iPhone 5 Home Button Ribbon Replacement

Make sure that your iPhone is turned off before you disassemble it.

Now remove two 3.6 mm Pentalobe screws next to the Lightning connector.

When you press a suction cup onto the screen, make sure to press it just above the home button.

Cup should be placed completely on the screen, in order to get a tight seal.

Check if the suction cup is firmly attached to the front panel assembly.

Hold your iPhone down with one hand and simultaneously pull up on the suction cup to slightly separate the front panel assembly from the rear case.

Be very careful, do it gently but apply firm, constant force. The display assembly is a much tighter fit than it may seem.

While you pull up with the suction cup, use plastic opening tool to gently pry the rear case down, away from the display assembly.

Front panel assembly is attached to the rear case with several clips, so bear in mind that you will probably have to use a combination of the suction cup and plastic opening tool in order to completely free the front panel assembly.

Slowly detach the clips along the left and right side by gently prying up around the sides of the front panel assembly.

Pull the bottom of the assembly away from the rear case once you notice that the clips have been released on the bottom and sides of the front panel assembly.

However, there are several ribbon cables still attached at the top of the iPhone, so be very careful not to completely remove the front panel assembly from the rear case.

Lift and rotate the front panel assembly up to about 90 degrees from the rear case.

The screws securing the front panel assembly cable bracket to the logic board need to be removed now:

Two 1.2 mm Phillips screws

One 1.6 mm Phillips screw

Remove the front panel assembly cable bracket from the logic board.

Disconnect the three front panel assembly cables using a plastic opening tool:

Front-facing camera and sensor cable

Digitizer cable

LCD cable

The LCD cable may pop off the connector during the reassemble of your phone. This can result in white lines or nothing at all to appear when you turn the phone on. If something like this occurs, all you need to do is reconnect the cable and power-cycle your phone. You can do this simply by disconnecting and reconnecting the battery.

Remove the front panel assembly from the rear case.

The two screws securing the front-facing camera bracket to the display assembly need to be removed.

One 4.1 mm Phillips screw

One 2.2 mm Phillips screw

Remove the earpiece speaker bracket from the display assembly.

Remove the earpiece speaker from the iPhone.

Pry the front facing camera cable out of the display assembly using a plastic opening tool or the tip of a spudger, but make sure to start under the earpiece speaker contacts.

Remove the front-facing camera and rear microphone assembly.

Two 1.3 mm Phillips screws securing the home button bracket to the display assembly need to be removed.

Pry the edge of the home button ribbon cable up from the display assembly using a plastic opening tool.

Begin under the contact points on the right and proceed to the left.

Keep in mind that contacts are well adhered to the front panel, so going left to right may rip your ribbon cable.

If sliding the plastic opening tool under the contact is too difficult, flip the tool over and gently push against the right side of the contacts to loosen the adhesive, and then try again.

Remove the home button ribbon cable from the display assembly.