The iPhone 5 "Thud" **Confirmed cause and solution**

[UCF Sam]

New out of the box my iPhone 5 had something loose that would make a thud when moving the phone from side to side. I opened it up and discovered that the battery was not firmly pressed into its adhesive. After pressing down the battery the iPhone is solid and silent, hopefully it remains this way, but I have my doubts since the adhesive was exposed to air while the battery was not firmly attached.

As most people do not have the tools to perform this repair, a pentalobe screwdriver, I recommend bringing the phone to your local genius bar for repair.

I made a video showing the before and after. You'll probably have to turn up your volume pretty loud to hear it, but its was very audible in real life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHoH-RnNr4w

People talking about it on the apple support forums.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4324527?start=0&tstart=0

Another thread on macrumors that I made when I first discovered the problem... I wanted to start a new one with a better title.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1449677/

 

[iHelios]

Did you try heating up the adhesive?

 

[UCF Sam]

Did you try heating up the adhesive?

To make it stick better? No, it felt pretty secure after pushing the battery down... Hopefully it stays, I was considering adding a little piece of double sided tape otherwise. I had an appointment tomorrow with the genius bar, but honestly the phone is perfect beside this, so I think I'm just going to cancel and hang on to it.

 

[PommeDeTerre]

Did you try heating up the adhesive?

You should definitely not attempt to heat up any part of an electronic device-especially those containing a battery.

That being said, a two part epoxy would seal the deal- I'm impressed you opened it up and found the culprit. I thought only I was crazy enough to do my own repairs...

Apple would of course replace the phone, but I'm guessing you don't want to wait in the consistent 400 person line ups at every store

 

[UCF Sam]

You should definitely not attempt to heat up any part of an electronic device-especially those containing a battery.

That being said, a two part epoxy would seal the deal- I'm impressed you opened it up and found the culprit. I thought only I was crazy enough to do my own repairs...

Apple would of course replace the phone, but I'm guessing you don't want to wait in the consistent 400 person line ups at every store

Heh, Yeah I probably shouldn't have opened it, but I was more interesting in seeing what was causing the noise than anything else. I had the pentalobe around from an iPhone 4 back replacement and a suction cup from a 3GS screen replacement, so I went for it. I'm guessing when word gets out around the genius bar, assuming this is a common problem, the geniuses will do the same type fix rather than replacing.

 

[markrivers]

So far, well it's less than 1 day.
i haven't encountered THIS problem.
But for the other members, i suggest a quick trip to the Genius Bar instead of a DIY.
it's still covered by warranty ( 1 full year)
and 2 years if you purchased the apple care plus.

opening it, well that will terminate the 1 year warranty that you have.

 

[chris2k5]

My iPhone 5 has a rattle when I shake it.

It turns out to be the sleep/wake button on top. Is this normal?

 

[powerbookmedic]

Here's another YouTube video that documents the loose battery problem as well as a potential fix that doesn't involve opening up the phone:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28v9f9xBcDo