iPhone 5: non-functioning proximity sensor

[D.T.]

We picked up our iP5s a couple of weeks ago, mine has been perfect (outstanding devices), and I thought the wife's was fine, but I didn't until recently notice her display is +not+ turning off during phone calls (she was on a call and kept turning on the speaker phone, hahaha...)

Anyway, I did soft/hard resets, did a full factory restore to 6.0.2 via iTunes (she was initially setup using the backup from her iPhone 4).

Even pulled back the top of her screen protector to confirm is wasn't affecting the sensor (though if it was blocking it, I'd kind of assume it would turn it on all the time), at any rate, that didn't fix it either.

Figuring it's just a bad sensor, and we just need a phone swap, setup a GBar appointment for Wed, figured they'll just swap it out. We actually purchased these through BestBuy, but figured the replacement would be easier through the Apple Store. They were purchase on Jan 15th, though I think with a defect like this, it's kind of irrelevant since we just wanted it fixed/replaced.

OK, all that being said: is there anything else I could try? Figured since we'll have the phone for a couple of more days, if I could resolve this myself, it would save us the trip.

 

[grapes911]

You could try a DFU restore but I doubt that it will make a difference. I'm guessing it's a bad sensor.

 

[eyoungren]

We picked up our iP5s a couple of weeks ago, mine has been perfect (outstanding devices), and I thought the wife's was fine, but I didn't until recently notice her display is turning off during phone calls (she was on a call and kept turning on the speaker phone, hahaha...)

Anyway, I did soft/hard resets, did a full factory restore to 6.0.2 via iTunes (she was initially setup using the backup from her iPhone 4).

Even pulled back the top of her screen protector to confirm is wasn't affecting the sensor (though if it was blocking it, I'd kind of assume it would turn it on all the time), at any rate, that didn't fix it either.

Figuring it's just a bad sensor, and we just need a phone swap, setup a GBar appointment for Wed, figured they'll just swap it out. We actually purchased these through BestBuy, but figured the replacement would be easier through the Apple Store. They were purchase on Jan 15th, though I think with a defect like this, it's kind of irrelevant since we just wanted it fixed/replaced.

OK, all that being said: is there anything else I could try? Figured since we'll have the phone for a couple of more days, if I could resolve this myself, it would save us the trip.

Not sure I understand this. The screen is supposed to go off when you hold the phone up to your ear. The proximity sensor is used for that. When you remove the phone from your ear (such as to use the keypad) the screen should switch back on. The idea is to limit battery consumption. If the screen was always on during a call when you don't need it on then you would be using battery power during the entire call just to power the screen for no reason.

Or did you mean the screen will go off and stay off during a call even when the phone is not against her ear?

 

[D.T.]

Sorry, edited the original post, it's NOT turning off, ever, even covering the sensor up completely with a finger. Also not working to activate Siri, or with a couple of apps that use the sensor.

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You could try a DFU restore but I doubt that it will make a difference. I'm guessing it's a bad sensor.

Cool, doing it now, can't hurt Especially since the phone was already wiped and backed up.

 

[Brian Y]

Easy way of checking is to hold the phone up to a webcam - if you see a light, it's most likely software. If you see no light, the sensor itself isn't working.

 

[D.T.]

Cool, doing it now, can't hurt Especially since the phone was already wiped and backed up.

No luck, I guess we'll get it sorted out on Wednesday ... plus we're going to hit up J. Alexanders (delicious restaurant) so making it a date night

Easy way of checking is to hold the phone up to a webcam - if you see a light, it's most likely software. If you see no light, the sensor itself isn't working.

Interesting. It's actually visible on both phones (the working and the non-working devices).

 

[grapes911]

I didn't think that would work. Good luck on Wednesday.

 

[D.T.]

Wound up rescheduling for this past Saturday.

Short version:

"Did you try a restore?"

"Yes, even, did a DFU restore."

"OK, cool, let me boot it up to check it ... did you backup?"

"I did, we're good to go, even reset everything to factory"

"Yep, it's bad"

10 minutes later (we started talking about iPhone development ), we're out of the store with a new, fully functional phone.