezers to dig out the dirt





4. Finish cleaning. Be aware that cleaning it so over by pressing too hard may remove the paint.



▼The paint is slightly removed.





5. Turn it on and Test. It works. Call it a day. It has worked normally for 2 months.



Reminders：

1. Just sharing the personal experience, no guarantee to success.

2. These problems seem from bad contact after a long period usage. Hence, high concentration rubbing alcohol can clean the dirt to decrease electrical resistance. It should work for silent switch, volume, home, power button. Just give it a try.

3. Too many drop of rubbing alcohol may cause other malfunctions. For instance, the liquid leaks to the screen backlight and it displays the cloudy effect… Or, the liquid leaks to PCB and short circuit happens and then it boots up fail…

4. There are lots of different failure situations if you make any mistake in this repair process. Make sure that you back up the data and any failure situation is affordable to you.