Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPhone 4 clicking noise on back

C

calvy

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 17, 2007
1,271
9
Hi all. Looking for your advice on if I should seek a replacement iPhone. I got my preorder iPhone on Wednesday, and have been using it ever since. Yesterday, a day later, I noticed it was making a clicking noise when I applied a slight amount of pressure with my finger tip to the back of the phone, sort of the midway point from top to bottom and towards the left side of the phone. It's easily reproducible and starting to drive me nuts as i can hear it with just about any touch I make on the phone.

So, am I the only one with this problem? If so, I'm headed to talk to Apple ASAP.
 
There was another post about this already and it sounded like a problem with the individual iphone. I can't remember the thread, but the guy said it was something close to the volume rocker.

I'd notify Apple and then once the madness subsides, arrange for an exchange.

Good luck! :)
 
LimeyBastard said:
There was another post about this already and it sounded like a problem with the individual iphone. I can't remember the thread, but the guy said it was something close to the volume rocker.

I'd notify Apple and then once the madness subsides, arrange for an exchange.

Good luck! :)
Click to expand...

I guess I could call and get them to fedex me a replacement, right?

But no, mine is not on the side with the volume buttons, it's on the other side, but towards the middlepoint of the phone when judging from top to bottom. Basically just to the left and bottom of the apple logo.
 
im also having this issue

i noticed it is directly above where the SIM card is probably sitting

is that where you guys are noticing it too?
 
I have this issue. The back plate 'clicks' when pressed. Easily repeatable when pressed near the Apple logo and underneath the back-facing camera.

Definitely annoying but probably nothing to be concerned about. I'll try to exchange mine after all the launch madness dies down.
 
I have this issue as well with the back plate 'clicking' when pressed. I have a white glass plate for the back in transit, so we'll see if that solves the problem. I have a feeling the issue must be the piece that is glued onto the rear of the back glass piece...the tolerances on the stainless case must be pretty tight and I doubt that could be the cause.

I'll report back with my findings.
 
i think it could be that your sleep/wake button is loose. i have the same problem. try tapping closer and closer to top near the camera and you should hear it.

i want to see if i can go into the apple store to get it replaced, but since its so minimal i don't know if this is enough to get it swapped.
 
I started a thread about it and it was a cracking noise close to the simcard tray. Took it to apple and once they heard it they gave me a replacement asap.
 
ViPhone said:
Its the camera. The sound is clearly produced by the camera. I too, have this issue.
Click to expand...

Definitely not caused by the camera on mine. It is the glass flexing and popping around right above the SIM card tray. It can be very LOUD if I press quickly enough.
 
DeLoMan said:
Definitely not caused by the camera on mine. It is the glass flexing and popping around right above the SIM card tray. It can be very LOUD if I press quickly enough.
Click to expand...

mine was definitely not the camera either. But I guess for completeness, I'll let you all know that I dropped my iphone and shattered the back. The apple store replaced it and the new one does not make the same noise, even several weeks later. So I'm happy.
 
calvy said:
mine was definitely not the camera either. But I guess for completeness, I'll let you all know that I dropped my iphone and shattered the back. The apple store replaced it and the new one does not make the same noise, even several weeks later. So I'm happy.
Click to expand...

They replaced it because of the shattered glass?? If so that's awfully nice of them.
 
calvy said:
mine was definitely not the camera either. But I guess for completeness, I'll let you all know that I dropped my iphone and shattered the back. The apple store replaced it and the new one does not make the same noise, even several weeks later. So I'm happy.
Click to expand...

They replaced the glass back or gave you a new phone? I'm hoping the clicking is merely the piece that is glued onto the glass back (that notices into the metal housing and holds the glass down.) When my white back comes in I will report back if the clicking is still present.

As annoying as the clicking is, I have NO proximity issues, NO dropped call issues, NO loss of signal, etc. So I think I'll live with the glass clicking instead of getting a refurb that could have a lot more problems! :D
 
I had the same problem, a very noticeable clicking sound when applying the slightest amount of pressure (except mine was on the front glass panel). Took it to Apple and they kindly replaced it for me. Although I also had a problem with the phone heating up to a point where I can't touch the sides, I asked the 'genius' what they would do for me if it was just the 'clicking' issue, he said they would still replace it.
 
After replacing my black glass with an OEM white version, I am happy to report that the clicking is now gone when squeezing the phone! The black glass piece was obviously the culprit, my guess is it had to do with the metal backing being glued on incorrectly and not allowing the 'clips' to fully engage.
 
I am on my second iPhone 4. I took my first one back because the bottom corner started clicking. Now, my new one has begun doing the same thing only much worse.

This is driving me crazy. The device, when new, feels so solid..but once the popping starts the glass feels so thin and flimsy.

I would like to know what is causing this. I think it is the glass warping from overheating. Mine gets too hot all the time.

Also...does anyone who is experiencing this issue put their phone into a harness or clamp? Like tom tom or an fm transmitter?
 
Someone I follow on Twitter recorded their iPhone doing the same thing. I just noticed mine doing it now as well. My pre-order iPhone never had this issue but the replacement I have now does. I just scheduled an appointment for tomorrow to get it replaced.

I popped out the SIM tray to see if it was that popping but the sound kept occurring. I'm not entirely sure what the exact cause of this is. It doesn't seem to be the adhesive on the glass but the actual back panel itself. Regardless, very annoying.
 
DeLoMan said:
They replaced the glass back or gave you a new phone? I'm hoping the clicking is merely the piece that is glued onto the glass back (that notices into the metal housing and holds the glass down.) When my white back comes in I will report back if the clicking is still present.

As annoying as the clicking is, I have NO proximity issues, NO dropped call issues, NO loss of signal, etc. So I think I'll live with the glass clicking instead of getting a refurb that could have a lot more problems! :D
Click to expand...

sorry i didn't answer this sooner, but they replaced my entire phone.

However, fast forward to now, and I'm getting more noise from my case.

Starting to hate my Iphone 4.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A400 Safari/6531.22.7)

calvy said:
DeLoMan said:
They replaced the glass back or gave you a new phone? I'm hoping the clicking is merely the piece that is glued onto the glass back (that notices into the metal housing and holds the glass down.) When my white back comes in I will report back if the clicking is still present.

As annoying as the clicking is, I have NO proximity issues, NO dropped call issues, NO loss of signal, etc. So I think I'll live with the glass clicking instead of getting a refurb that could have a lot more problems! :D
Click to expand...

sorry i didn't answer this sooner, but they replaced my entire phone.

However, fast forward to now, and I'm getting more noise from my case.

Starting to hate my Iphone 4.
Click to expand...

I just went in and here's what they did:

They took the back off of the iPhone and found something that possibly was loose. They tightened down a lot of things and made sure it looked good. I can tell you it feels a lot better now and isn't making the noise.
 
Well my camera lense starting clicking today whenever the camera was trying to autofocus, now the camera won't autofocus at all and all my close up shots come out blurry, I have an appointment with Apple next week, they will probably end up replacing it for me which I don't really want to happen because I've had this iPhone 4 since launch day and it had none of the other problems that people were talking about, it was perfect until this :(
 
No clicking sound on mine. It's the most solid-feeling piece of technology I've ever purchased. What threw me off the first time was the sound of the accelerometer clicking around when shifting the phone.
 
sheppy1 said:
Well my camera lense starting clicking today whenever the camera was trying to autofocus, now the camera won't autofocus at all and all my close up shots come out blurry, I have an appointment with Apple next week, they will probably end up replacing it for me which I don't really want to happen because I've had this iPhone 4 since launch day and it had none of the other problems that people were talking about, it was perfect until this :(
Click to expand...

My replacement only had the clicking noise and guess what...it's gone since they fixed it.
 
Clicking on my 32GB iPhone 4 has been getting worse and worse over the last 2 weeks of use. Today after seeing this thread I called Apple Care UK and they instantly told me to take it in to a store and get a replacement as it was a known issue.

Looks like maybe the White iPhone was the only one that wasn't quite ready for release...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back