Selling an iPhone that will not turn on: what you need to know

An iPhone that will not turn on is worth far less than one that will, so before you sell it as dead, spend ten minutes finding out whether it actually is. A surprising number of dead iPhones are just deeply flat or frozen.

First, charge it properly: a known good cable, a wall charger rather than a laptop, and thirty full minutes before you judge anything. A completely flat battery can show nothing at all for the first ten. Second, force restart it: press and release volume up, press and release volume down, then hold the side button until the Apple logo appears, up to twenty seconds. Third, try a different cable and socket entirely, because charging cables fail far more often than phones do.

If it wakes up, everything changes: it is now a faulty phone rather than a dead one, our calculator will price it, and cracked glass or a tired battery still leaves it worth real money. Switch off Find My while it is awake, because you cannot do that once it dies again.

If it stays dead, we are honest about it: we cannot buy a phone that will not power on, because we cannot verify what is wrong with it or erase it to standard. It can still do some good though. Our Phones for Football programme with Newbury United FC takes phones in any state, sends you a prepaid envelope, and turns them into support for grassroots football.