iPhone 4 Home button issue...

I don't think it is a hardware problem. It is too intermittent. It drives me crazy, it works well for long periods than doesn't. I am hoping the next software update will fix it.

Hate to break it to you, but it's almost certainly a hardware issue. The mechanical contacts of the home button switch don't seem to be very reliable, they're apparently prone to dust getting inside, and also seem susceptible to contact bounce. The fact that it's an intermittent problem points to the hardware in this case, not the software.

In addition, once I swapped out my problematic phone with a replacement from the Genius, the problem disappeared completely (well, for now). And, I've restored with my original data and settings. Almost surely points to the button.

Hello everyone...

I have some insight into this issue... my background is that I repair iPhones for a living. I have repaired over 300 iPhone 4s since they came out, and have seen over 500 iPhone 4s come through with non-mechanical issues.

I have replaced the home button flex cable for various clients, i'm guessing, about 10 times. Out of those 10, maybe two or three have the same issue you are having. To ammend this comment, my personal iPhone 4 has the same issue, and replaced my ribbon cable thinking this was the issue, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that it is NOT necessarily a hardware issue, and did not fix mine (or the other iPhon4 4s) with the same issue.

I have attempted restores and much much more but here's what I have found:

- When the iPhone is low(er) in available memory, the problem surfaces more and more.
- When the iPhone is download, streaming, or 'busy' doing something such as some of the higher-resolution graphic apps (such as the new REMOTE app, and the newly downloaded graphics for Fragger to name a few), the iPhone is enormously slower to response, esp with the home button command.
- I believe that the issue is related to available (or the lack of availability of) remaining memory and high intensity graphics.

I hope this helps! If anyone (despite these comments) still wishes to get an iPhone 4 Home Button Flex replaced, I can provide this service for you. http://www.griffinconcepts.com/?cat=repair&device=iPhone_4 | While it's not a selectable 'repair' listed on my site, you can still request this service through the contact page. Due to the time and delicacy of this repair and the removal of the screen, we charge $75 for parts and labor. Turnaround time is approximately 24hrs, or within two hours if you need your iPhone 4 repaired in Springfield, MO.

Dan Griffin
Griffin Media Concepts
GriffinConcepts.com
SpringfieldiPhoneRepair.com


I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link. <Edited by Host>

Hi Everybody,
I have read all the problems with the home button and I am another one in the list with this issue.
It is frustrating and psychologically is affecting me, cause when I need to use my phone do not respond, so I am pressing the home button every 15 minutes to awake the mobile.
When is dead the iphone do not receive phone calls or text, neither.
I have read a lot of forums regarding this problem and we are almost 10.000 users with this problem.
My question is: People from Apple are aware of this? or they just simply don´t care?
I am thinking if I send the iPhone 4 for replacement or just wait the software update to 4.2
If somebody can give light to this problem the world will appreciate.
Thank you very much

Message was edited by: Dr. Norberto

If you have home button issues, it has nothing to do with the software. as it is a hardware. It is better for you to get it replaced instead of waiting for the 4.2, as the software will and probably not fix the home button issue.

It is possible that somehow a foreign object got in there or there is some bad wiring.

I have the same problems, There are two issues that I can see, I can reproduce on of them, but not the other.

1) Phantom double taps. I get the multitask menu/music controls intermittently, at roughly the intervals others have indicated (5% of the time or so). I cannot reproduce this problem, I'm running 4.1, I don't sync very often (every week or couple weeks)

2) (Reproducable) Unresponsive home button taps. Like others have implied, this appears (to me) to be a hardware issue that I can reproduce. Looking at the home button like a clock face, if I take a fingernail and press at the 12:00 and 6:00 positions on the very edge of the button, I get failures more often than successes. Note that this is not true for the 9/3 o'clock positions, they appear to make contact.

So, on my phone, it appears that the top and bottom of the button has poor contacts. It's not very hard to guess that sometimes I press the button closer to the top or bottom of the circle, in the "grey area" between the center of the button and the very top/bottom edges.

Referring back to what dgriff80 said a few posts back, I'm hoping he is right. If he replaced the suspect hardware and the problem still persists maybe it is indeed a software/memory problem. If Apple is aware of the problem, and have a feeling that they are, maybe iOS 4.2 will resolve the issue. If it doesn't then I guess I'll take the next step.

Thank you for your response. I am sure that is not a hardware problem.
I will tell you what I saw when the home button is not responding.
1) When I enter in a place with WiFi and is switching between 3G and WiFi the button start to fail more often.
2) I did a full reset (at least 3 times) and leave the iPhone by default and the problem with the non responding button disappeared.
3) When I placed the back up the problem start again, so is not hardware problem
4) Now, somebody told me to put in off the location services and the bluetooth and by the moment is responding well
Hope somebody can add more light to this issue

Damm i gettin quite frequently as day goes by n it's really ****** me off. Gonna goin down to my telecom there n check with them!

I started to experiance this exact same issue, the home button started to not repond as reliably as before, when pressing the upper half of the button it failed about 70% of the time.

I booked in an appointment with a Genius at my local Apple retail store, he took one look at it and agreed there was an issue. Apparently because of the way the iPhone 4 is assembled they just issue a replacement intstead of attempting to repair it. I did a full restore and still no signs of the issue reappearing on this replacment at present.

This problem with the home button is involving more iphone 4 users and nobody from Apple has any idea about the cause.
I can tell something about my own research. I placed in off the location service and the problem disappeared and when I put on again the problem starts once again.
I am still thinking if I will go for the replacement or wait until the release of the 4.2
Could anybody tell me if when got the replacement iPhone the issue with the button was solved
I will appreciate you answers

Happen the same to me. Exactly like you described. The point is that the delay is sometimes 6 seconds to awake. I am sorry but in my case is getting worse

I went down today and guess wat 1 of the telecom which was starhub in singapore,keep on tryin to get rid of me cuz when the time,he tried to test which seem to be fine at tat moment! I was so fustrated that i told him the problem happen randomly and it gettin worse! He juz keep on tellin me to try if cannot then come back! I told him it had happen for few month back. I was so fed up with his reply and i keep on insist tat there was a problem so he told me he put me on reservation cause there was no more stock of ip4 currently and i need to wait 4 to 6 weeks! What a wasted trips for me and my friend and i dun live near there! Grrr!One thing was ttat when we step out tat stupid starhub HQ,e problem was back again!

I've been reading about the home button delay problems, thanking the stars that my new iPhone 4 didn't have it. Well...

After purchasing BatteryDoctor and doing my first full cycle charge, my home button started acting wonky! Non-registering presses, double taps count as a single press, severe delay in activation. I couldn't believe it! I immediately killed BatteryDoctor, got rid of anything else running (I had about a dozen apps) and rebooted the iP4. Luckily, my home button problem is gone, and I'm back to normal. But it was scary for a while. I really feel for all you that have this problem; I couldn't live with it.