iPhone home button not working? Well, don’t worry. Quite a lot of people have the very same problem. Something seems to go wrong and both the single and the double-click functionality of the home button seems to be totally lost. When this happens first, one is easily prompted to press harder. Sometimes people just thing it’s the hardware problem and that the home button is gone for good. This may not be the case most of the times.
The problem might occur because of two reasons – one, the software may be faulty and two – this is the worst case scenario – the hardware might be faulty. If it is the latter, you definitely need to go to the Apple Center and get a new iPhone. If the problem is with the software – which it mostly is – one needs to try out the following methods.
A problem with the software usually is set right when you do a restoration of the iPhone OS. You can either do a restore from the backup, or do a complete restore in case you have not much data to worry about. Restoring from the backup or from scratch lets you reconfigure all your software settings so that whatever it is that was bugging the home button on the iPhone would go away.
However, some people have reported that both the types of restore does not bring the intended results. In that case, you’ll need to follow some other method. Here’s one more method which seems to work in favor of some iPhones. You could try it too.
- Open any application on the iPhone
- Press and hold the Power button till the ‘Slide to Shutdown’ screen appears.
- Now release the Power button and gently hold the Home button.
- In all probability, your Home button would start functioning normally again!
In the case that it fails to do so even after all this, you’ll definitely need to check out the hardware part. If you have just recently bought the device, then you get a replacement warranty so you can make use of that to get a new device quickly.
Update
In case your iPhone home button has become less sensitive or is even broken, iOS 5 has come up with the great solution named ‘AssistiveTouch’ feature. Assistive Touch is one of the accessibility features in iOS 5 that can be served as a workaround, if your iPhone home button is broken.
How to Enable Assistive Touch to Access Home Button from Screen in iOS 5:
Got to Settings -> General -> Accessibility. Scroll down to bottom and tap on “AssistiveTouch” option. Set it ON to activate the option.
After setting AssistiveTouch to ON, you will see a transparent round button at the bottom right of the screen. Tap on that round button to bring the touch menu.
You will find the Home button option that works just like as the physical home button.
Hope, latest iOS 5 AssistiveTouch feature will bring the intended results.
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We had two guys at work with this problem, and this tip worked on both phones. Nicely done.
That’s really great… :)
A big thank you! It saved the phone!
yess. very nice solution dear. i have also problem with home botton of my iphone 4. and this tip is working on my iphone. Thaaaaaanks a lot dear.
Great fix!! But now how do I access my voicemail now? The button covers the voicemail icon and I cannot get my messages.
This button can be repositioned anywhere on the screen.
I opened it and adjusted the sensors up as stated on this youtube video and it is working normaly again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZOZp37ONKg
Hi, I have a problem in my Iphone 4. There is no option of assistive touch in my setting/accessibility. There is no box of Physical & Motor. Can you please help me to activate this option. Thanks and best regards.
Akhtar,
What’s iOS version running on your iPhone 4?
Pls i have the same problem with iPhone 4 and I use version 4.3.3. I don’t have iOS 5, how can I acces the assistive touch ?
You have to have at least iOS 5 to avail the assistive touch.
This also worked for me, now my reason for getting the iphone5 has gone :-((
That’s great, Rob
My iphone still does not work….but there’s no way it can be a hardware problem since I’ve never dropped my phone and take good care of it. Apple seriously needs to amp up their product and stop trying to bereave a profit out of us. For the prices I pay, I expect the product to be working properly. I have had this Iphone for only a few months…this is ridiculous.
Jonathan – All mechanical things will eventually wear out – why even the finest cars need mechanics! It’s a little tiny plastic mechanism made in China – need we say more?
” It’s a little tiny plastic mechanism made in China ” … yes, a tiny plastic mechanism installed into a phone that costs several hundred dollars: American Apple’s fault, not China’s.
He is true… just cause it was made in china its apple who funded the project to be made from cheap stuff and they actually made the factory there in order to cut their expenses
thank u so much……………….. you are a star….. I was about to open the piece to replace the hardware but power button trick really helped me out.. :)
That’s great Anik,
You are welcome… :)
That tip at the end about holding down the power button and then holding down the home button in-application worked! I’ve been going crazy with my home button not functioning properly for months now! I would literally press it 80 times before it responded. THANK YOU!!!
Erik,
You are welcome… :)
This is great! its work on my iphone 4. Thanks a lot!
RJ Lorenzo,
That’s really awesome…. :)
thanks buddy. It works fine for me too. I was thinking about posting my phone to a apple service but, it worked well. But i couldn’t understand how it works. it seemed as a hardware-mechanical problem. i need to press hard and need to press two-three times to get it work.
thanks :)
So glad I came across this article. Don’t wanna jinx myself but everything seems to be working so far. Saved me from ruining my phone by mashing the home button for 10 minutes.
The second tip to hold the power button and then the home button worked like a charm for me. I took it in to the Apple store and the “genius” who helped me said that since the phone was out of warranty, there would be a $150 fee for a replacement. You just saved me $150
Thank you – thank you – thank you!!! I bow to you. It did work indeed. Thanks.
The only thing that worked for me was to push the USB connection slightly upward and inward at the same time.. You’ll hear a click sound and voila- it should be working great.. It’s asif the home button becomes stuck in the depressed position and by pushing the connection upward and inward at the same time it seems to pop the home button back up.. If that makes sense.. Hope it works for you!! Ive been going crazy trying different things.. The ^above^ is the only thing that fixed it!!
This worked for me as well! thank you so much for sharing! My phone is over a year old (and unlocked) so I was not going to be able to take it to apple to be fixed.
What did you use to push in and up the USB connection? I’m afraid to damage the contacts and then the USB won’t work anymore.
What jessi said is absolutely correct and I’m able to solve my problem of home button immediately by just pressing the USB other end in upward direction thanks a lot jessi
This work for me also.. Thanks Jessigirl.. This is great !!!
The USB trick did it for me too – couldn’t get the other solution to work at all, but this one did! TY!
yes! what did you use to push the connection?? im trying a bobby pin and a paperclip but its not working yet :/
Jessigirl’s solution worked for me and it seems definitely a hardware issue. The work around is great, though, to enable assistive touch. I think I understand now that the home button is just sticking.
Thank you Jessiegirl, this had been bugging me for months and it FINALLY seems to be fixed!
this is the only thing that worked and I found this tip last!!!
Your tip worked! Thanks :) !!!
You’re Welcome
If you update to iOS5, there is a section from settings to general to accessibility. From accessibility, turn on assistive touch. This will enable you to just use gestures (similar to the Activator app in a jailbroken iPhone) to simulate the use of the Home button plus other functions.I do not have to use my faulty Home button anymore. Yeah!!
I’m so impressed that the first search I did about this problem solved it!!!! ( at least for now ) Thank You!!!!
Wow, thank you! Tried the very last suggestion first and it worked!!!! It’s magic!!
Hey, I’m trying to do this but it’s noy working for me. I’m not sure about the order of pushing the buttons. I press power until ‘slide to unlock’ pops up and then release and hold the home button. Is something supposed to happen now? Because it just stays on the slide to unlock screen and nothing is fixed. :(
Where’s the donations button? ;)
Hey everyone, I had the same problem and looked everywhere to try and fix it. My home button would only work if I pressed really hard. It drove me nuts and was actually starting to hurt my thumb.! I saw something on the web and it worked! This will work for you, no joke.
Turn off your phone
Get a Q-tip and soak the cotton in rubbing alcohol.
Clean the home button really well (all around the round edges)
I had this problem for months and this worked for me!!!
@Adam thank you for that suggestion re Assistive Touch, I didn’t know about this before. I activated it and now uses it instead of my faulty Home button, quite a very useful update indeed. I’ve tried the other suggestions, i.e. the USB and the recalibration, but found to have the same problem again after some time. I’m glad I always read through the comments section. :)
Love it. Worked for me!
I don’t know how to thank you. Thanks so much. I was going mad since my home button was not working. I was planning to buy a new IPhone today till I discovered your hint. You saved me a ton of money:)
That’s really great…. :)
Thank you for the Assistive Touch info – like Bea none of the other fixes seemed to work for my dead home button. The button was acting up on me but I think I really killed it when the phone fell in the toilet today. OOPS.
Great tip!
actually I’ve got a way to solve the problem if you are not on iOS 5. Firstly you have to set a pass code for your iPhone. Then whenever you wanna switch between apps or press “home”, lock your phone (pressing the power button) and then slide to unlock. You will come to the pass code screen where you are asked to enter the pass. DO NOT PRESS ANYTHING YET. Press ” emergency call” at the bottom left corner and the back arrow. Then you can key in your pass and you’ll be back at the home screen!!!
Note: you won’t be able to clear running apps by that method. Your power button might get faulty after some time.
“Blue,”
EXCELLENT “emergency call” TIP!! Works like a charm with no hoops to jump through. YOU’RE A GENIUS!!! Truly can’t thank you enough!!
Thank you SOOO much for posting about the Assistive Touch!!! I tried everything you suggested in your post and nothing worked for me. I even tried everything mentioned on the apple.com boards. My home button works like a few times a day and thats it. Assistive Touch is a great alternative!
use this fix
http://www.tipb.com/2011/01/04/tipb-bug-home-button-working-iphone/
“none of that worked for me or my friends but i found something that does work and has worked ever since. take your iphone cable and plug it into the bottom of your phone. no need to plug into the computer. now grip the part right where it is plugged into the phone and slightly bend it up towards the screen…just a little…bam guaranteed to work!!! use at your own risk cause i’m not responsible if you break anything. “
Thanks for the these tips! The power button > home button trick fixed my issue! Much appreciated!
This has worked for me. And just wanted to say THANK YOU! For this post! Saved me $149! Went to the supposed “genius bar” at Apple nd the morons there told me to purchase a new phone or I would have to keep rebooting my phone! I’m trying to figure out if they r really morons? Or trying to rip all of us off?! The best part is the guy said this issue is common! And yet they couldn’t teach me this????
This was the best page on the subject. Thank you very much. The first suggestion didn’t help but the Assistive button is a gem. Peace again!
Cheers,
Yvonne.
Very bad problem whit such costly mob ,about all iphone4 users are facing this problem of home button
Wasn’t sure if it was the new update, or dropping my phone in my coffee cup, but the home button hasn’t worked in a week. Now with the assistant button, i have a home again.
Thanks
Hi it’s works for a while then back again to home button malfunction . What am I gonna do?
Solved the – home button not working – problem on my iphone 4 with iOS 5 using the tip on power button/home button steps. Thanx a ton. At the same time noticed that a small paper piece was jammed up in the connector slot, which I removed. Not sure whether this could have contributed to the issue.
Cheers for that. Has worked for me so far.
Thank you so much! I suspect my intermittent home button problems are humidity related (hard to avoid in the deep south). Your tip on the assistance button saved my day today and I’m sure in the future.
THANK YOU! My darling granddaughter (1 3/4 yrs) loves mt phone and perhaps the damp sticky teensy fingers are not good for iPhones or else the home button SUCKS but the accessibility feature has saved my sanity and we can play Elmo calls once more or rather a million times more lol
Thank you for this .i tried the first tip and after nearly 6 months of hammering my home key it now works first time !!
Good work fellas
Dan,
That’s really great.
Cheers!
The click thing , near the charging port worked for me
Thanks to all ur suggestions
wow…”In all probability, your Home button would start functioning normally again!”
amazing… and i considered myself a techie haha no more frustration with the home button!
Thank you I use your method with alcohole and worked perfectly
Thank u again
Thank you.
It worked with my iphone
My friend had this issue and she paid $200 bucks to get it fixed. Thought I might have to do the same until I came across this site. Thanks for the tip :)
That’s really awesome to know that we could help you to save some bucks.
The power/home button just worked for me and another colleague. Amazing and thanks for the quick fix.
This Tip was PERFECT!!! I let the home button repair in next week, but so i can work…:-)))
THANK YOU!!!
Ya,,,that power button trick worked for me too, as far as I can tell. Only problem was that since my home button only worked intermittently (at best) it took me a while to get it to respond on the first try to I could do the trick.
So why didn’t the “hipster geniuses” at the Apple store ever try this? I’m beginning to suspect they aren’t actually MENSA-qualified.
The pushing in dock connector pin hard did the trick for me. However when I pushed it in towards the screen and down at the same time (instead of up as mentioned) I achieved greater responsive home button. Many thanks for this. Now my button is working 95 out of 100 times.
The pushing in dock connector pin hard did the trick for me. However when I pushed it in towards the screen and down at the same time (instead of up as mentioned) I achieved greater responsive home button. Many thanks for this.
oh at last i can use my phone – the tip for the assited touch has worked – it was driving me CRAZY – thank you!!!
That’s great Ali,
Cheers… :)
It’s a great idea!!!
Thank you!
Thanks for posting the assisted touch suggestion, saved me from buying a new phone :-)
Legendary tip for Assisted Touch -my iPhone4 now WORKS!!!!!!!!
Thank you!
i tried this but my button still as no response what do i do plz help :(
Thanks so much!!!! I thought I was going to live without the home button on my iPhone 4s. It works perfectly!
Thank you so much, iPhone4S new out of the box had this problem. I was nearly driven up a wall after 3 weeks. This worked on the second try thank you.
wow, after months of frustration, fixed issue in 5 seconds – hands down best tip ever – all I had to do was first step – open app, hold power, push home….. worked immediately! thanks so much!!!
have to say that the assisted touch is wonderful face, wish I could get the others to work
So far so good! Thank you for the awesome tip!
Try this alternative – works every time for me:
Double click the home button until you get the Icon tray to come up (the screen will slide up and you’ll see all the running apps in the icon tray). Each app that is running in the background on your phone will appear with a minus sign to close that app. Click the minus sign on every app until the tray is empty. Your home button should start working again.
I think the problem is that apps don’t close any more on the new multi-tasking o/s and so the longer you use the phone the more apps end up running at the same time in the background. The home button then becomes ‘sluggish’ because the phone is trying to run so many apps at the same time. It’s a bit like a PC with 15 spreadsheets open and 20 word documents open at the same time and 30 websites – it can’t keep up!
While Iphonebuddy’s solution was truly GREAT, I found this alternative worked for my too! Thanks Ade-Now my Home button works EVERY TIME!
JN
Sorry I meant–’worked for me too!’
Alchol on a qtip and makeup pad worked for me. Power button option did not.
Held phone down to keep alchol from wicking up. Turn of power and cleaned home button. Did not remove screen protector. Must have had some dirt under edge of home button preventing it’s proper function.
My iphone 4s home button is not working, when i press it, the button does not work properly. I have to press it multiple times to get beck to the home screen. It s been just 2 months i have brought it and this problem has started. How ridiculous is it. having problems in a new phone. that to very costly…
i cannot take the print screen, as my home button is not working. i have tried it lot many times but the home button is not working simultaneously with the power button. Home button is working individually but both the home button and the power button are not working simultaneously. I cannot take any screen print anymore.
My son dropped mine in the toilet, so I knew it was hardware. Everything miraculously still worked – except the home button. Someone suggested above a Q-tip and it gave me the idea to use compressed air. So I took about 120psi to it and I blew out around the button and the plug for about 30 seconds. I’m not sure if it was water, lint or poo in there, but it’s working like a charm now. I know I’ve had issues with it before, when perspiration got on it while in my pocket. So the air compressor will now be my go-to tool.
thank you a million times for posting this. I would have gone out to buy another phone or at least looked to see if I could get the button fixed at the Genius bar. Now I can get by until my upgrade is due in August! Still not happy my home button is not working but at least its not the end of the world and I’m still very much happy with my iPhone I’ve had it two years this summer and it gets a lot of use so I’m not surprised the button went my partner’s iphone is just as old but he doesnt use it as much as I use mine.
The alcohol thing works perfect for me. with the help of a little hyssop go round and round the button just to let the alcohol get inside de phone. and now the button works perfect. So sensitive… a simple light touch and it works instantly.
For months and months Until few minutes ago, I had to press the button several times and very hard to make it work but now works like new. THANK YOU SO MUCH
PLEASE HELP ME my home button does not work even though I follow each step you wrote about how to fix it. It doesnt work even when I press it hard i know it has nothing to do with the button itself i think is something in the iphone . Also if is helpful for you toknow in order to help me the voice control continuously appears on the screen of my iphone and close any application I’m using and calls and puts the music without me telling it to do it. It got fixed by itself several times but then again it continuous getting broke and im tired and really frustrated because of these things happening to my brand new iphone plz help :’(
how to open siri feature through this function? I am touching the home button twice but it’s not working.Can anyone help me please ?
The iphone tip with the power button and holding the home button really worked for my iphone 4 as well! thank you so muck for your help!!
I am so thankful I found this article today. I have been dying without my home buttom working- sooo frustrating! The accesibilty thing is awesome. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kassandra,
It’s really awesome that you found solution for your iPhone home button on our site.
Cheers… :)
Works Great. Thank you!
Amazing work! thanks guys
Clearly there’s an issue if apple is suggesting turn on the assisted touch feature as a “last resort”. Not impressed by their willingness to waste users time in reinstalling the OS. My solution will be to switch to android in a month when my telco contract expires. Rediculous!
this happened to my 2 ipod touch (first was replaced under warranty), and iphone 3gs.
the home button is the most overused mechanical part on iphones, thats why it just breaks down after a while.
the alcohol thing is only temporary fix. worked for my 3gs for one day, home button was like new, then went back to being unresponsive even worse.
now i’m having second thoughts upgrading to 4s because of this issue, thinking of just going with the laggy android superphones.
tip: i’m using quickdo (download from cydia), i have now a virtual home button, like a small bar at the bottom screen, i set double tap or hold to simulate home button click
yeah, i think thats why they’ve added virtual button option in IOS5, coz apple is aware of the home button issue.
My home button is not working, so i used the assistive touch feature… However the gestures froze my screen and the only way to fix it is a hard reset, which involves the home button, which as i mentioned before, does not work. Is there anything that I can do?
Hey this happened to my ipod 4th gen do you have any ideas how to fix it?
My home button has stopped working, and the assisted touch works wonderfully! The only problem I’m having is that it’s like my home button is constantly held down so the voice control keeps coming up and randomly calling people in my contacts. How can deactivate my voice control so that I can just use the assisted touch and not home button. PLEASE help!!
Thanks! Excellent article!
After a little panic on realising my Home button was no longer working I tried all the suggestions apart from a restore.
The Accesibility fix is a great back up, actually fixed by inserting a USB cable and wiggling it around… Thank you all. :-)
Good stuff !
Aloha and Mahalo. What a life, sanity and money saver you are. The assistive touch WORKED.
You saved me a trip down to Apple store, Just wanted to thank you so much!!!
This works a treat!
Open a default iOS application, such as Stocks, Calculator, or Weather
Press and hold down the Power button until the “Slide to Power Off” dialog appears, then release
Now press and hold the Home button until the “Slide to Power Off” screen disappears, force quitting the application
Why this works to fix the buttons responsiveness isn’t entirely clear, because the procedure actually just force quits the application you launched in the first step. This procedure supposedly recalibrates the Home button. Whatever is going on behind the scenes, it does seem to work and definitely has made mine seem to respond quicker. Good luck
The solution worked great! Thanks! Appreciate it. Will share the solution/tip to others.
Amazing… After months and months of almost put my phone into hundreds of pieces, i was thinking to buy a new one from apple for that 150$ but i was just frustrated because i never dropped the phone or any damage to it and i didn’t understand why that problem with the home buton. However after i read this great post, i tried air with pressure and then alcohol cleaning and then the usb trick… And with those 3 things everything is better than the day i bought the phone. Thank you very much for everything and not only because of the money was the problem, more than frustration i had with the phone and how angry i was when i needed that stupid buton :)
Another fan of your fixes here. Haven’t totally restored my home button to ‘as new’ condition (and I don’t have iOS 5) but the other fixes have certainly improved its operability (and hopefully stopped me from getting RSI in thumb’s first joint!).
This page was my last resort after visiting the not so helpful Apple shop, followed by the even-less-helpful Apple Authorised Service Rep (only one in my city) who said get a new iPhone.
Why doesn’t Apple train their staff to be just a little bit helpful in the ‘fixing things up’ department, surely they’d get more repeat buyers???
Thank you so much for the advice… Now I still have a phone
If none of these tips are working, try getting a pin and clearing out where the charger connects. sounds gross but it can get clogged with fluff from pockets. Know a few people that have done this, including myself and it has worked. Just be careful not to damage the phone!
That worked perfectly – I thought my phone was about to die – thanks heaps for that info :)
holding home button down worked for me! awesome!