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Tempermental iPhone 4 home button 4.1

Hi,

As said in the other thread, this is from a user from tipd.com and it worked flawlessly for me:

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 (on the screen with the shutdown slider)
until screen returns to icon screen (this took at least 20s on my phone).

5.) Enjoy your functioning home button!!!

Edit: This didn't work for long, here is the link to the thread, there are some other things I am going to try.

http://www.tipb.com/2011/01/04/tipb-bug-home-button-working-iphone/
 
Last edited:
And as I said in that other thread, that "fix" is total bollocks.

Wow, this is total bullcrap and I can't believe all those people on TIPB fell for this.

Step 4, how exactly do you press and hold the home button "lightly"? You either press and hold it or you don't, there's no "lightly" way. Or at least the phone has no way to register if the press&hold is light or hard.

Next, to prove this is total BS, you don't even have to do anything during step4 and you'll see the phone eventually returns to home screen by itself, after about 20 seconds. That's some serious home button recalibration right there!

Gotta love placebo!
Click to expand...
 
Didn't work for me, out of 10 presses 3 were unresponsive. This is definitely a hardware issue.
 
I stopped at the Genius Bar again a couple days ago because the Home button is still an issue. I showed my phone to the Genius and told him the problem is intermittent, I didn't see him test the Home Button like I usually do by pressing the button multiple times in a row. But he checked my warranty, it was about 70 days out of warranty since I purchased it on Day 1. I asked if they would still honor the warranty because the issue began to occur before the warranty was expired, but I hadn't reported it at that time, he said they would not honor the warranty.

He recommend I do a full restore, not just an iOS update, claiming that since the issue is intermittent it's likely a software issue (I don't see how an intermittent problem would indicate a hardware or software problem either way).

So at this point I will do the full restore and see if that fixes anything. If not, then I'll probably just hold on until the iPhone 5 is released then sell the 4.
 
This solution worked for me:

Connect your iPhone to your computer and directly push and hold the homebutton till Voicedialing comes up.
When Voidedialing is opened press 'cancel' to close Voicedialing.
This resets the homebutton in some kind of way.

My homebutton is now working normally.
 
guys, this problem is due to dust (a lot of it) stuck underneath the home button. it's not hardware, nor is it software.

my ip4 was out of warranty, took it to a shop, the guy told me that he will show me what's wrong. opened it up and the area underneath the home button is full of dust. got that cleaned up and put the ip4 back together and no more issue. nothing was changed or replaced.
 
lansi23 said:
guys, this problem is due to dust (a lot of it) stuck underneath the home button. it's not hardware, nor is it software.

my ip4 was out of warranty, took it to a shop, the guy told me that he will show me what's wrong. opened it up and the area underneath the home button is full of dust. got that cleaned up and put the ip4 back together and no more issue. nothing was changed or replaced.
Click to expand...

Wait, so you're saying there's no uber-secret home button re-calibration routine built into the phone's OS, that you may or may not happen to discover either by yourself or reading random advice on the internet? Noway!

Because last time i checked the routine was as follows:

1. Hold phone vertically, perpendicular to the ground and dial 911.
2. Flip phone 90deg left and then 180 deg right.
3. Press home button 3 times *roughly* and shout "Oneoneeleveeeeeen!"
4. Home button is now recalibrated and working!!!
5. Also, police is coming for you.
 
This is clearly a hardware issue. Just because anyone has noticed it after an OS change is mere coincidence. I'm now on my 4th, and each failure was the button as confirmed by a genius.

It continues to disgust me that Apple would use an old tech mechanical button on a touch screen phone. No matter how careful and clean I keep my phone they fail at an alarming rate.
 
I dropped by an Apple store to speak with a Genius and he said the Home Button issue is related to dust buildup. The typical procedure is to clean out the dust and the problem should be resolved.

However I can imagine if the dust has been in there long enough, the button itself would need to be replaced.
 
lansi23 said:
guys, this problem is due to dust (a lot of it) stuck underneath the home button. it's not hardware, nor is it software.

my ip4 was out of warranty, took it to a shop, the guy told me that he will show me what's wrong. opened it up and the area underneath the home button is full of dust. got that cleaned up and put the ip4 back together and no more issue. nothing was changed or replaced.
Click to expand...

globalist said:
Wait, so you're saying there's no uber-secret home button re-calibration routine built into the phone's OS, that you may or may not happen to discover either by yourself or reading random advice on the internet? Noway!

Because last time i checked the routine was as follows:

1. Hold phone vertically, perpendicular to the ground and dial 911.
2. Flip phone 90deg left and then 180 deg right.
3. Press home button 3 times *roughly* and shout "Oneoneeleveeeeeen!"
4. Home button is now recalibrated and working!!!
5. Also, police is coming for you.
Click to expand...

LMFAO!

It's not related to dust of any kind. I've had this issue for a year now...my first post here was Oct of last year and I'd had the issue prior to finding this post.

I finally broke down two nights ago and stripped the iPhone down to it's shell...pulled the button out and not a bit of dust, lint or any dirt at all was in there at all.

I keep my phone with me 24/7...always in my pocket when I'm on the move...dropped it 1/2 dozen times.... if there was any way for dirt to crawl in there, I'd have found it.

The connector for the home button is crap. Not like the other snap connectors, this is a tiny ribbon cable that pushes up into the receiver end to make the connection. Hard to do and easy to screw up if you were in a hurry. I don't know why in the hell they thought this was a good idea when all of the other connectors are solid snap types.

I did start messing with the sound box that is butted up against the connector .. I noticed when I loosened it on one side (held down by two screws), the button went back to working normally. The back of the phone will push the sound box down pretty firmly, so I wasn't concerned about the screw being left out.

This fix lasted about a day. Also, the button would activate when you pushed down on the bottom middle of the screen itself, so this isn't a good fix.

So I've not disconnected the home button and assigned the various functions to other buttons using Activator. But there's a bug in Activator that when you use the "take screenshot" function, you loose the ability to use "return to home page", so you can never get out of an app until you re-spring. So that's a bust because I take screen shots quite frequently.

So I've now ordered a factory replacement home button. I'll report back once it's replaced. We'll finally see if it's hardware or software.
 
I think its a shame you have threads this long and probably on many different forums too but Apple still wont admit its an issue.
 
Thanks for the feedback, I'll probably stop in at a local repair shop to see if they can do anything about it.

And I agree with kicko, that's BS on Apple's part. This was never an issue with previous iPhones/iPads.
 
COBRASVT said:
LMFAO!

It's not related to dust of any kind. I've had this issue for a year now...my first post here was Oct of last year and I'd had the issue prior to finding this post.

I finally broke down two nights ago and stripped the iPhone down to it's shell...pulled the button out and not a bit of dust, lint or any dirt at all was in there at all.

I keep my phone with me 24/7...always in my pocket when I'm on the move...dropped it 1/2 dozen times.... if there was any way for dirt to crawl in there, I'd have found it.

The connector for the home button is crap. Not like the other snap connectors, this is a tiny ribbon cable that pushes up into the receiver end to make the connection. Hard to do and easy to screw up if you were in a hurry. I don't know why in the hell they thought this was a good idea when all of the other connectors are solid snap types.

I did start messing with the sound box that is butted up against the connector .. I noticed when I loosened it on one side (held down by two screws), the button went back to working normally. The back of the phone will push the sound box down pretty firmly, so I wasn't concerned about the screw being left out.

This fix lasted about a day. Also, the button would activate when you pushed down on the bottom middle of the screen itself, so this isn't a good fix.

So I've not disconnected the home button and assigned the various functions to other buttons using Activator. But there's a bug in Activator that when you use the "take screenshot" function, you loose the ability to use "return to home page", so you can never get out of an app until you re-spring. So that's a bust because I take screen shots quite frequently.

So I've now ordered a factory replacement home button. I'll report back once it's replaced. We'll finally see if it's hardware or software.
Click to expand...


Could quite possibly be that both dust or (and) the bad button design is an issue and it may just depend on the person's phone what is causing it. They don't *all* have to be caused by the same thing (though I will say that I agree software fixes are people wishing that would fix it).
 
tigress666 said:
Could quite possibly be that both dust or (and) the bad button design is an issue and it may just depend on the person's phone what is causing it. They don't *all* have to be caused by the same thing (though I will say that I agree software fixes are people wishing that would fix it).
Click to expand...

Valid points.
 
did you guys try the procedure from the guy on the second comment?

I tried all of that and it did not work. Then i found something that did. plug in your phone to your computer as soon as u do so hold the home button down and the voice control will apear press cancel and bam it reset my home button and has been working great since.
Click to expand...
 
FIXED and 100% perfect for the last two weeks. Replaced the home button with the one I bought off the net and it's as good as when I first got it. Works 100% every time I single or double push it.

To me, def not a software issue.

I will make note that when I first tried to re-seat my original home button, I didn't do it correctly. So maybe, just maybe, the original would work with a proper re-seating of the connector, but I'm happy as hell with the results of my replacement home button!
 
COBRASVT said:
LMFAO!

It's not related to dust of any kind. I've had this issue for a year now...my first post here was Oct of last year and I'd had the issue prior to finding this post.

I finally broke down two nights ago and stripped the iPhone down to it's shell...pulled the button out and not a bit of dust, lint or any dirt at all was in there at all.

I keep my phone with me 24/7...always in my pocket when I'm on the move...dropped it 1/2 dozen times.... if there was any way for dirt to crawl in there, I'd have found it.

The connector for the home button is crap. Not like the other snap connectors, this is a tiny ribbon cable that pushes up into the receiver end to make the connection. Hard to do and easy to screw up if you were in a hurry. I don't know why in the hell they thought this was a good idea when all of the other connectors are solid snap types.

I did start messing with the sound box that is butted up against the connector .. I noticed when I loosened it on one side (held down by two screws), the button went back to working normally. The back of the phone will push the sound box down pretty firmly, so I wasn't concerned about the screw being left out.

This fix lasted about a day. Also, the button would activate when you pushed down on the bottom middle of the screen itself, so this isn't a good fix.

So I've not disconnected the home button and assigned the various functions to other buttons using Activator. But there's a bug in Activator that when you use the "take screenshot" function, you loose the ability to use "return to home page", so you can never get out of an app until you re-spring. So that's a bust because I take screen shots quite frequently.

So I've now ordered a factory replacement home button. I'll report back once it's replaced. We'll finally see if it's hardware or software.
Click to expand...

So to summarise your story, you shafted it even further by fiddling :rolleyes:
 
I don't know if this is posted but when I plug-in my iPhone to an outlet or computer, the home button works perfectly. But when I plug it out, the problem returns.
 
eeyancrooz said:
I don't know if this is posted but when I plug-in my iPhone to an outlet or computer, the home button works perfectly. But when I plug it out, the problem returns.
Click to expand...

Mine is flaky whether it's plugged into an outlet or not.
 
COBRASVT said:
FIXED and 100% perfect for the last two weeks. Replaced the home button with the one I bought off the net and it's as good as when I first got it. Works 100% every time I single or double push it.

To me, def not a software issue.

I will make note that when I first tried to re-seat my original home button, I didn't do it correctly. So maybe, just maybe, the original would work with a proper re-seating of the connector, but I'm happy as hell with the results of my replacement home button!
Click to expand...

Still 100% fixed...not one hiccup or issue.
 
Within 6 months, problem appears...

I got this last replacement of iPhone 4 on April 30th of this year. The home button has starting acting up again. Not even six months has passed yet, and this was a new replacement (not refurbished). At times, I can be pressing the button for 10-20 times normally and not have it respond. If I then press down hard, it starts to work again normally.

Other time, works beautifully with very gentle clicks. I did get the extra year of warranty but I don't know if its worth my time to go in for another replacement. It doesn't bother me as much as it used to with the original. I guess I will be waiting for iPhone 5 to fix this issue.

Its funny that there has been no official word from Apple on this issue.
 
reaborg said:
I got this last replacement of iPhone 4 on April 30th of this year. The home button has starting acting up again. Not even six months has passed yet, and this was a new replacement (not refurbished). At times, I can be pressing the button for 10-20 times normally and not have it respond. If I then press down hard, it starts to work again normally.

Other time, works beautifully with very gentle clicks. I did get the extra year of warranty but I don't know if its worth my time to go in for another replacement. It doesn't bother me as much as it used to with the original. I guess I will be waiting for iPhone 5 to fix this issue.

Its funny that there has been no official word from Apple on this issue.
Click to expand...

I fear the 4S will have the same issue...
 
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