iPhone 7 Home Button Requires Capacitive Touch to Work

[ZacNicholson]

feel bad for those people who use prosthetics

 

[Swm61230]

Why don't you turn in assistive touch. Then you can push them home button and bring up the screen for pass code unlock.

 

[makingdots]

I'm suspicious about that huge Taptic Engine.. it's possible there's something else inside it. Maybe a receiver for REAL wireless charging? Considering it's well-placed under the battery? Can anyone look into it?

 

[Stella]

'It just works' - apple

We don't all live in temperate climates... I'm surprised at apples oversight.

 

[code-m]

Press the power button instead?

Not going to work. Apple does it again. Wait for an Apple accessory to this problem.

Make iPhone thinner = humpback battery case
Remove headphone jack = wireless earphones
Exclude OIS in 6/6S = Plus model upgrade
Exclude dual camera on 7 = Plus model upgrade

At this rate Apple will make the iPhone modular based, might be a good thing.

 

[iPlayStation]

Title says home button doesn't work without skin contact. Article says some gloves work with the new home button. What's your point? Advertising?

 

[Aiwaz418]

The other 92% of the surface has the same restriction, so uh, I don't really care.

Precisely. It's a non-issue.

For those of us who have to work in the cold with touchscreen devices (like during film production), the selection of capacitive gloves is quite large.

 

[MathersMahmood]

I don't get it. Is it really an issue?

 

[Paddle1]

The problem would be to unlock the phone.

You can't unlock the phone without touching the screen or Touch ID. You can't do those with gloves on.. unless you don't have a passcode.

 

[joeblow7777]

Don't you have to take off gloves to use the phone anyway? And if all you want to do is wake it up to see the lock screen, you can still just press the power button.

 

[MasterRyu2011]

can't think of any clever gate for this. I give up

 

[paradox00]

The problem would be to unlock the phone.

You could never unlock a phone with gloves on.

 

[Kaibelf]

This is going to be a terrible problem for all those people who drive off a wintry cliff and can't pull off their gloves to make a call before Annie Wilkes gets to their car.

 

[Mascots]

Even if you could click the button, you would need skin contact to unlock the phone with a passcode.

While there may be a handful of situations where I want to check the lock screen, I can use the lock button or raise-to-wake. Nonissue in my opinion

 

[uknowimright]

Didn't know we had that many posters that can't read, maybe I'll start a gofundme for classes for you guys

 

[Aquaporin]

I wish there was a phone that supported the face unlock that was introduced in Windows 10.

 

[Mascots]

I'm suspicious about that huge Taptic Engine.. it's possible there's something else inside it. Maybe a receiver for REAL wireless charging? Considering it's well-placed under the battery? Can anyone look into it?

They have, there is not. Why would they do that?

 

[HiVolt]

Remember folks, some people wear gloves ALL THE TIME...

You mean some mouses!

 

[jclo]

Agree. Touch ID requires direct contact with a fingerprint.
How is this news?

On iPhone 6s, you could unlock the phone manually with a passcode by pressing on the Home button to bring up the passcode menu. I have capacitive gloves that work after I do this. On the iPhone 7, you can't bring up the passcode entry window -- capacitive gloves don't seem to work on the Home button.

 

[swingerofbirch]

Not sure how this is really an issue. All you could do before, assuming you have touch ID enabled, is check the lock screen by pressing the button with gloves on.

Agree. Touch ID requires direct contact with a fingerprint.
How is this news?

Because before you could swipe to unlock and use gloves to enter your password after waking up the phone with gloved hands.

Plus this means the home button will be useless for all other functions if you have gloves on--not just unlocking. It's using Touch ID to recognize a finger, not just to unlock.

 

[Sefstah]

This will be the death of Apple

 

[jclo]

Title says home button doesn't work without skin contact. Article says some gloves work with the new home button. What's your point? Advertising?

I've only seen one guy say that his touchscreen gloves work. Two pairs of mine don't and I've seen several other tweets that they don't work, so I don't know for sure what the situation is or what the gloves he has do that mine don't.

 

[maxsix]

"As discovered by Myke Hurley (via Daring Fireball), iPhone 7 and 7 Plus users are going to have a tough time unlocking their devices during wintertime. As it turns out, the new "solid-state" Home button on the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus requires skin contact to function."

Well that's just one more reason, besides the cheesy buzzing tactile experience, that makes this a deal breaker.

Sure hope Apple corrects this colossal mistake before building iPhone 8.

 

[mtneer]

If it is too cold to expose skin for even a couple of seconds to touch the screen, isn't the temperature already easy below what the iPhone would tolerate? Wouldn't the phone/ battery undergo a thermal shutdown?

 

[Mascots]

On iPhone 6s, you could unlock the phone manually with a passcode by pressing on the Home button to bring up the passcode menu. I have capacitive gloves that work after I do this. On the iPhone 7, you can't bring up the passcode entry window -- capacitive gloves don't seem to work on the Home button.

Capacitive gloves allow a capacitive signal through the material, which trigger the home button, which registers the force. That's why they are called capacitive gloves. It will work as before.

Edit. Or maybe not? I highly doubt that though. If your gloves will register force touch, they'll will register the button.