Q: iPhone 4 Home Button not working properly

Omg im having the same issue and its getting on my last nerves that i just want to throw my phone on the wall, and its not just that sometimes when im on the internet and im trying to reply on a comment or write sometimes when im pressing the letters on the keypad it takes a few seconds for them to come up on the screen!

Apple you guys need to do something about this because its jot a couple of people having the home button problem its A LOT of them and if you guys dont come up with something soon ya'll are going to lose a lot of bussiness and customers to this little problem!

But please fix it apple i love my iphone 4 and i dont want to get rid of it :(

Do not do the updates, they are a ploy to get you into the apple store. Restore to whatever was working before and dont waste your time on these message boards filled with uncertian fixes from unqualifed people which will only frustrate you further.

I have had a couple of iphones over the years and have found that this problem arises every now and then,each time it has happened to me it has been when I have added a knew app to my phone and it seems to create this problem, I have narrowed this down over a long period of time and when I have removed the offending app, the problem goes away. I wont claim for this to be the answer to your problem but I have found this to work on a total of three Iphones in my family.

Hope this helps.

Exact same problem. The issue appears to be a software problem however it can be fixed by holding the phone in a vertical position a couple of centimeters (about one inch) above a wooden table with the apple connector pointing down. Firmly tap the phone once or twice to dislodge any foreign material from the button area inside the phone. In my case the switch or connector was contaminated by lint which came from a 3rd party case which has a leather exterior with a natural hide interior. The material contaminating the phone is almost invisible to the eye except under magnification. I attempted all the fixes suggested here, tapping the back of the phone, gently blowing in the connector, recharging, rebooting and reloading the software with limited effect, some would get the phone working for a few days then it would fail again...firmly tapping at the connector (button) end worked. In order to prevent further contamination I reposition a clear plastic back cover protector such that the covers tab bent around the end of the phone and protected the connector, hence also protecting the button mechanism.

I am having the same issues and have sent my iphone back to apple twice. it is still under warrenty and within 2 days received my phone back with apple saing they cant find the issue! what do i do????? its not rite at all!!! i cant use my phone sometimes cause the button hangs up!!

This must be recognized hardware problem - took my phone to the Genius bar and without any questions they replace my iPhone 4 for another one.

Am having the same issue with my iphone 4 and tried rebooting and restoring and deleating many applications still am facing the same problem some times with the phone and not always, lets see if the new update resolves the issue or will have take the phone to the service centre

I had the same problem, and the solution proposed by paulfromcoorparoo seems to have addressed the issue.  Thanks.

"Check to see how many apps you have open, (double click the home button) touch an app until your see the red x, then touch on each one to close it, do this until all of your Apps are closed, After you closed all of your apps restart the iPhone by holding down the on/off button and the home button at the same time for about 20 sec. "

Thanks it solves the problem..

Same issue here, but in my case it began long before the iOS 4.3 upgrade so I know that wasn't the cause. I found, quite by accident, that tapping the phone vertically on my desk pad fixes it. I see that paulfromcoorparoo already suggested that. It isn't a permanent fix, though. I have to repeat it every few weeks. Apparently junk gets back into the button internals to make it intermittant again. Not surprising, as my iPhone 4 lives in my pocket along with the pocket lint, with only a bumper on it.

Hey all,

Ok this may sound lame,  but what I had to do was close all the running apps. When I use an app and press the home button to exit, it merely minimizes it (like a computer minimizes to tray). To do this, double click your home button (ironic I know) and your screen will shift to reveal a list of apps. Press and hold any one of them, and a '-' sign will appear on all of the apps. Then, press the '-' symbol to close the apps. Scroll sideways to find all the apps currently running, and hit the symbol for each. The first time I did it, every app I had was in there! It worked for me...hope this helps.

No, not lame at all. Others have reported success with the same cure. It has never worked for me, though, and I normally have tons of apps showing in the "Recents" list at the bottom of the screen. Most of those apps aren't actually running, so their impact on the phone's response time is little to nothing.

In my case tapping the bottom of the phone on my desk gets the Home button working again, so the problem is either dirt in the button that gets knocked our by tapping the phone on the desk, or a loose internal connector that tapping on the desk reseats. As I said earlier, it's not permanent, and I worry that some day tapping it on the desk won't work and I'll be faced with a trip to the Apple store for an exchange.

Same problem here. Phone is useless without home button working properly.  Apple store technician says it is common problem but no solution to fix...such a bummer!

You have to buy new phone, again.

This has happened to me recently and here's what I found worked:  Plug the iphone to a power source such as your car or a wall socket.  The home button should work properly while the phone remains plugged in.  Then either unplug the adapter or turn off your car/disconnect it. 

It appears to me if I disconnect the iPhone from an active power source, the home button goes wonky but if the power source is eliminated then 'it just works'.

Again, this is based solely on my personal experience, I can't guarantee that it'll work but it's worth trying.

This is not a software problem.

This is a hardware problem.

I had the issue under warranty. Apple ran a diagnostic and found lots of SpringBoard crashes. They asked me to restore it. I did, and the issue persisted. They replaced the hardware and I've been good for the last two months.

My wife's iPhone 4 developed the problem. I took it in and told them the above. They replaced it instantly.

My friend has an iPhone 4 with the same problem. He is out of warranty and was told by Apple that if he paid a repair fee they'd swap it out for him.

This is a hardware problem.