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Dropped my phone in a hot tub at 2 ft for 2-3 seconds. foolishly did not power off and dry out after. now phone states that it cannot activate touch ID. It doesn’t say anything about home button needs to be replaced like some error messages ive seen. Is there any troubleshooting I can do other than restore and check all the connections inside? Apple wont recalibrate the home button to the device since the moisture sensors reacted. I have the virtual home button up just want to see if there’s any other steps I can try. can a new home button be installed without the touch ID feature?
The iPhone 7 is water resistant and probably should have survived such a short and shallow exposure. However, the heat of the hot tub probably caused issues with the adhesive used to seal the device. If the Home Button has failed, then only Apple authorized service centres can pair a new button to your logic board. It’s certainly worth a try to go to an Apple store (if available in your location) and see what they can do and how much they charge.
You can do it yourself, follow the ifixit guide. However.. make sure you have the latest version of iOS, beaware of error 53.
