Amp up the stay-alive feature
Slide into the Settings → Display and you’ll find a feature called Stay-Alive or Stay-Awake. This is the total duration of the phone’s screen stays alive without any touch. You can jack it up to 30 minutes which is the max on all smartphones after which, you’ll just have to tap on the screen once every 30 minutes to keep it active for next 30 minutes.
Turn on Always-on Display
Although not every smartphone has this feature but you can really use this feature if you have it. The feature doesn’t allow the screen to completely turn off which means you can simply tap or double tap on the screen to fire it up and that’s it.
Setup alarms
Using the stay-alive feature can be irritating as it requires you to constantly tap on the screen every half an hour even when you are not using it. But on the other hand, since your phone’s screen is already turned on, you can set up alarms on your device at a different interval. The alarms will go off thereby light up the screen just when you want it to fire up. You can combine these and the method described under ‘Case 2’ to get around the phone without a working power button.
Scheduled turn ON/OFF
This trick will help save battery life which giving you an edge over the power button not working problem. You can set it up during the nighttime when you aren’t available to provide stimuli after every 30 minutes or you fear of losing precious battery life over keeping the phone on Always-On screen. You can use this feature to trigger the phone to restart itself while also checking if some temporary glitch might not have caused this issue after all.
Case 02: If the phone is locked/screen OFF
Although not that difficult but you can still use a phone without a working power button if it is turned on irrespective of the screen is off or not.
Ask someone to call/text you
You know that the phone’s screen lights up when receiving a call or text message. You can use this function to your leverage by asking someone to call you or use another phone if you have to call yourself. This will give you a window within which you can access the phone without a working power button.
Plug it to a charger
To turn on the screen, simply jack up the phone to a charger and turn on the power and you’ll see that the screen is lit. Since this might not be a handy solution, you can use these alternatives such as by connecting the phone to a power bank or a laptop to jack up its screen.
Fingerprint scanner
If you have one on your phone, a broken power button wouldn’t be a problem since phones with FPS usually unlock and turn on the screen by recognizing the fingerprint which is as simple as it gets.
Case 03: If the phone is switched OFF
This is kinda tricky because there are no other ways to switch on a smartphone without pressing the power button. Irrespective of what phone you use, you might have received a CD containing PC Suite or you can download it from the internet or use ADB tools to reboot the phone using the computer. Another trick that might work is to connect the phone to a charger and check if it turns on or not which is not the case in most smartphones.
Google Play Store has millions of apps available to be downloaded with free, paid, and in-app purchase options. Well, if you search for a broken power button, a result containing apps that can act as alternate power button even though the physical button has damaged or faulty.
One such app is ‘Power button to Volume button’ which is exactly what it sounds like. The app transfers functionality such as turning on the screen and turning it off to a volume button. Similarly, Gravity Screen and Proximity Actions work with the help of sensors that allow the user to lock and unlock the phone using the app they had installed.
Not to extend this blog where you might have gone through a plethora of methods listed above, the best solution is to walk-in to a nearby authorized service center and report the issue. Whatever it is, you can expect your phone in perfect working condition on the given delivery date or if the problem isn’t that severe, you can just wait and collect the device with a working power button the same day but this includes paying a premium if not covered by warranty.
