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iPhone 4 Home Button not working properly

Hi all,


My iPhone home button (round button at the bottom) has started "not responding correctly." Sometimes when I press the button it works as it should, but other times it takes at least 10 clicks before anything happens. I can hear the clicking sound that the button physically makes so I can't imagine that it's hardware related - but it sometimes doesn't want to do anything.

After searching Google and the forums it seems to be pointing towards a software issue? I upgraded the phone to the latest software 4.3 around 3 weeks ago.


Modern Firmware - 01.10.01


Any advice is much appreciated,

mrdanang

iPhone 4, iOS 4.3

Posted on Apr 27, 2011 1:34 AM

Reply
542 replies

Nov 24, 2011 7:09 PM in response to pedrolima

I bought my phone and I am way past getting a replacement phone. I tried Everything I could find but nothing would work more than a few minutes. What did work was to turn the phone off and spray a small amount of electrical contact cleaner on my finger and rub onto the button area and work all areas of button for about a minute. I repeated this. After this I turned phone upside down and let cleaner drain and cleaned off glass. I vacuumed button with a vacuum cleaner to see if I could get anything else out. I did this about a week ago and button works perfect. Before this procedure I was having to press six or seven times to get a response sometimes longer. The cleaner I used was a heavy duty cleaner degreaser for electrical contacts I bought at like a walmart or auto parts store. The cleaner was in a red can and it is made by a company called CRC. According to the can it is not to be used on plastic. CRC makes a electrical cleaner that is for cleaning electronics and is safe on plastic. If you can find it I would give it a try. Radio shack may have something that may work. I think the combination of dirt and a sticky button created my condition. When I cleaned it with the electrical cleaner it started working and has worked since. I read about the vacuum somewhere else and tried that. If you are out of warranty like me it may work. Of course if you doing this on a newer phone trying apple first may be a better choice. Use at your own risk. But did work for me

Nov 27, 2011 7:43 AM in response to 2shak

I had this problem and I tried a lot of user's suggestions and none worked although holding it down and pressing it hard and smashing seemed to bring it to life however for a short duration only.

I then saw this video through some forum http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpkcY4WE8pA

Moral: Most of us are having because of a bad home button assembly because of which the ribbon cable is loose now, I was lucky I just pressed very hard at that particular point at the phone's back mentioned in the video without opening it, with my thumb ( a lot of force) and home button started working after some hits but this time it never stopped working again and its been more than a month.

Nov 29, 2011 11:35 AM in response to mrdanang

I had the same intermittent button operation for some time, although it was annoying I persisted with it.

Now the home button will not work at all, I contacted Apple Help Desk and as my phone is 100 days out of warranty they want €161 to replace the button.

If you suspect the button on your phone is not operating properly, return your phone while it is still under warranty as it will fail eventually.

Dec 1, 2011 2:50 PM in response to mrdanang

The home button on my Iphone had stopped working completely.

I tried all the usual fixes and none worked.

Yesterday I was restoring an old valve radio and I was using Novatech GT7 to clean the valve bases.

I sprayed a few ccs of the Novatech on the surface of the button and pressed the button a few times, I then cleaned the button area with a little air blower and a cloth and my home button is as good as new.

Dec 1, 2011 5:59 PM in response to gr8photos4u

Its a hardware issue that Apple overlooked. Try this work around to save money. Plug your iPhone USB cable into the phone (No need to plug the other end to anything) and grip the part right where it is plugged into the phone. Slightly bend it up towards the screen, just a little (You might even hear a click) and presto! This is guaranteed to work most of the time. If it doesn't, you need a new Home Button then.

Just dont blame anyone if you break something because this work around relies on your own strength. 🙂

Dec 1, 2011 6:57 PM in response to mrdanang

"Its a hardware issue that Apple overlooked. Try this work around to save money. Plug your iPhone USB cable into the phone (No need to plug the other end to anything) and grip the part right where it is plugged into the phone. Slightly bend it up towards the screen, just a little (You might even hear a click) and presto! This is guaranteed to work most of the time. If it doesn't, you need a new Home Button then.

Just dont blame anyone if you break something because this work around relies on your own strength. "

This methodworked for me too..Never experience this problem for almost three months now...

Dec 6, 2011 7:44 AM in response to mrdanang

THERE IS A SOLUTION!


The moment I updated my iPhone 4 to the 5.0.1 OS the home button became mostly unresponsive. I was on the phone with Apple's tech support for over three hours last night. Those boobs were convinced it was a mechanical problem! Since my iPhone is out of warrant they directed me to send the phone in for repair at the tune of $150. The fix is listed on youtube under randyvdmeer's channel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMLF1eVurv4 . If the hyper link doesn't appear in this post search randyvdmeer in youtube. Or follow these directions that he provides: (1) Hold the power button on top of the phone until the option to "slide power off" appears [do NOT turn off]. (2) Release the button. (3) Softly hold the home button until it takes you back to your home screen. Now your home button has been recalibrated. Do it again if it doesn't work the first time.


My home button went from completely inoperable to working like it was intended. Hope this helps someone.

iPhone 4 Home Button not working properly

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