Applies to:

• iPhone 5 (GSM North America)
• iPhone 5 (GSM International)
• iPhone 5 (GSM and CDMA)
• iPhone 5 (China)

Component affected:

• Sleep/Wake mechanism

Symptoms:

• Sleep/Wake button working intermittently
• Sleep/Wake button only works when excessive force is applied
• Sleep/Wake button doesn’t work at all

Apple Repair program:
Started: April 25, 2014
Ended: March 2017
Archived URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20140430020613/https://www.apple.com/support/iphone5-sleepwakebutton/
Current URL: N/A. Apple deleted the information from their website.

Initially only covering affected iPhone 5 models for 2 years after the date of sale, Apple later expanded this to cover iPhone 5 models for 3 years after the first retail sale of the unit. If a user was running iOS 6 or iOS 7, the iPhone needed to be upgraded to iOS 8 after the sleep/wake button mechanism was replaced. Those that paid for this repair before the program started were eligible for a refund.

The Issue:
The mechanism underneath the sleep/wake button would break.

The Fix:
The broken mechanism would be replaced by Apple but whole replacement units were offered to expedite the repair process as well. This due to the very large amount of users affected by the issue.