Troubleshoot Around a Stuck iPhone Home Button

This article teaches you how to get around a stuck or broken Home button on your iPhone. It will also teach you how to fix some common problems, although your best course of action is to take your iPhone into an Apple store before attempting to fix the Home button yourself.

Steps

Enabling an On-Screen Home Button

  1. Open Settings. It's a grey app with a gear icon, typically found on the Home Screen.
  2. Tap General. This option is near the bottom of the screen.
  3. Tap Accessibility. It's near the bottom of the screen.
  4. Scroll down and tap AssistiveTouch. It's below the "Interaction" heading.
  5. Slide "AssistiveTouch" to the "On" (right) position. This option is at the top of the page. It will turn green, signifying that AssistiveTouch is now active; you should see a small grey square pop up on your screen after a moment.
    • You can tap and drag the grey square to relocate it on your screen.
  6. Tap the grey square. Doing so will invoke a grey pop-out menu with several options clustered around the middle.
  7. Tap Home. It's the circle at the bottom of the pop-out menu. Doing so will mimic the actual Home button.
    • Tap it once to minimize any open apps.
    • Tap and hold to enable Siri.
    • Double-tap to view all currently running apps.

Recalibrating an Unresponsive Home Button

  1. Open a default app. Stock apps on the iPhone include Calculator, Calendar, Weather, and Messages. This method will help reset a Home button that is slow to respond, or one that doesn’t respond at all and requires multiple presses to register.
    • Make sure you don't have any apps other than the stock app open.
  2. Hold down the Power button. It's on the top-right side of your iPhone's case. After a few seconds, the “Slide to Power Off” option will appear.
  3. Release the Power button. Do so only when you see the "Slide to Power Off" option appear.
  4. Press and hold the Home button. After a few seconds, the “Slide to Power Off” option will disappear and the app will be force-closed. This action will calibrate the Home button and potentially restore its responsiveness.[1]

Fixing a Stuck Home Button

  1. Take your iPhone into an Apple store. Before trying any of the basic fixes listed here (and potentially voiding your warranty), take the phone into an Apple store to have their trained technicians look into fixing it.
    • If there isn't an Apple store near you, try contacting Apple.
    • The fix will likely be free if your phone is still under warranty or if you have Apple Care.
  2. Use compressed air. Press and hold the Home button. Take a can of compressed air and blast the connection port at the bottom of the phone. Oftentimes this will clear out some of the gunk that may be causing the button to stick down.
  3. Use isopropyl alcohol. Drop a small amount of isopropyl alcohol onto the tip of a cotton swab. Press in the Home button as far as it goes and rub the alcohol around the edges. Press the button several times to work the alcohol into the cracks. This can help clean grime out that may be causing the button to stick.[2]
    • This method may void your warranty.
    • Using too much alcohol can cause water damage to your phone. Only perform this fix if your phone is no longer under warranty. If it is under warranty, attempt to have it repaired by Apple first.
  4. Twist and spin. Place your iPhone on a flat surface. Press and hold the Home button firmly down, and then rotate your phone clockwise while continuing to firmly press the button. This may help reset the button.
    • This step won't work for phones that use haptics instead of a hardware button (e.g., the iPhone 7).

Tips

  • If your iPhone 7 reacts slowly to double-tapping the Home button, try disabling any Accessibility features that are activated by triple-tapping the Home button. Since these features are contingent on three taps in succession, there will often be a delay in response after two taps as the phone waits for a potential third tap.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://osxdaily.com/2011/12/22/iphone-home-button-not-working-or-unresponsive-fix/
  2. ↑ https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1969583?tstart=0
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