IOS 8 Home button bug

Hi ipodTouchdude. That supports my opinion that there is a hardware element to this bug, but the fact remains that many of us had a fully functional phone before iOS 8 turned it into a piece of junk. Many who reverted to iOS 7 reported that the home button worked again. If there is an issue with the design of the home button, then Apple should have ensured that iOS 8 was able handle it, just as well as 7 could, or they should have warned us about it before we installed the "update". I own an iPhone 4s, which is clearly out of warranty, and replacing the home button is major surgery, so I would like Apple to fix iOS 8 because I don't feel the need to buy a new phone just yet - well, other than because of the bug that Apple released! Why anyone would design a phone where the only mechanical component, which is prone to failure, is next to impossible to replace, is another matter!

Hi,

replacing the button seems to be a posible solution, maybe the "conflictive hardware" gets replaced.

I don´t think that its a worn homebutton, because in iOS7 my phone is working perfectly.

I my opinion its a software issue.

Lets hope on the next update, if not i already purchased the homebutton for its change.

It´s not easy to change it, nearly all phone has to be disaasembled (iphone 4S).

The most disappointing thing is that APPLE does not even answer here or my Emails or anything.

I was looking to buy the Iphone 6+ but with the fear of having it "broken by update" in 2 years i will forward to

a Android phone (maybe Nexus will be next).

It seems like its getting worse. I'm having to hit the home button 4 to 5 times before it finally returns to the home screen. Sure would be nice to have an Apple store near by. Seems like every apple (iPhone related) forum is complaining about their update. Apple should start naming their updates after sweets like droid. IOs8 the poop filled Twinkie update.

Same problem on iPhone 5 with iOS 8 and 8.0.2. I never had any 3rd party keyboard installed and tried the home button re calibration procedure as well as adjusting double-click speed and neither fixed it. Upgraded to 8.1 beta and problem is solved.

today i replaced the home button "cable", now bug is fixed... Cost 20 - 40 $

you have to replace this - after the problem is fixed...

Thank you, but my phone was fully functional before iOS 8 and now it isn't - and I'm not the only one in this boat.

I don't see why I should have to spend $40 to fix something that Apple broke with a software update, but replacing a home button on a 4s is a bit more complicated than brain surgery, so is likely to cost a good deal more than $40.

Anyway, many people have reported that iOS 8.1 fixes the bug, which proves that while there might be a hardware element, it is a software problem, so I'm going to wait until iOS 8.1 is released publicly before doing anything, and if I have to spend money, then it will be on a new phone that isn't an iPhone.

hi

removing language i added ( iphone language) and removing recents and favorites from multitask somehow worked for ne. Dunno what acctaly fixed it.

I Will wait also until next update.anyway i purchased the home button for 2,6€.

if it does not work after the updare i will change the button.

(i changed some lcds in the past and its tricked but you can make it.

there are quite good manuals on youtube)

anyway the part whi broke my phone is the iOS8.

please if you have time report this thread to apple bugreport

I think this is a software bug with iPhone 5.

I had this bug for the first time with iOS Beta 2. I switched back to iOS 7 and everything was normal again.

Now, with iOS 8, it is back: pressing home button once brings me to mutitasking.

I did not notice the bug on iPad 2 so far.

I just got back from the Apple Store in The Hague, the Netherlands. I had an appointment at a Genius Bar so as to request a home button (cable) repair, since many users in this topic have done likewise, with success. The ‘Genius’ insisted, however, that Apple Store does not repair home button (cable)s; it only performs repairs of the entire screen and home button due to its unibody design, or something along those lines. When I pointed out that many users _did_ get their home buttons fixed by an Apple Store, he answered that many people are just making that up, and that he does not consider the forum to be a source; only my device is the source, and he has to reproduce the problem first.

So I tried to reproduce the problem in front of his eyes. As you know, it’s a random, intermittent problem. Sometimes it goes fine, and sometimes, out of the blue, you get the multitask screen. It took a very long time (5+ mins?) before the bug first appeared, and he was already concluding that it doesn’t happen often enough in order for it to be a serious problem. I told him to use it for a couple of minutes. He used a certain stylus to press the home button with, and nothing went wrong. I then grabbed the phone and started navigating through various apps again, and suddenly, there, it went wrong. He took the Phone again, and continued to press the home button with the stylus, and again, nothing weird happened. He asked: “How come it goes fine whenever I press it?” As if I travelled all the way to the Apple Store and spent money doing so, only to waste his time and fool him. I told him that I have no idea, but I can imagine that it does not occur when using that stylus. Indeed, sometimes the bug doesn’t occur at all using your finger. It’s completely random!

He went on to say that, at any rate, the home button bug did not warrant an entire repair with my 2-year warranty. He agreed that it must be an annoying bug. He said it seems to be a software issue, and he hopes that it will be fixed in a future update. I told him that it’s not just a software issue; it’s also hardware related. I once again referred him to this topic (where people explain that it is somehow a mixture of the hardware and software), but he declined. All he did was to log my problem and extend my warranty. But what is my warranty worth if this is considered ‘not broken enough’? This will be my last post for now. I wish everyone good luck and hope that the update will come soon. I’m going to look elsewhere for a phone.

What a frustrating experience that must have been.

I just tried pressing my home button using a pen tip. I did it until I got tired and the problem didn't occur even once. Then I pressed it with my finger a few times and there it was again. A pen tip, or stylus is of course hard, and a finger tip is soft. This leads me to believe that it has something to do with button bounce and the software compensates in some way; iOS 7 does it better than iOS 8! The fact that the "Genius" insisted on using his stylus when it was apparent that the bug was more likely to occur when the button was pressed with a finger, suggests to me he was aware of this!! I mean, who carries a stylus around? This is incredibly disappointing because, if I'm right, he was being deliberately deceptive.

There is something else that's extremely disappointing about this - Apple could not care less about its customers, unless of course, enough of them scream loud enough. They could not even be bothered to read what customers are saying on discussion forums like this.

Boris.Grobler wrote:

hi

removing language i added ( iphone language) and removing recents and favorites from multitask somehow worked for ne. Dunno what acctaly fixed it.

I just did the same thing and now it works perfectly. Seems to me that adding in the additional functionality of recents and favorites creates the bug. Those settings can be removed by going into settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendars -> Show In App Switcher -> and then turning off Phone Favorites and Recents.

I am curious to hear if this helps everyone else like it did Boris and I. This thing has been frustrating me to no end, made me not even want to use the phone, and now it's all back to normal.

Thank you Boris!

This is a software bug, probably not hard to fix! But fixing it for Apple might mean losing tons of potential customers/consumers who are hesitant about buying a new iPhone or keeping the old one (which has recently started malfunctioning too). Naturally, not many people figure out or get informed that the problem came with the software upgrade and is a bug; and in a country like where I live, fixing an old iPhone would cost so much that buying a new one is almost a wiser thing to do...

After some weeks when things are more settled, hopefully they will release a fix. By then, everybody will be happy... Apple, Operators, folks, fans, and owners of new and old iStuff....

I just did the same thing and now it works perfectly. Seems to me that adding in the additional functionality of recents and favorites creates the bug. Those settings can be removed by going into settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendars -> Show In App Switcher -> and then turning off Phone Favorites and Recents.

I am curious to hear if this helps everyone else like it did Boris and I. This thing has been frustrating me to no end, made me not even want to use the phone, and now it's all back to normal.

Didn't work for me.

I did remove all other languages than English too, as someone suggested, including the installed keyboards.

Thought for a moment it fixed the bug, but didn't.

About recreating the problem: I've noticed that the bug will only occur after there has been interaction with the keyboard. If I just switch around apps everything seems to be fine.