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All iPads Apple, PLEASE Bring Back the Home Button and Headphone Jack to iPad! 😡😡😡

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Xuan Chen

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Okay, I’m calling it: the iPad lineup has lost its soul.

I get it—full-screen displays look stunning in promo videos. But for actual daily use? Gestures are great, but nothing beats the instant, muscle-memory reliability of a physical Home Button. Touch ID in the display is cool, but it’s still slower than a solid click. And don’t even get me started on Face ID on a tablet—it’s awkward when you’re holding it flat on a desk.

And the headphone jack? Why did that have to leave the iPad? The iPhone, I understand (barely). But an iPad has room. It’s a giant slab of aluminum! There’s zero excuse. I don’t want to carry a dongle just to use my wired IEMs for a late-night movie. Bluetooth is convenient, but latency is still a thing, and I shouldn’t need to charge my headphones just to watch a quick video.

Apple, listen:

· The iPad Pro is supposed to be "Pro" — professionals use wired audio.
· The iPad mini is for travel — travelers don't want to pack extra dongles.
· The iPad Air is for everyone — everyone misses the click.

Please, for the love of all that is tactile, bring back the physical Home Button and the 3.5mm headphone jack across the entire iPad line. Rounded edges, flat edges, I don't care—just give me that satisfying click and a place to plug in my headphones.

Who’s with me? 😡🔊
 
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Are you serious??? Apple will never, ever do that. Ever! If they brought back the headphone jack it will take a chunck out of the Airpod business. The ONLY reason Apple removed it the first place was because they wanted you to buy a BT Airpod headset priced at more than $200.
 
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I'd like the headphone jack back, but I don't want the home button because it adds size to the device. Perhaps a good compromise would be to add an iPhone-like action button to the side of the iPad somewhere and allow the user to customise it to function as a home button.
 
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Sgaar said:
Are you serious??? Apple will never, ever do that. Ever! If they brought back the headphone jack it will take a chunck out of the Airpod business. The ONLY reason Apple removed it the first place was because they wanted you to buy a BT Airpod headset priced at more than $200.
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And even if you wanted to be a rebel and not go BT, they still snatched $19 (or now $9) out of your wallet for a Lightning or USB-C to 3.5mm adapter if you didn't comply.
 
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they could make it entirely portless and even make the power/volume buttons some form of haptic and id be perfectly happy. cant relate to this type of need at all.
 
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When I got a 5th gen iPad Mini in 2019, I quickly found that the gesture based navigation made the home button redundant for anything aside from authenticating with TouchID. I had both on that device, while simultaneously using an iPhone without gestures, and I found that I only used the gestures on the iPad.

I would like the headphone jack though, I'm constantly carrying a dongle for that.
 
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I much - much prefer thinner bezels. FaceID is a major step forward over TouchID, no need to step backwards.

Headphone jack? If my iPhone doesn’t have one then why bother on my iPad? I’d have 2 different set of headphones, just one set - let me switch between the 2 devices easily.

So.. I am not with you.
 
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Xuan Chen said:
Okay, I’m calling it: the iPad lineup has lost its soul.

I get it—full-screen displays look stunning in promo videos. But for actual daily use? Gestures are great, but nothing beats the instant, muscle-memory reliability of a physical Home Button. Touch ID in the display is cool, but it’s still slower than a solid click. And don’t even get me started on Face ID on a tablet—it’s awkward when you’re holding it flat on a desk.

And the headphone jack? Why did that have to leave the iPad? The iPhone, I understand (barely). But an iPad has room. It’s a giant slab of aluminum! There’s zero excuse. I don’t want to carry a dongle just to use my wired IEMs for a late-night movie. Bluetooth is convenient, but latency is still a thing, and I shouldn’t need to charge my headphones just to watch a quick video.

Apple, listen:

· The iPad Pro is supposed to be "Pro" — professionals use wired audio.
· The iPad mini is for travel — travelers don't want to pack extra dongles.
· The iPad Air is for everyone — everyone misses the click.

Please, for the love of all that is tactile, bring back the physical Home Button and the 3.5mm headphone jack across the entire iPad line. Rounded edges, flat edges, I don't care—just give me that satisfying click and a place to plug in my headphones.

Who’s with me? 😡🔊
Click to expand...
Yes, I'd love the Touch ID home button and headphone port to return to iPads. And I'd add functional top/bottom bezels (at least bottom). Basically they were designed perfectly for me from around 2013-2017.

Bezels so I can easily grab the iPad without accidentally hitting a screen button, although I would accept software bezels, so the user can decide how they want to use that screen real estate--but apps would have to support the different aspect ratios.

I'd like the Touch ID home button on the iPad Mini (much better than Touch ID power button) because I use my Mini pretty much exactly like I use my iPhone, and the way I use my iPhone results in a lot of Face ID failures. I often lay it flat on a table next to me, and I use it while I'm lying in bed and often my face is partially obstructed by a pillow etc. I wouldn't mind Touch ID home button on the larger iPad but I also don't mind Face ID on it since I almost exclusively use it like a laptop with the Magic Keyboard. But if Touch ID was built into the iPad Magic Keyboard like it's built into the Mac Magic Keyboard, then I'd like that more. I just really don't prefer Face ID, but I know a lot of people do.

And the headphone port is handy for not having to have adapters on all my wired headphones (which I need for no latency, higher fidelity audio, or when my BT headphones run out of battery). I have to put on and take off the adapter depending on which device I'm using my headphones with which is an annoying hassle.

But realistically I don't see any of these wishes happening😂
 
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conmee said:
If Apple went retro, then I'd also want bezels, 3D Touch, flush camera/no bump to go along with the home button and headphone jack. 😉
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3D Touch on the iPad? That never happened, I'm guessing because it was more difficult to implement in an iPad than in a small iPhone, but that would have been awesome. 3D Touch was extremely useful and I'm still bummed it went away.
 
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How hard is it to just swipe up from the bottom to go home? I can’t fathom why anyone would want or need the home button back. And for headphone jack I would say probably 90% of the population has moved on to Bluetooth headphones….. for audiophiles and professionals who need the jack then just get the $20 3.5mm to usb c adapter. Touch ID is slow and clunky compared to the instant unlock of Face ID….. I strongly disagree with you on all points OP. I think you’re in the minority here despite you making it sound like this is something that everyone wants
 
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Xuan Chen said:
Okay, I’m calling it: the iPad lineup has lost its soul.

I get it—full-screen displays look stunning in promo videos. But for actual daily use? Gestures are great, but nothing beats the instant, muscle-memory reliability of a physical Home Button. Touch ID in the display is cool, but it’s still slower than a solid click. And don’t even get me started on Face ID on a tablet—it’s awkward when you’re holding it flat on a desk.

And the headphone jack? Why did that have to leave the iPad? The iPhone, I understand (barely). But an iPad has room. It’s a giant slab of aluminum! There’s zero excuse. I don’t want to carry a dongle just to use my wired IEMs for a late-night movie. Bluetooth is convenient, but latency is still a thing, and I shouldn’t need to charge my headphones just to watch a quick video.

Apple, listen:

· The iPad Pro is supposed to be "Pro" — professionals use wired audio.
· The iPad mini is for travel — travelers don't want to pack extra dongles.
· The iPad Air is for everyone — everyone misses the click.

Please, for the love of all that is tactile, bring back the physical Home Button and the 3.5mm headphone jack across the entire iPad line. Rounded edges, flat edges, I don't care—just give me that satisfying click and a place to plug in my headphones.

Who’s with me? 😡🔊
Click to expand...
Tons of good thoughts!

Our forum really needed that humble opinion on things.

I can’t say that I miss home button a lot but… I do. Whenever I get Samsung phone in my hands I always use digital buttons instead of gestures, because they provide this option. Apple has never given those options.

You are 100% right on the fact that ANY display ratio larger than 16x9 (basically all modern iPhones) is useless. Because content is either in 4:3 or 16:9, no one makes content for 19.5:9 or 21:9, because no one cares for those ridiculous resolutions.

I most home buttons with Touch ID. I can’t stand any type of Face ID and hate it, so inconvenient. The non-tactile type they introduced after iPhone 6s sucks tho - it doesn’t feel like real button you can actually click. I would rather use gestures or on-screen buttons than solid-state hardware “button”.

As for the 3.5 jack there was no need to remove it from any device. If they wanted they could have found room for it, but instead they are forcing their own lineup of wireless headphones upon us. And I am among those people who hate when something is being forced upon me. If I don’t want wireless - don’t push it.

Removing it from the iPads was the most stupid idea ever. And iPads are still not water-resistant! And they still don’t feature wireless charging! It is very hard to use iPad for audio and music production out-of-the-box, you gotta first connect your USB audio interface (which eats iPad battery btw, full 5V of power, drain is in fact HUGE) or dongle and only then can enjoy. It puts additional strain on already bad port. If they wanted to remove 3.5 they should have added two Type-C ports, one for example instead of 3.5 and another is in its usual place.

But there is slightly more to that.
Phones and tablets with home button just had more real estate for fingers to rest. It wasn’t all-screen, ergonomics were perfect, especially on original 9.7 iPads and 4 inch iPhones (5, 5s, SE 1).

I blame competition for it. It is sad Apple had to copy them just to cater to “market”. I don’t really understand who asked for all of that, today it is harder than ever for me to simply enjoy my smartphone, from “a window to Internet” it turned into some anxiety-inducing device. Probably good for people who love TikTok, but not for me. I want phone to feel firm in hand, be a perfect photography device and still look good. Sadly none of the iPhones check those boxes for me today.

Btw today it is especially inconvenient to hold iPhone in hand - it is both too large and too heavy. Pro models are more than 200 grams. At this point I can already move to iPad Mini… at least it has proper screen ratio
 
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Spinarelo said:
How hard is it to just swipe up from the bottom to go home? I can’t fathom why anyone would want or need the home button back. And for headphone jack I would say probably 90% of the population has moved on to Bluetooth headphones….. for audiophiles and professionals who need the jack then just get the $20 3.5mm to usb c adapter. Touch ID is slow and clunky compared to the instant unlock of Face ID….. I strongly disagree with you on all points OP. I think you’re in the minority here despite you making it sound like this is something that everyone wants
Click to expand...
And your comment is actually a big deal: you are assuming that people who liked old Apple aesthetic are in the minority.

90% of people use that because it is all forced on them. The ads everywhere, the peer pressure, the planned obsolescence. People upgrade because they have to, not because they want to.

I mean it is good to disagree on things but it is not ideal to start it like “no one uses that, no one needs that”. Apparently people do and people care, it is just large corporations who dictate what is going to be the next big thing and what's not.

If iPhone still had home button or minijack I bet there would NEVER have been any threads all over the Internet like “why Apple doesn’t remove those stupid technologies, who needs them?? No one uses them, c’mon! Everyone wants their face scanned with lasers in the future, time to live the Star Trek experience!”.

Like… we still have minijack and Touch ID in many MacBooks, all PCs are equipped with minijacks. No one calls for removal of those just because “people have wireless”, people either use them or dust them
 
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Arctic Moose said:
Apple, please disregard this nonsense. 🙂



And also probably do not want to use the internal DAC, but rather a better one connected through USB-C.
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Apple back in the days had some of the BEST audio converters. Their core audio pipeline was and still is one-of-its-kind experience in terms of zero artifacts and pristine audio quality. The only reason to get USB audio interface (which ain’t cheap too, Focusrite costs more than 100$) is if you wanna power something like Beyerdynamic DT880, the 250 Ohm version. But most people don’t even have them. Also audio interface drains battery a lot
 
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I prefer the Home button on iPads as well. Unfortunately the Touch ID button on newer models isn’t as convenient as the Home button. I still appreciate having a Home button on my iPad mini 5, but it probably will only last another year or two.
 
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While I don't mind thick bezels, I don't miss the actual Home button at the bottom of an iPad. I also don't like the 'under display Touch ID' idea as well. The current implementation is pretty solid. As far as wired headphone, I invested myself a USB-C headphone.
 
I wouldn’t upgrade to a home button iPad. I had the chance to upgrade to the 3rd-gen SE and I didn’t. I got used to and appreciate the advantages of the full-screen design. The headphone jack is long gone for me, too.

That said… that doesn’t mean that I dislike the home button devices I have. I still have my 9.7-inch iPad Pro, and I’ve always stated that it’s my favourite iPad ever because it’s the final iteration of Apple’s original design idea for the iPad.

I have no problems whatsoever with using that iPad for a while instead of a full-screen iPad. It runs iOS 12 and obviously compatibility suffers nowadays, but when I grab it I don’t feel like it is an ancient device. I’ve always used my iPads for content consumption and for that the full-screen iPads are decidedly better, but I can use my 9.7-inch just fine.

That said, as much as I like my 9.7-inch iPad Pro, I wouldn’t buy a fully-featured, new iteration of it today. Give it everything the M5 Pro has with a home button and bezels like my 9.7-inch iPad Pro and I wouldn’t buy. I won’t get rid of mine either, though, like I said, I really like it.
 
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Home button? No. Though some cases suck and make swiping up harder. That's on the case.
Jack? If it means slightly more battery too in order to use the thickness or slightly better cooling, sure. Nice to be able to use any headphones and not worry about losing a dongle.
 
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