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iPad2 Home Button unresponsive

I recently started experiencing an issue with the Home button on my iPad 2. Occasionally, pressing it will do nothing. So I press it again -- sometimes upwards of 4 or 5 presses before it finally responds. I'm not mashing the button and am certain that each press is an appropriate amount of force (I proudly own an iPhone 3, 3GS, 4, iPad 1 and now iPad 2, so I'm confident about how much force to press these Home buttons).
I tried power cycling the iPad 2, but that didn't help. I closed all running applications. At first, that seemed to work. For several hours, the Home button was perfectly responsive.
But alas, here I am this evening, again frustrated with the non-responsive Home button. At times, I can't even turn on my iPad since the button won't respond for several seconds.

I backed it up in iTunes and restored the factory settings. I notice it's still being unresponsive. It's so odd that the problem is intermittent. Much of the time it works fine. Then all of a sudden, when I press the Home button.... nada. It's like there is some kind of lag from when I press it and when (if) it responds. There are times when after a few presses, a brief moment later, the iPad 2 will open up the task switcher (indicating that I pushed it twice). Other times, it'll go to the search screen.

Again, this is occurring whether I'm using my configuration (latest IOS version) or even with the factory default setting.

Could really use some help or advice. Is anyone else experiencing this? I did a google search, and it seems very few are experiencing it. But it does seem to be more than just myself (if only a very small handful of people).

Thanks in advance!

iPad 2, iOS 4, Home button unresponsive

Posted on Mar 30, 2011 1:09 AM

Reply
98 replies

Jun 9, 2012 1:34 PM in response to mabelfrommnl

1.) Open any application on your iPad


2.) Press and hold the Power button until the slide to shutdown swipe bar appears.


3.) Release Power button


4.) Press and hold Home button Lightly

until screen returns to icon screen (takes a few seconds)


5.) Enjoy your functioning home button!!!


This procedure recalibrates the home button after normal wear or heavy use.


Greetings from Holland!


Henk Bosker

Jun 9, 2012 1:35 PM in response to Nakaima

1.) Open any application on your iPad


2.) Press and hold the Power button until the slide to shutdown swipe bar appears.


3.) Release Power button


4.) Press and hold Home button Lightly

until screen returns to icon screen (takes a few seconds)


5.) Enjoy your functioning home button!!!


This procedure recalibrates the home button after normal wear or heavy use.


Greetings from Holland!


Henk Bosker

Jun 22, 2012 2:35 AM in response to Nakaima

I was having the same issues with the home button on my iPad2.
After some google search I found this and it helps (for a while, but if you follow the procedure when the button becomes unresponsive you get it back to work again :-)

  1. Make sure your Apple tablet is at least 50 % charged.
  2. Place iPad in front of you holding it in landscape mode.
  3. Press down Home Button and keep it pressed while gently and slowly rotating tablet to portrait mode.
  4. Release the Home Button and press it again.
  5. If you get no response after a while press Home Button again and bring iPad back to landscape mode.
  6. Release the Home Button and press it again. Keep it pushed for a second, and then gently release.
  7. Wait for a while for response.
  8. Try above steps a few times to get a response while keeping iPad on hard flat surface.

Good Luck!

Jan 12, 2013 6:38 AM in response to Renesis

i'm having the same unresponsive home buton issue and i have a brand new ipad 4.. I do believe it's a software issue because once the button does wake up the ipad it works perfectly. at first i tried to believe that it is s safety measure so that it wouldn't turn on while in a case or bag or something.. and I tried removing the autolock feature and setting that to 'never'. that seemed to work. i'll bet that in a future software update this bug will be fixed. until then just think of it as a power saving feature.. after just spending a grand on my ipad with the incredibly cool bluetooth keyboard I am thrilled with my new ipad 4. Although I don't think Steve would like the 'home button' issue affecting his own ipad , do you???

Jul 11, 2013 1:04 PM in response to Nakaima

Re ipad2 home button not responding.

Exactly same problem posted by all other members, intermittent function of the home button that a combination of the remedies suggested temporarily cures but does not permanently fix!

And just for good measure I am one month outside warranty period and did not take out additional apple cover.

A friend returned his ipad3 within two weeks of purchase because of the same problem.

There is obviously a mechanical failure with the micro switch inside that apple are ignoring, any other decent company would recall and fix the fault for free!

I have been an avid apple fan, own two iPhones and an ipad, I was looking at a mac but I will never invest in apple products again!

Do the decent thing apple!

Jul 29, 2013 3:50 AM in response to Nakaima

I had the same issue, after I made 2 changes in the iPad settings! (1) Side switch changed from mute to lock rotation! and (2) the auto lock changed from never to 10 minutes!. I changed these settings back to previous and cured the problem instantly, I then changed the auto lock time and have so far 2 weeks later had no issues. This seems to indicate a problem with the allocation program for the side button!

iPad2 Home Button unresponsive

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