Q: iPhone 4 Home Button not working properly

As I posted earlier, my home button was working intermittenly. I finally went to the Genius Bar and they replaced my phone with very little question. They said its just regular wear and tear - hardware issue, not software issue. With my replacement phone, the home button actually clicks again, which I hadn't felt on my last one in a while. I was able to go just a few days before my 1 year warranty expired, so I doubt I would have gotten the same service had I gone out of warranty.

Same problems here. Home button works intermittenly. Mine is a Day 1 iPhone 4. This is very annoying, and half the time, unusable.

I will repeat my post as most people seem to miss it, This works

This happen to me and I fixed it by gently slapping the phone on the back a few times.

I think it may be a point connection issue.

+1 on smacking it a bit - that worked for me - thanks

Yet another one bites the dust!!  bought my new IP4 yesterday only to realise that the home key is faulty - same issue as most others are reporting- have to press it (intermittently) 3 or 4 times before it engages.

the store where i purchased it will not swap it so i have to make an appointment with the apple store in the city to take it in. They have said they will replace it because i purchased it and reported it faulty within 24 hours.

Fingers crossed Apple will give me an explanation - as surely by now they know what the issue is!!!

TBC....

+1 on slapping on the back - worked for my iphone4! - thanks applegrant!

I have the same problem: non-damaged iPhone 4, and have undergone all the restores, resets, etc. This problem is very annoying for users who rely on multi-tasking since it does not offer the task bar at the bottom of the screen, requiring leaving the current application. This is especially true for changing orientation lock or itunes next song selection.

Apple, please help!

I am going to lean towards the mechanical cause from now on (thanks Chris, I kept your information in mind) because when the button becomes non-responsive just slightly blowing in the multi-connector hole definitely resolves the problem.

I'd advise any one with this issue to take it back to Apple as they swapped mine over with no hassle at all.

The solution is simple. Although I take no responsibility if you break something

Simply clean the power connector with a toothpick or a plastic floss pic

I have done this with 3 phones where the home button has stopped working...

Your phone should be OFF when cleaning the connector

There is some piece of lint or dirt shorting a connection...

Weird but it works.

I've had this problem on/off for the last 4 or 5 months I've noticed. I've had my iPhone 4 for almost a year now. And, I can't say I've noticed it more or less during updates or anything, so I've just rationalized that maybe it's just regular wear and tear.

I am having the same issue now that the warranty has expired

It's really bad today; I can't even do a quick reset and I've banged the phone on the back and that helped me get out of the app I was in.

I too have noticed you don't have the problem when it's plugged in; I had it charging earlier and the home key worked fine. So, I turned my phone off, and I got a can of air (you can purchase in the office supply section of your local store), and I sprayed it inside the connection area to get all the dirt and dust out. Seems to be working ok so far...

Hopefully this will help everyone else that is having the same issue with the home key not working. Hopefully the next iPhone will have a home key redesign

Thanks, AppleGrant! My button was getting intermittent and I couldn't remember how long the 4 had been out (bought mine launch day). Of course, warranty expired. Looking up how to replace it on iFixit showed a 30+ step process nearly guaranteed to ensure my phone would never work again if I tried it.  (Tiny ribbon cables and I have a checkered history.)

So I pop up here to see what Apple charges for a repair, read your message, gently slap the back of my iPhone 4, and the button's now working fine again!

Just curious, though: Does anyone know what Apple does charge to fix this out-of-warranty?

I've been having this button problem for some time (2-3 mos) with my iPhone 4.  I upgraded the iOS, shut down all the apps, restarted the phone daily and nothing seemed to work.   Last week my Safari app acted up and wouldn't start, it would open and then crash and close down after 2 seconds.  I went into safari settings and cleared out the cache, cookies and history and restarted the unit. This fixed the Safari issue, but more importantly this clearing process also appears to have fixed the button problem!  The iPhone is operating much faster now and the button works without a glitch.  Obviously some sort of memory issue here with safari that brings down the entire iOS and the button.  For those of you that have the button problem try clearing out safari and see if this works for your unit.

Taping from the back worked for me too. Thanks