iPhone 5 sliding button problem, and a workaround

The sliders often don't work on the iPhone 5. Here's a workaround

When you get a new iPhone there are a lot features to turn on and off as you customize the device to your liking, most all of which are controlled using sliding on/off buttons similar to the iPhone's iconic swipe-to-unlock feature. Problem is, the sliders often don't work on the iPhone 5.

iPhone 5: How does it stack up?

We've tested four devices in the office and everyone of them suffered this glitch. When you go into settings, for example, to specify which notifications you want on or off, you get a list of options for everything from messages to reminder, calendar, weather, mail, etc. If you want to have the phone get your attention when something pops in one of these applications, you slide the button from off to on.

That usually seems to work. But if you change your mind and want to turn it off again, good luck. Many times the slider simply refuses to acknowledge your finger swipe. If you do it two, three, four, five times, you might get lucky and get the device's attention.

At first we assumed this was a problem with one phone, so we went hunting through the office for others, and sure enough the next one displayed the same problem. OK, it could still be a fluke, so we looked for more. After reviewing four phones, each of which displayed the same annoying problem, we concluded this endemic.

But we also discovered a workaround. One user said he hadn't happened upon the problem because he doesn't slide the sliders, he taps on the on or off word. Sure enough, that seems to work.

So, until Apple fixes this glitch, tap instead of slide and you can customize that shiny new device in a heartbeat.

Read more about anti-malware in Network World's Anti-malware section.

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