iPhone XS — mic2: Power button flex
High confidenceVerified sourceMissing sensor
On the iPhone XS, mic2 means: Power button flex (secondary microphone, flash side).
What does this code mean?
Watchdog panic: thermalmonitord no longer receives readings from the “mic2” sensor (secondary rear microphone), carried by the power button / flash flex; with no news from it for ~3 minutes, iOS restarts the iPhone, in a loop as long as the sensor stays missing.
Which part to test first?
Inspect the power button flex (pry marks near the connector, tears), test with a known-good flex, then diode mode on the connector.
The same code on other models
- iPhone SE (2nd generation)Power button flex
- iPhone 12 Pro MaxPower button flex
- iPhone 12 ProPower button flex
- iPhone 12 miniPower button flex
- iPhone 12Power button flex
- iPhone 11 Pro MaxPower button flex
- iPhone 11 ProPower button flex
- iPhone 11Power button flex
- iPhone XS MaxPower button flex
- iPhone XRPower button flex
Field cases
Did you repair one? Tell us what worked: it improves the database for everyone.
Sources
- iFixit – iPhone Kernel Panics (tableau « Watchdog Timeout Thermalmonitord Missing Sensor ») ↗
- Song, Yang, Lee et al. – A study on the recovery of damaged iPhone hardware exhibiting panic full phenomena, DFRWS APAC 2025 / FSI: Digital Investigation 54 (2025) 301980 – Tableau 5 (débranchement de modules) ↗
- Repair Wiki – How To Fix an iPhone 11 That Randomly Restarts (copie Wayback Machine 2026-03-20) ↗
- Repair Wiki – How To Fix an iPhone 11 Pro That Randomly Restarts (copie Wayback Machine 2026-02-18) ↗
- iFixit Answers – iPhone 11, mic2 résolu par le connecteur Lightning ↗