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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

Jan 27, 2012 9:30 AM in response to mrdanang

the bottom line is that iphones are premium priced phones and they shouldn't have problems with such basic of its core functionality. apple has sold like several dozen million iphone 4 devices so obviously it can't be doing a recall but it can certainly offer a free repair. the notion "iphones are not repaired, they are replaced" (and thus the charges) can't be an excuse for a company of such high regards.


OR ATLEAST... the fee has to be small. its just one single button, for crying out loud!


i'm really apprehensive about this new replacement piece continuing to work without the homebutton issue. fingers crossed.


PS: I'm gonna get my 6 year old ipod nano 1st gen replaced in a recall, thats called taking responsibility. i think apple will soon do something about this home button issue.

Jan 27, 2012 5:42 PM in response to AceNeerav

My home button stopped working a few weeks after my warranty ended. I went to my local Apple store, and was told they needed to switch out the phone. They would not do it for free since my warranty had expired, even though it was only a few weeks and this clearly is a known and common problem with this phone. I wrote to Apple, as a longtime Apple customer (starting with a Mac LC in 1992, currently 4 iphones, 2 ipads and 3 Macbooks in my family), hoping they would do the right thing and replace or repair it. I got a canned response from them today stating the terms of the warranty. Guess I will have to wait for the class-action on this one....

Jan 28, 2012 3:41 PM in response to ivan1

Sooo... Last night, Apple deleted my post regarding a certain "unauthorized" method to negate the need for a home button and informed me that by referencing such things I had broken the Apple Support Community User Agreement. My apologizes to anyone I may have offended, including the moderators. However, I do hope that the post helped at least a few of you.


They then went on to suggest that if I was having a problem with my product, to please use the appropriate method to report these issues at http://www.apple.com/feedback. I assume this was the politically correct way of telling me that all of our ranting and raving here will not gain the appropriate attention, but if we all send in feedback for the iPhone 4 and reference these threads, then perhaps the appropriate people will take notice. So, I would ask that you all take a moment and fill out the feedback form for you iPhone 4. It may seem silly and in all likelihood we probably won't receive any follow-up, but it is definitely worth a shot.

Jan 28, 2012 4:51 PM in response to tyler39

What on Earth are you talking about? I'm not sure what part of my message wasn't clear, but I apologize if there is any confusion.


Send them feedback telling them that your home button doesn't work, reference these threads so they see how many people are having problems, and hope that they come out with a repair extension program for us.

Jan 28, 2012 6:22 PM in response to tyler39

"There really isn't a problem." I think everyone else here would disagree with you. It's not normal wear and tear. I used an iPhone 3G for 4 years. I dropped it numerous times. I got it wet numerous times. It's home button continued working just fine and still does to this day. Same with my iPod Touch 1G, which is even older than the iPhone 3G. Yet my iPhone 4, which has lived in a watertight OtterBox since day 1, had it's home button stop working properly after 14 months. This is not an isolated incident, hence this 17 page thread and numerous other threads. It's a design or a manufacturing flaw. And yes Apple will replace them, but Apple is not replacing them for free if you're out of warranty. They're charging $200. Just like if threw my phone at the wall. That's not quite right. On top of that, some people are reporting their replacement phones starting to have this issue after a few months as well. If we make enough official complaints, perhaps someone at Apple will take notice and maybe they'll come up with a repair extension program to take care of the percentage of us that are experiencing this issue. If you're not experiencing this issue (which it doesn't sound like you are...which confuses me why you're then posting in this thread as you obviously are not familiar with the issue...but I am going to make the mistake of feeding the troll anyways...), then I'm not asking you to file a feedback form. I'm asking the people that are experiencing the issue to file a feedback form as the Apple Support Community Staff recommend. I'm assuming they recommended this for a reason and I assume they're monitoring this thread for a reason. Now you can, as you so politely put, "go away" and let the people that are interested in helping each other continue to help each other instead of telling them "there isn't a problem." Thanks.

Jan 28, 2012 8:07 PM in response to Caesar113

An iPhone 4 gets the home button pushed a lot more the iPhone 3G because of multitasking. If its out of warranty bring it to a respectable third party repair technician and get them to repair for around $49-$69. If its under warranty bring it to apple. Simple. And its not a wide problem if less then 2% or around 20,000-200,000 effected iPhones.

iPhone 4 Home Button not working properly

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