iPhone 4 Home Button not working properly

SOLVED THIS ISSUE by holding down the POWER button while it is PLUGGED IN to the charger. You will see the "slide to power off" screen come up, when that happens, start holding down the HOME button at the same time. Trust me. There are a lot of suggestions here which are good but none worked for me. Hope this helps.

It doesn't matter if there is an assistive home button, the fact of the matter is we have paid over £400 for our phones and at that price, important hardware pieces should not be failing after just 16 months (speaking from my own experience).

I was outraged when I entered my local Apple store and the person at the genius bar informed me that I would have to pay £120 for a new phone,

due to a technical fault with the phone. Not only have I lost the home button, I have also lost the power button and I can only listen

to music when I have my earphones plugged in. I hope it is just my Iphone that has suffered from all these problems as when the

phone was working correctly I was extremely satisfied.

My iPhone 4 is experiencing the same faulty Home button. I took it to the local Apple Store and the answer was: pay $149 to get a replacement iPhone as this component is not serviced in the Genius Bar.

Very frustrating that Apple reliability is gone, and the iPhone seems to be treated as a disposable device.

Didnt' have a chance to read all the posts here, but have anyone been succesfull to get a repair from Apple for this poor quality home button?

Is this a well documented and known defect?

OK, this might sound a little adventurous but it works for me (for those who do not want to shell out any $$$ to fix it, have their warranties expired or doesn't want to take their phones apart):-

(1) Turn off your phone.

(2) Try adding a few drops of water to where the home button is and let it seep through the sides of the button into the edges.

(3) Hold the phone in mid air, facing down (where the home button is) horizontally.

(4) While there is still water on the surface, try using a piece of clean cloth to repeatedly press it and to push the water out from the edges of the button. This is to force those gunks, sweats or dusts that got into it in the first place to come out.

(5) Wipe the surface of the button clean and make sure there are no water residues left in it.

(6) Turn on your phone.

(7) Home button working as normal.

Hope this suggestion works for those of you who are geeky enough to try this (I was inspired by the trick to fix the mighty-mouse-scroll-ball-got-stuck problem).

Cheers.

Whoa! Sorry iXpert... I would not use WATER! Wanna see what water damage can do? It ain't pretty! I would suggest using alcohol or electrical contact cleaner instead.

I read many many replies to the home button issues.

I tried the compressed air to the button as it was being pushed in & around the whole button in a circular motion then I took the air to the bottom of phone where you plug in the charging cord. I went back & forth a couple times & it totally resolved my issue!!

It can get very dirty in there. I'm pretty bad about laying it down & using it as I am shopping & dong yard work alike.

Give the spray air a try! I was convinced that I was going to have to get a new phone.

So happy I tried this!! Thank you to whomever suggested it!

Try spray air! Push down the button & move button around. Then spray up where it connects to be charged. Then do the home button again.

It gets dirty & u may need to try a few times.

I was having the same issues as everyone else.

This worked like a charm!

I was truly grateful for the advice from an earlier reply!!

Hope you try it!

I got my home button working like new. It ws sticking, so I took off the back, took out the battery, and just the bottom part where the antenna is. Then I blew down there, and now my home button is fixed. This works. Tried it on other iPhones and works flawlessly. And you don't have to be a "professional"

I don't think its a software update issue. My boyfriend had the same problem a year ago - he'd had his iPhone 4 just shy of 1 year.

Here is what I don't understand - if this is a known issue - why not fix the problem for free or replace phones even if they are no longer in warranty. I'm 76 days out of warranty and the best I can get from the Genius guy is..."sorry...try wrecking your phone a little using alcohol to clean it out. Of course, this will also potentially give you liquid damage, but it might keep your phone working long enough for a new phone, which I'm not saying is coming out, to maybe come out." ***?

Nothing like being stuck in a 2 year contract with a year long warranty. I'm feeling jipped again (oh! iOS 5 doesn't work on my brand new iPhone3? Thanks for not bothering to tell people until it was too late).

Hi,

Just wanted to update on my findings with having the same issue. I ended up purchasing a new button off of Ebay for $5. When I took the phone apart there was no dust, its a 4 not a 4s and i carry it in my pocket, so I do not belive that dust was the issue,

However if you look at the way the ribbon cable is designed and sits in the phone, it is flexed causing extra tension to be put on the cable and my cable actually appeared to be cracked. I have had the new button in for over a week not and have not had the issue return at all.

I belive this, that the ribbon cable was cracked causing a poor connection sometimes working and sometimes not, which leads me to belive that all of the ways to re-align the button just put the right type of pressure on the ribbon for a temporary "good" connection only to become faulty again.

I wish I would have taken pictures but this is just my observation and opinion. Anyway the new button works like a charm!

Good Luck!

error

Thank you, this worked a treat, top fix!

My iPad 2 also have the same exact proble. It is not responding and I following the tips

http://www.ipad-tablet-help.com/2010/03/ipad-home-button-not-working-how-to-fix. html and make it wokring again.

This may sound odd, but I used WD-40. Place a little around home button and massage it in. I did this twice and have not had an issue since. Mine was horrible. I was just about to get ride of it so i tried this. Do at your own risk!

Tim

www.ottawausedsports.com

I tried the WD-40 fix 4 days ago and the problem was fixed! It have not recurred and my iPhone 4 is behaving like new. My home button response got progressively worse until I had to activate AssistiveTouch. Then 4 days ago, I thought I might as well try a radical fix. First, I turned off the phone. Then I quirt 1 short burst of WD-40 into the gap around the HOME button. I jiggled the button and I actually saw some of the liquid seeped in. For good measure, I squirted a little more and did the same jiggling. After that, use a soft tissue to wipe off excess WD-40. Let it sit for about 5 mins and turn on the phone.

I got a big surpise! The button actually work now! I tried the double click and it worked! In the past, I had to press the button at least 5 times before I get a response, but now, it responded on the first click. JUST LIKE NEW AGAIN! With this experience, I am quite certain the problem is due to dirt and dust. WD-40 is well known for its ability to penetrate very tiny spaces and work itself to lubricate and clean out squeeks and bad electrical contacts. I think this time it has work the same Magic on the iPhone Home button problem.