iPad 3 and iOS 6 - Home button not working

I have a Genius appointment this weekend and, of course, I have been issue free for the past couple of days. Your idea about the issue being produced by a specific problem is intriguing, and now, I am going to pay more attention to what programs are open when the issue does arise again.

Boberts227,

I know you were addressing your reply to marcgvky, but I just wanted to say that I continuously get the problem even when there are no apps open, and when my memory is entirely cleared of apps. In any event, please report back on what happens at your appointment!

Same boat here. Just bought a 32 GB 4th generation today and has the decreased sensitivity right out of the box. At home I have a 2nd and a 3rd generation IPod touch - their home button has been working fine for over two years. However neither of them have OS 6.

I also tried the calibration technique by holding the home button on open apps when turning power off. For me it gets fixed for about 45 secs and then reverts back to a lower sensitivity state - usually have to push harder with more attack to make it responsive.

I don't know if I should exchange it since I finally just finished uploading and customization. If this problem exists for all the newer models, is it even worth it to get it replaced.

Any advice?

OK, I just wanted to give an update. I made an appointment at the Genius Bar at the local Apple Store today, and they saw me the same afternoon. Basically, because I got the iPad4 on Dec. 19th and two weeks hadn't gone by, they just gave me a new iPad4, no questions asked. I didn't even have to demonstrate the problem, although I showed them the unresponsive home button right then and there.

After getting home, restoring from backup, etc., everything seems to be working well, including the home button. I realize this isn't a 'solution' that will work for anyone beyond the first two weeks of purchase, but I thought I'd describe what happened anyway. I will say that this home button feels less stiff than the unresponsive one, so this may be a manufacturing issue at some of their factories. That would explain why this problem afflicts many but not all iPad users running iOS 6.

I still like the theory that:

1. One of their factories is producing these things with some kind of glue on the home button that is 'off' from the specs (either too much or too little, or mispositioned). Thus, it's something that is present on many but not all iPads.
2. Ordinarily, this difference doesn't show up, software-wise. But when iOS 6 and Siri came around, these new software features demanded more sensitivity of the home button than these units could provide.
3. In effect, it looks like a software issue, but it's not a universal phenomenon because it is only triggered by a gluing process on the iPad that is present in some but not all units. Ordinarily this hardware difference is invisible to the user, but use of iOS 6 triggers it on these particular units. That explains why it arises only on iOS 6 upgrades or installs, and only on some units, per the earlier posts in this thread. If this were a pure software issue it would be a more widespread phenomenon.

An alternative theory is that I'm all washed up and I have no idea what I'm talking about ;-)

I have the exact same problem with my 64Gb 3rd generation after updating to iOS 6.0. No change after updating to 6.01.

I re-calibrated as noted above but solution only lasted a short while.

One thing I noticed is when trying to press the home button over and over to try to get it to work - I would get the assistive touch home button showing on screen -like the presses were registering but nothing else was happening.

I went into settings and tuned off the triple click settings - that is nothing selected to function when home button pressed three times quickly.

Whamo - problem solved. Home button now working normally. Phew! as it was really starting to bug me.

There appears to be a bug in coding the triple click function which slows / confuses the whole home button function.

Hope this helps.

Does anyone know what would happen if I get an appointment in an Apple Store and I can't reproduce the problem there and then? My iPad is about 8 months old and I don't have Apple Care. Am I entitled to a replacement under a 1 year warranty?

I'd be tempted to put it straight on eBay if I get a new replacement though. It's a shame the iPad 3 is obsolete already, which is an extra kick in the nuts!

I'm so disappointed with Apple lately, they're losing it.

I had the button problem occur on and off ever since I installed iOS 6. I had an appointment this weekend for this issue, but I was unable to reproduce it for about a week prior, so I canceled.

The triple click thing isn't a fix - mine was already off and it's still the same problem.

Same problem, but with a iPad 2. Upgraded to iOS 6 a little while ago, and having intermittent issues with the home button. Sounds to me like a software issue. Will try taking it in to the Geniuses. It's less than 1 year old, not sure how much assistance I'd get.

I think I have solved the issue.

New iPad3 had intermediate failure issues right out of the box. I updated to iOS 6.01 but still no luck. Started installing apps to mirror my iPhone 4 but after two days research and trying everything on this and other forums to solve the intermittent home button issue, I prepared to take it back to the shop for a replacement. It solved it for me, here's what I did.

I went into Settings >> General >>. Reset and removed all prior settings. Sequence used was to reset: (a) keyboard dictionary; then (b) home screen layout; then (c) location & privacy; then (d) network settings; then lastly; (e) erase all content and settings.

I packed everything up to take it back. The store (London Drugs) didn't have one so suggested I keep using this one until the replacement arrived. Returned home and started reloading/using it. Hey presto, not a single home button failure in two days. Prior to that every single press was a failure. Not that I did NOT restore from a backup in case this was corrupted. Fresh install.

This tells me that (a) for me the issue cannot be hardware as this had no changed. Software had. For others it may be software or hardware but none of the suggested solutions worked for more than a short while. This has proven faultless. Hope it works for you.

Hi wwwheaten,

Thanks for your report! Let us know after a week or two if the problem comes back.

I think someone earlier in this thread also did the 'reset settings' approach, only to have the problem come back after several days. But that's great if it works for you.

My problem was apparent right out of the box, which means the settings had been zeroed from factory. So at least in my case the problem wasn't due to settings getting messed up over time. It's still possible that it's a software issue, but one that arises on some devices if they've received less-than-ideal gluing on the home button. I can say that my brand-new replacement had a home button that felt a lot less stiff, and it works like a charm.

I had another whinge to Apple Support last night because I want my ipad to be replaced before the warranty runs out. I would feel better knowing that its more likely to be software if I do get it replaced.

Unfortunately, Apple want me to continue with it to determine if it is software or hardware and won't just swap it going by what I've experienced. I was asked to backup everything and factory reset it (erase all from Settings), and set it up as a new device (to rule out any corruption or restore issues). I've done that, and I was looking forward to a fresh start and installing and setting everything up again.

This morning, I've managed to get to a point where I can reproduce some home button weirdness! I was setting up mail from within Settings (Exchange to Gmail via m.google.com), and it all went through until I got to a dark blue dialog window asking for my account password (which should be my Google app specific password). I hit the home button so that I could use Safari to set that up, but the home button wouldn't work again. It could double click, but not single click. I cancelled the password box, and I could single click again! I went in to the Mail app and it happened again when it asked for the password.

Not quite what usually happens, but definitely a software issue there. If anyone has the time to try the mail password thing to see if the same happens on another iPad, we might be able to at least highlight a bug that's related...

You're definitely on to something. I too tried the reset all. The issue did not go away immediately after the reset. But as I was going thru the painful process of reinstalling everything, including the searching and entering passwords, it all of a sudden started working again. Still not sure what the trigger was exactly. And a couple of days later, it has stopped working again.

Well, I guess time to go back to product testing for Apple.

I would like to ask you all one question:

What type of case do you use for your IPAD?

My question comes from this:

When I bought my IPAD 3, I did not bought the case from Apple and I did not had ano problem with the home button for about 2 month's. In the end of November/2012, I bought the smart case from Apple and now I'm almost sure that it is the smart case that is causing the button problem. It seems to me that the border of the case makes too much pressure on the button and makes it not work as it should.

To test my assumption, I removed the IPAD from the case - 1 day now - and no problem so far.

I will come back to you again in 2 days and give you more feedback on my "experiment".

In case you are also usina the same case, please try it also and give feedback.

Same problem, but with a iPad 2. Upgraded to iOS 6 a little while ago, and having intermittent issues with the home button. Sounds to me like a software issue.

it has to be very firmly pressed to be more responsive.