Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPhone 4 Home button randomly unresponsive...

dangermouse7 said:
Had the same problem with my iphone4. Till found a solution:

1.) Open any application

2.) Press and hold the power button until the slide to shutdown swipe bar appears.

3.) Release Power button

4.) Press and hold Home button Lightly
until screen returns to icon screen

5.) Enjoy your functioning home button!!!

This procedure recalibrates the home button after normal wear or heavy use.
Click to expand...

Doesn't work, as attested to by many users. All it does is force quit the app you're in, it has nothing to do with calibration.

What DOES work for some is a good cleanout. Search the main iPhone forum for the "Home Button Fix" thread for instructions on how to vacuum out the area without having to dismantle the phone. If the problem is still reasonably intermittent, it may work for you as it has for others, myself included (went from about 1 in 20 presses failing to two failures in the week since I performed the cleanout).
 
So I decided to take my phone apart and clean the home button thoroughly, and I have to say that it's the same as before, maybe only slightly better. The actual area around the home button was fairly clean, and the plastic "button" itself only had dirt/grime around the edge of it, which I don't think necessarily caused any issues. What I DO think the problem is, is the fact that the home button design is crap.

You know how the home button moves very slightly (assuming it's clean, and not stuck against the edges of the glass by aforementioned dirt/grime)? That's because there's nothing holding it in place. There's two little plastic tabs that keep it from rotating, but even those don't fit flush with the housing. There's no glue or anything to keep it from moving. What this means, I realized, is that anything except a perfect press of the button in the dead center with enough pressure, won't register as a click. I know that all the iPhones' home buttons are designed the same crappy way, but from what I can tell, the other models are not nearly as finicky about how you press the button...maybe it's the size of the actual switch or the way the iP4's home button ribbon cable positioning keeps it from staying perfectly still, I don't know.

Anyway, maybe I'm wrong about this, and maybe I just suck at pressing the home button perfectly every time, but I was pretty surprised at how much the home button housing sucks compared to the flawless and amazingly well thought-out design of the rest of the phone.

By the way, the whole thing about vaccuming out dust through the 30-pin connector hole? I don't see how that can possibly clean out anything near the home button. The 30 pin hole isn't just an opening into the innards of the phone, it's closed off from any of the other internals, including the home button. I cleaned out a disgusting amount of dust from the 30-pin hole, but that had nothing to do with my home button. I really believe that it's just a crappy design and possibly defective home button assemblies that are to blame. The dust/dirt has little to do with it.
 
I definitely agree on the design being crappy, because this is way too common an issue. And I too don't see how the tap/vacuum trick could possibly work, but it did. I seriously was at the point of contemplating taking mine into Apple because it was getting so bad--which for me means giving up an untethered JB and a preserved 1.59 baseband. It was THAT annoying.

And now it isn't. Maybe all the tapping involved knocked something into place that was out of whack, or knocked out some dust (now wandering elsewhere in the phone?) that interfered with the button function. And maybe we're seeing the same symptoms from different causes. I don't know. I'm just grateful that with 10 minutes of work, I dodged having to replace my phone, and figure for such a tiny investment, it's worth trying even if it doesn't end up working for your particular instance.
 
Yeah I'm considering ordering a new one, except from iFixit for $15 because I think they're one of the few places that have actual OEM Apple parts.

Although there's something I don't get, or am understanding it wrong; maybe someone can clarify. The home button itself isn't the actual button, is it? By that I mean, it's not the part that actual gets pressed down? Because if you take the phone apart, the button itself appears to be underneath the plastic "button," which doesn't make sense because the plastic part has the ribbon cable? How exactly does this thing even function? If I understood it better maybe I'd see why it doesn't work as it should.

Look here for what I'm talking about...see the metallic round thing on the actual phone assembly? Isn't that what one would assume is the real button?
XUTOo2NVRjC2lVZX.medium
 
Appleipodparts is a UK based provider of genuine parts.

The part that produces the tactile click is a little metal flexible dome, with the top of the dome facing towards the back of the phone. The flat bottom of this is connected to the ribbon cable and has a sticky pad. You remove the old one, remove the backing from the new one and carefully stick it to the plastic home button. You will need tweezers to fit the ribbon cable back into the cable retainer.
 
Tonsko said:
Appleipodparts is a UK based provider of genuine parts.

The button part and cable is sticky - when you get a new one, you peel off the backing and carefully stick it to the plastic home button. You willneed tweezers to fit the ribbon cable back into the cable retainer.
Click to expand...

Ahhh okay that actually makes sense. So I was wrong when I said there's no adhesive, I guess it just wears away much too quickly.
 
Sorry for double posting, but I want to report that I did end up buying a replacement home button, and just finished installing it. I had a lot of trouble with the putting the ribbon cable into its socket, and realized that the little retainer clip doesn't actually even hold the cable in place...I don't know what it does, but no matter how far in I push the cable, it can always come out, clip or not. Anyway, I jammed it in there as far as it would go, and am ecstatic to report that my home button is FINALLY FIXED. Feels like a brand new phone. If anyone else is having second thoughts, I urge you to go ahead and do this. If your phone is out of warranty, and you're capable of following directions to a tee with caution and patience, this is a no-brainer. Thanks to iFixit, my phone feels like it did on day 1.
 
The cable retainer flips up to release the ribbon cable and flips down to lock it in place. If you didn't do this, at some point you may experience problems if it slips out. Of course, you may not! Just wanted to make you aware :)
 
Tonsko said:
The cable retainer flips up to release the ribbon cable and flips down to lock it in place. If you didn't do this, at some point you may experience problems if it slips out. Of course, you may not! Just wanted to make you aware :)
Click to expand...

No, I understand what the cable retainer is /supposed/ to do, what I'm saying is that on MY phone, at least, it didn't feel like it was working properly. The cable retainer is at the very edge of the socket, whereas the portion of the ribbon cable that has the connectors on it is only about half as long as the socket itself. So even if the retainer clamps down on it, it's only doing so on like the very, very edge, like a half millimeter's worth of cable. Anyway, it shouldn't be an issue because the glass holds the home button in place, and the headphone assembly is stuck on top of where the ribbon cable bends around the middle frame of the phone, so there should be no movement. In any case, if it does come loose, it shouldn't be too difficult to fix it, because I only have to disassemble to the point where I remove the speaker assembly.
 
reaborg said:
What did you notice about the old home button that was causing the issues for you? I've heard some threads mention that it is dust/lint buildup interfering with the electrical contacts.
Click to expand...

The home button is sealed, no lint can get "between the contacts". Sometimes glass will get under it and prevent it from making the circuit if the screen has been cracked but otherwise its just a detiriorating flex. Seems its a known issue, I've fixed a few myself!
 
dangermouse7 said:
Had the same problem with my iphone4. Till found a solution:

1.) Open any application

2.) Press and hold the power button until the slide to shutdown swipe bar appears.

3.) Release Power button

4.) Press and hold Home button Lightly
until screen returns to icon screen

5.) Enjoy your functioning home button!!!

This procedure recalibrates the home button after normal wear or heavy use.
Click to expand...

That actually seems to work for me. For how long though, we'll see...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back