iphone 7 plus home button and power button don't respond

I have an iphone 7 plus

I've noticed quite a few times intermittently all of the hard button on my phone stop responding.

In example, the power button won't shut off the screen and the home button won't go back to anything.

I'm not sure about the volume buttons but i assume they as well aren't responding since i don't see the overlay for volume come up when i press them.


Anything i have on my touch screen is still responsive and i can still do anything i need to with the touch screen, but that's obviously limited to whatever app i have open since i can't get back to the menu.

For instance if i have iMessage open i can still send messages and write messages but i can't exit the app to do something else.


This is unique to my iphone 7 plus, since i had never experienced this behavior in my iphone 6 plus in the past 2+ years, i also did not experience any of this even with iOS 10 in the 2 weeks or so i had it installed on my iphone 6 plus, only on my iphone 7 plus.

There's only way way i've found to make the hard buttons work again and that's frantically push a bunch of them until the phone registers it finally.

After i see the buttons respond, i notice it's actually going through all the behaviors i had pushed on the buttons up until that point. So i'll see the screen turn on and off multiple times and go in and out of the home menu.

This has happened at least half a dozen times and i've only had my phone for 10 days.


In reference i've also had a coworker run into the same issue on his iphone 7 plus 256GB but he found that doing a hard reset with the down volume and power button does the trick for him.


Both of the "fixes" in my opinion are pretty lousy ways to get your phone working again.


Any known issue with hard buttons registering in the software? It seems like all of the actions get buffered and don't actually hit the software for response.

iPhone 7 Plus, iOS 10.0.2, null

Posted on Oct 9, 2016 7:34 PM

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47 replies

Nov 22, 2016 5:59 AM in response to neosirex

I had the same issue this morning my screen went black while I was on a phone call and i couldn't get it to turn back on I tried everything even plugging it into the charger and having someone else call me but I finally was able to find out how to restart my phone on the iPhone 7 and 7 plus you have to use the volume down button and lock button and it will restart your phone. I hope to not have this problem again its pretty annoying.

Nov 23, 2016 6:52 PM in response to neosirex

Same problem here, usually happens about once a week since I've had it. Took it to Apple and they said this issue is unheard of.. Has happened twice today within an hour or so. Quite frustrating.. Had an iPhone 5 and 6 and never had an issue like this, love the 7, hate the continissues.


Has anybody been able to resolve this issue yet?

Nov 27, 2016 6:46 AM in response to jdo_apple

I had the exact same thing happen to me. Was using snapchat and seemed fine wasn't freezing or loading slowly. Then for about 10 minutes neither the home or lock screen button would work.

My instant reaction was to search "settings" in the scroll from the top of the screen, and go to Accessabiltiy to use AccessibilityTouch. That way you can use the home button and lock button to restart your phone.


I'm just worried if this means it's the start of some bigger issues?!

Dec 3, 2016 8:49 AM in response to neosirex

I had this exact issue. When I called Apple Support, they ran a remote diagnostic on my phone and said that the only problems identified were known bugs the iOS version that I had. Those bugs were addressed in iOS 10.1.1. The tech recommended that I download that version and scheduled a call-back in 24 hours. If the phone exhibits the problem again, either in the 24-hour period or after, Apple will schedule an in-store appointment for a physical examination of the phone and repair or replacement if needed.

Dec 7, 2016 11:28 AM in response to neosirex

Same problem

I have iPhone 7 128 gb.

Power and home buttons don't response but they click. Until I leave my iPhone to automatically turn off the screen everything goes normal again.

It seems software.

Phone hanged in iMessage.

The iPhone is brand new.

I came from android seeking stability. What a shame :(

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iphone 7 plus home button and power button don't respond

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