iPhone 7+ home "button" cracked!!

Update on my case, the shop where I bought it did replace it for no charge. They said they thought it looked like impact damage, but took my word for it and agreed to exchange. I think it helped that I alerted them the next day after buying it, and saw the same staff in the shop as when I bought it. If it had happened 6 months down the line I doubt they would have agreed to an exchange. I'd recommend to anyone with this same problem when talking to Apple or the store, to point to this thread - over 350 people can't be raising this issue on here for fun.

If your iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad is Broken

Apple does not usually fix iDevices except for screens and minor work they can do in their shop. Instead, they exchange yours for a refurbished or new replacement depending upon the age of your device and refurbished inventories. On rare occasions when there are no longer refurbished units for your older model, they may replace it with the next newer model. You may take your device to an Apple retailer for help or you may call Customer Service and arrange to send your device to Apple: You can make an appointment at the Apple Retail Store - Genius Bar and take it in for service. You can also look for an Apple Store - Find a Store - Apple. You will find respective repair costs in the appropriate link:

iPod Service Support and Costs

iPhone Service Support and Costs

iPad Service Support and Costs

To fix the non working home button, Apple workers must replace the whole display with a new button for $149 to 169. Apple now has thousands of these 'removed' displays which go into their refurbished products. A bonus for Apple.

Same thing happened to me on Christmas day. Took a few pictures of my family. Sat my phone on the coffee table to while I picked up a few things in the living room, walked back over and picked it up to start taking some more pictures and had the Touch ID not working error, but noticed right away that the haptics on the home button wasn't working. My phone was in a LifeProof case (had been since the day I bought it) and I could see the cracks through the protective film of the case. Took the phone out of the case and could feel the cracks in the home button. It cracked in a few different directions. After figuring out how to get in to it so I could turn on the 'on screen home button', I noticed it was hot to the touch. Later that day, I also noticed this was causing the battery to drain pretty quick. Had this 7+ for a little over a year so no warranty available. From there I spent the rest of my Christmas day trying to figure out what to do and ended up spending most of the next day driving to different AT&T stores to track down buying a replacement phone. When I found this post a couple of days ago, there were 702 'I have this question too's' and it's at 712 today and most of the descriptions here are the same as what happened to me, so it looks like this is still happening. So... is there a short happening behind the button, heating it up to the point that the glass button cracks while it's sitting there? It's sort of a blindside when you put your phone in a heavy duty case, take great care of it and then it cracks literally from the inside out. :(

Adding to this thread because this just happened to my wife’s iPhone 8. The phone was just sitting on the counter. Nothing touched it. The “Touch ID disabled” notification came on and when she touched the home button, it shattered. It had been working perfectly just a few minutes prior. How frustrating that Apple is not acknowledging this as an issue if so many people have experienced it.

This just happened to me as well. Phone was in my pocket and I was listening to a book on tape. Phone got hot and the next thing I knew it was rebooting, for about an hour, and then I got the message about not being able to use touch ID and the assistive button showed up on the screen. Home button is cracked and hot. My phone wasn't dropped and it is always in an otterbox with a zagg protector (which I realize doesn't cover the home button). How many people have to have this issue for apple to recognize it as an issue??

Same **** happen to me yesterday. Did not droped it or any damage what so ever. I have a hard case and screen protector. When to open the phone and felt it crack right on my thumb with out pressing hard at all.

This is ********, phone is 5 months old. Apple said its physical damage paid $169 to get the whole screen and home button replace. Apple wont just replace the home button, there is much to it than that.

Sounds like another lawsuit coming up for Apple. I feel that Apple knows about this issue.

Same problem happened in my iPhone 7.

My cell phone suddenly reboot when I was playing music. I leave my iPhone on desk but the home button was suddenly cracked. I swear I did not touch / drop it down. Obviously it is the problem about design and material used for home button. I guess all victims can try to accuse to Apple. It’s not for money but our right.

Same here- did not touch it at all and I tried to get it fixed but they only could offer an entire screen replacement ($140)

so i've been using assertive touch, my batter now dies within 12 hours and the home button area get extremely hot sporadically while using it.

Not very pleased with this. Hoping they come out with this as a malfunction and replace them for free!

Sadly, Apple will only repair your device. If they are in a good mood and say it’s a defect they will do it for free.

You can’t get it repaired elsewhere because Apple attaches an ID to every button so only the ones they replace work.

The same thing happened to me 3 hours ago. The phone was in my empty pocket for not more than 1 minute, I didn't hurt nothing and I didn't drop it. When I tried to take it from the pocket I felt like a little splinter in my hand and I thought "what the **** there's in my pocket?!?" well, there was nothing else that my dead iPhone with the home button cracked! I tried to switch it on but it's not working, it's just showing me the white screen with apple logo and a black one in loop, and in the meanwhile the home button is super hot.

Just a few moment before all that the phone was working perfectly, and it never appeared the warning message that someone get...

I can’t believe it. That’s exactly what happened to mine. I was listening to music and then it suddenly stopped, I checked it to see what happened and it was rebooting and there was a crack on the home button. I thought something must have somehow fallen on it but when? It was just sitting there. Hopefully I can get this fixed; I’m overseas.

I am having the same issue not to mention I had my phone in an otterbox and the crack appeared while it was sitting on a table on charge and untouched. I hear it is apparently the phone overheating causeing the crack.

One night in November, when my never dropped, always Otterboxed, perfectly functional iPhone 7+ was just about 3 months, I went to bed after placing it on the charger in the floor between my mattress and the wall. There was literally no way for it to fall. I woke up in the morning to the same error message described in a number of forums here. “TouchID not available.” The little Assistive Touch dot-box automatically appeareared. That was nifty. Kinda impressed, I decided just to go with with it. Karma. I noticed the hallmark hairline fracture had also spontaneously appeared on my home “button” area.

Since then, every time, after my phone died or was otherwise reset I experienced a surprise length boot loop. It seemed that plugging the thing into a computer most always solved the boot loop issue after just a few minutes.

Then one day, I got a call that my grandmother was in the hospital. My phone died in the car 30 minutes into the 4.5 hour drive while I was in the midst of attempting to get my grandmother transferred to a better hospital. After that it seemed there was no reviving it. I hadn’t brought my computer and would not be turning back for it. But all the sudden I was unreasonably angry that this stupid button was broken due to no fault of my own...yadayadayada meltdown in Verizon store ending up with the phone spontaneously coming back to life after about an hour of my using the manager’s phone in the break room to talk with nurses and hospital administrators. I learned not to let my phone die...for a bit.

Fast forward to three days ago. I woke up to a dead phone. I’d forgotten to charge it overnight. No big deal. I plugged it into the computer, expecting it to flash three or four Apple logos and then return to somewhat normal functionality...

No. The phone booted and booted and booted and booted and booted and booted and booted for 36 hours. I tried updating and then restoring it. I tried restoring it again and again and again to no avail. I dug out my smashed screen 6S Plus, dropped it off with a guy named Caveman to fix. $120 for a new screen. Called Apple and got an RMA. As I was pulling in to pick up the repaired phone I noticed that my 7+ was saying “Hello, Hola, Bonjour, 您好, etc. Press home to open”

What a freakin joke.

No more Assistive Touch dot-box. Why did it always know before to give it to me; that the “button” was not functional, but now it’s all the sudden forgot?

It was on the setup screen for a few hours. After I restarted it a number times, it started up the endless boot loop again. So glad I am not alone in my experience of spontaneous TouchID/home button failure. I’m really hoping Apple will repair. It is highly inconvenient that my nearest Apple store is 3 hours away, but I am thankful for my 6S Plus. It works like a charm without a totally smashed face. I await my Return box.