Q: Iphone 4 Home button not working after upgrade to OS 4.3.1

I think the bump technique may be the answer!  Thank you so much to everyone for being so generous with your potential fixes here.  I tried many of them, but nothing worked until I gave the bottom of the phone a good thump with the heel of my hand.  Now the home button is working.  Weird and kinda pathetic for a phone of this cost.

wow.. so i tried all the fixes in reverse order. The "bump", then the "vacuum usb port", then the plug into usb while holding ho,e button until voice control then cancel... nothing same issues. Then I just closed out everything on the bottom. BAM!! It's working as fast as it did when I first bought it. So it has to be a software issue... just like Safari in Lion get's so sluggish almost to the point of unusable. I hope they fix these concerns with 10.7.2 and IOS 5. This might just be the clencher that finally makes me not buy another Apple product. Score one for hardware but major fail lately with software releases. Again... one of the biggest fanboy this side of town but wow.. home button malfunction, really... the home button.

I have tried the "calibrating" procedures here. They didn't work for me.

I have been closing applications using the opened apps/tasks list (double-click of the home button) and also power off (holding down power button until slider comes out) my iphone everytime;

• I buy or update apps on the phone itself
• I sync with iTunes

I leave a few applications important applications open such as:

• Priorities - app I use to track tasks
• Awesome Note - app I use to take notes
• Space Miner - game I play
• Anomaly - current game I am playing (and getting frustrated over)
• Battleheart - game I play
• Twitter
• Rift Authenticator (MMORPG I play)

All other apps are closed as I don't use them or only fire them up once in awhile. I close the phone, messages, safari and mail apps whenever I see them on the list.

It has been 2 months for me now and I can confidently say I have NEVER had the button issue again.

p.s. I should add that I have never tried any of the knocks or plugging a cable tricks. To me, they don't make sense because if the button is broke physically, then you really should go and swap your phone through Applecare and not waste time trying cheap tricks here.

I starting have an unresponsive Home button before 4.3 had even come out, but it might have gotten worse.

I had also forgotten I had AppleCare and I need to find out if that is covered by it and have it fixed if it is.

I'm only posting here to state that I don't think it's 100% software related as some people are stating (though, I only read through three of the 10 pages of replies)

I have version 4.2.8 and the home button sticks too!  So frustrated!  Almost everyone I know has this problem.  Some have returned the phone to get another one that does the same thing.  Obviously Apple needs to address this problem.  I don't enjoy spending $300 on a phone that doesn't work! 

This worked for me:

Go to settings for Safari. Clear out the cookies, history, and cache.

My home button is much more responsive now.

wow when I read the bump technique I almost fell off my chair laughing, but since it is the only thing I hadn't tried yet, I was like well what the ****, why not...

****! this actually worked? wow what a POS! if I wasn't passed waranty I'd be bringing this thing back since obviously it is not software related...

SOLUTION! This worked for me and I no longer need to press the home button hard to work.

You will need: Isopropyl alcohol or a Glass Cleaner (I used "Great Value Original Glass Cleaner Streak-free with ammonia")

1. Turn iPhone off (doesn't matter what battery % you're on).

2. Put 2 drops of alcohol or glass cleaner on the home button (do not exaggerate).

3. Repeatevely press the home button (not hard) and while doing so circle around to make sure the liquid is getting inside.

4. After you notice theres no liquid left, turn your iPhone upside down (the screen facing down) for about 3 minutes.

5. Turn it on and see for your self! If it's not sensitive enough do it one more time and see the changes.

The idea is... There is an air gap arround the metal dome contact that allows the grease and dirt from your finger to work its way in.... Flushing it out with iso is guaranteed to remove most , if not all of the contaminants (Hul1gn).

Original post: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2595841?start=510&tstart=0

Go to page 35 and look for Hul1gn's comment.

This issue has nothing to do with software related. Sometimes the iPhone lags making a delay when you press the home button this is normal due to lack of RAM and too many apps opened. This fix that I found (thanks to HUl1gn) is for people that needs to press the home button harder than usual to make it work.

@reynal888

LOL. You're kind of contradicting yourself there.

If the phone lags when you pressed the home button due to lack of RAM or too many apps opened, then it is a software issue. The memory management component is obviously interfering with the hardware interface component that intercepts a physical hard button press. iOS should manage that scenario. One obvious method is to simply throw a "Out of Memory" error so that the user knows he/she can't run another app BEFORE the home button's performance is degraded.

Hi

Add me to the list! had 3GS upgraded it to iphone 4 in june and just started having problems in the last few days with home button intermittently not working, most of the listed fixes work for a short time but always back to button not working, several presses to activate an app or wake phone, O.S 4.3.5, would love to get this sorted out, it's annoying to say the very least

Your technique worked. I will see how long this lasts. I thought I was the ONLY one until I found this thread. I thought I had a worn out home button and I am 3 months past warranty. I never thought I was pressing it too hard to where it would get worn out, so I am glad this looks like a software issue. Apple please fix! add it to your list of chores along with all the Lion mess.

There are two distinct issues here - and the confusion we are seeing here on this thread just gets more complicated.

There is (and always has been) some lagging home button symptoms which are related to software - particularly when resources are running low (memory being one of the primary causes).  Also - some apps are processor hogs - eating up cycles and also causing a lagging/unresponsive home button.

But there is also a definite hardware issue at play as well related to the actual switch used for the home button.  I have experienced both issues (memory/resource overloaded button lag and the hardware malfunction as well).

The sofware-induced sluggish home button can temporarily be "cured" via a roboot of the phone, by some of the "callibration sequences" posted, and by shutting down unused apps from the switcher. 

The hardware issue is temporarily fixed by a reboot (though very inconsistent), or more reliably - by a relativley soft "rap" of the phone case near the home button.  This is most safely done if you have a bumper case on it.  I have also temporarily got the home button working by a fairly tight squeeze of the case (front and back near the home button).

I believe Apple should officially work on both of these issues - but I'm tire of folks basically attacking others in an arguement over if the problem is software or hardware... it can be both/either one.  I have experienced both and the solution is different for both.

I FOUND THE SOLUTION EVERYBODY!! It's been working perfectly all day!

So, here's what I did. First, I put my iPhone on a hard metal surface. I think it has to be metal because of how the electronics work. I just put mine on top of one of my Macs. I then turned it on and closed all the running apps. Now after everything was closed, I pressed and held down the home button until the Voice Control app came up. At this point, I asked the phone to "play album my world two point zero." I think it's important to say it "zero" instead of just "oh" because, again, it's just electronics here and it doesn't understand English like people do. I then made some popcorn, you know, since the tunes were already playing. I think I forgot to mention that I plugged it into my ipod speaker system before making the popcorn. You don't want to get vegatable oil from your fingers onto your iPhone. That'd probably make it worse. But, I ended up getting oil all over it anyway, cause I kept having to touch the screen so the album artwork wouldn't just keep dimming back. I think I kind of fell alseep for a while. But, here was the critical part!! Make sure you do this part exactly right, because I think it's the most important thing. I happened to kind of decide that I wanted to make my own ringtone which would be of me singing along with the song Overboard (which was now playing), so I think I tried going into the Settings (the grey spikey wheel looking icon) and under Sounds I found a sound called "Piano Riff." I pressed on it, and it played what sounded like the song Bad to the Bone. But I kept having to press it to keep the song going, you know? So, I pressed it again and again like once every few seconds trying to keep it in time. I got the hang of it, and then I started singing to it a bit. I realized pretty quickly that I didn't actually know the words, so I was mostly just singing mubbled stuff in kind of an old scruffy voice. It sounded pretty good. But, anyway, I think my home button was fine all along.

Michael B - I don't think anyone is attacking anyone except to correct those whose comments suggests that it is definitely one or the other but not a possibility of both.

You are correct. Some folks do have a hardware issue. Some have software issues and we just need to apply the right solution to the right problem. But it doesn't help when multiple community users here suggest that it is only one or the other and that is when I see people, like laugher, correct them and re-align them so that the greater community readers know the issue could be brought about by either software or hardware issues.

Someone needs to summarise all the solutions for both software and hardware and sticky the post. This post is getting too long.