Q: Notification Center Issues

Hi Casey2003,

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities. 

Based on your post, I see that you are having an issue with the Notification Center causing your iPhone's Home Button to become unresponsive, and you have to perform a force restart. I use the Notification Center a lot to view my recent text messages, so I know how critical it is we get this resolved. I have a few things that I would like you to try. 

First, use the following article and make sure that you have a recent backup of your iPhone's important data:

How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

​Next, let's make sure any apps running in the background are not causing any issues by closing all open apps on your iPhone, and then test the Notification Center again to see if you get the same unresponsive result. This resource will help close all open apps:

Force an app to close on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch​

Then, if you still have an issue after that, we want to look into isolating the software on the iPhone from the hardware. Please use the article below to restore your iPhone to factory settings and then test the Notification Center again:

Use iTunes on your Mac or PC to restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod to factory settings

And finally, this article will help you restore from a backup after you have tested:

Restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from a backup​

Best Regards.