Q: iPhone 4 Home Button not working properly

Hi Guys,

Just out of interest, how much spare memory do you have when you notice the button has stops responding? I have noticed the same issue when my iPhone gets close to full capacity. This may perhaps tie in with the comments of Marklangs above.

I feel like I am going mad!!! The button works so randomly that I can never be sure that I will be able to get out of an ap I am in or the camera etc etc....... Its is so frustrating. Soemtimes one tap does it and then I have to do anything up to 10 taps to get a response.

Does anyone know how to get back to home page if the button stops you getting out of an app etc as I am sure that this is going to happen at some point when I am trying to reply to a message!!!!!

PLEASE apple sort this out.......

I have the same problem.  Is there any apple technician that can help?! It doesnt seem to be an unusual problem!!

+1 tapping from the back.  Started having home button issues, pressing multiple times before working.

Firm grip on phone and tapped back of phone on the other side of the home button. I slapped the phone pretty hard onto my ankle knuckle with tube socks on while sitting with my legs crossed.  Did it a couple of times, and it worked!!  My home button works perfectly, now!  Thanks all.

32gb, iphone 4, ios 4.01, 4.9 gb free, firmware 01.59.00

Hi I too had this problem, I have only had my iPhone 4 for 7 months when this problem started, sometimes the home button would work and sometimes it wouldn't, was very annoying, I rang apple technical support who asked me to do a reset( hold home key and on/off key til apple symbol appeared) had already tried that, they also asked me to restore had already done that, got an appointment for the apple store in 2 days, the guy on the phone said it was a hardware problem and that they will most likely replace my phone for me

the problem is not hardware it's software, dont restore it, after sometime it will work properly again,cz my friend has this issue too and after sometime it worked properly again

Out of the blue the home button started for work and not work for a few days last week.  Saturday, the home button doesn't work at all.  I shutoff all programs running in the background. Restored and no luck. Tried to clean the dust below the connector, no luck.  Then when I got home on Sunday,  I did a restore on my home computer instead my laptop and all of the sudden the home button works.  I restore some of my apps and now home buttom not working.  Could it be Apple software or App causing this?  Virus? Malware?

Hi Scousa89,

My iphone4's (have had my iphone4 for about 7-8 months now) home button just stopped working too and I think it's because of maxing out on the memory.  I have a 32MG iphone4; and, after uploading a very large memory sucking app (recording software app) I found that my iphone was down to less than 1mb available.

I'm gonna try and free up space and hopefully that solves the problem.

Will let you know.

this worked for me:  i figured there was no hope other than to get my phone replaced, but i just used some compressed air (can-duster in the charger hole and the microphone and speaker holes at the bottom) and now my home button issue went away.   it was intermittent at first, then started double clicking on a single click and then didnt work for almost a whole day; i slapped it around a couple times thinking it was dirt and that kind of fixed it for a few days and then it went intermittent again. finally did the compressed air into the bottom holes and now it's been working perfectly all evening. i figure to post this because if all works fine longer than today, i wont remember to post back here again =P   good luck to the rest of you

Update,

The home button works on my iphone. YES. This was my method of getting back the home button to work.  Delete all my apps, poweroff my iphone4, connect to my main computer, enter my password and then sync (don't sync any photos, apps, music, ringtone, etc... yet (just uncheck each of those items for the first sync)). Later you can sync each item or all  after making sure your home button works. 

I cannot explain what may have cause it but one app (I am too embarresed to name it) may have been a big part of this mess.  Before the home button stopped working, I updated my apps.  Then when I used the app, it will hang or freeze occasionally.  Then I started to notice the home button lagging.  Then the home button did not work. So now, I am never going to download that app any more.  Many complained of other issues so it to be the updated app that caused this. But I can't be certain yet.  However,  I will update if the home button acts up.

Good luck to everyone!

Hello ALL,

     just wanted to share,    tried all conventional ways with no luck.

   Slapping the iPhone on the back, behind the button are WORKED for me.

thankyou for the tip.

Cheers

Oscar

Yep, Same problem here, and it seem to start right after the update. 

I've had my iPhone 4 white for exactly a month now and this has already started happening! I followed people's advice and plugged it into my laptop and that seems to have done the trick for now, so thanks for the help.  Very annoying!

Hi all!

I had the same problem. Tapping hard a few times with a finger at the back of the phone worked for me.

Thanks for the tip!

+1 for Home button + On/Off switch reset -- home button working perfectly again. Tricky to do the reset as Home button wasn't properly working but after a number of tries the Apple logo appeared.