iPhone Home Button Not Working or Unresponsive? Try This Fix

Dec 22, 2011 - 285 Comments

From time to time, the iPhone Home button can become less responsive to clicks, and pressing the button will either result in a delay, lag, or sometimes complete unresponsiveness requiring multiple clicks. While this could be symptomatic of a hardware issue caused by moisture damage or dropping the phone, sometimes you can fix the response problem with a simple software tweak.

iPhone Home Button

Perform the following sequence on the iPhone with an unresponsive Home button:

  • Open a default iOS application, such as Stocks, Calculator, or Weather
  • Press and hold down the Power button until the “Slide to Power Off” dialog appears, then release
  • Now press and hold the Home button until the “Slide to Power Off” screen disappears, force quitting the application

Why this works to fix the buttons responsiveness isn’t entirely clear, because the procedure actually just force quits the application you launched in the first step. This procedure supposedly recalibrates the Home button. Whatever is going on behind the scenes, it does seem to work and definitely has made mine seem to respond quicker.

This should also help the iPad and iPod touch home buttons as well. If you try this and still have problems with the home button being unresponsive, you may just need to get it repaired.

If this didn’t help another workaround for a broken home button is with Assistive Touch, which enables an onscreen tappable virtual home button instead. If all else fails that may be the best bet without having to go in for repair.

Keep in mind that if an iPhone is still in warranty and the buttons stop working, you can often get them repaired for free by Apple. That won’t be the case with damaged models, but if it just mysteriously broke they will almost always fix it for you.

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Related articles:

Posted by: Paul Horowitz in iPhone, Tips & Tricks, Troubleshooting

285 Comments

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  1. MCT says:

    I try it several times and did not work. I replaced the home button flex ribbon and still won’t work. What else can I do?

    Thanks

  2. Brooklyn says:

    It didn’t work but if you turn the phone all the way off and back on it works

  3. Kitty says:

    Another big thank you 3 years after your post! Had no idea there were so many problems with the home button. I have an iPod touch 5 who’s home button stopped responding to the double press to get to background applications. Your fix worked. Another thing to be grateful for this Thanksgiving weekend!

  4. Haha says:

    I did it and it worked that time but my home button is still not working and the assesive touch doesnt work either ? Please help

  5. Diar says:

    Try to power off then turn on and wait for 5 or 10 minutes then your home screen button will work perfectly like new. This work for me
    Hope this work and for you.

  6. Laura says:

    My phone is locked and my button at the top is pushed in. My screen wont light up when I click the home button repeatedly.

  7. Julia says:

    I cant believe it! It actually works!

  8. Jyell says:

    Wow ! This actually worked ! Thx so much . I was about to have a fit

  9. Alyssa says:

    i did this, and when i let go of the “slide to power off” button and pressed the home button to wait for it to disappear, it didnt disappear. nothing happened

  10. Grateful says:

    Wow, thank you. Soooo much for posting this obscure fix that seems to have worked to make the home button respond but also to appears to have stopped Voice Control from possessing my iPhone 4, and eliminated the iphone/itunes USB screen. All three started happening within the last few hours (what a nightmare). This so far appears to have fixed all three issues. Eternally grateful…

  11. Adam says:

    This is ridiculous. I’ve had an occasionally unresponsive home button for about a year and this fixed it. How is this even a thing?

  12. Mike says:

    So, judging by all these replies, this is a design fault in the iPhone? My wife’s started doing this at just over two years, when her contract had finished. Do you think two years is the lifetime of these phones?

    Oh, and the problem recurs later. It is only a temporary fix. I would guess it is just cleaning the contact on the microswitch until it corrodes or gets bunged up again.

    Still, the assistive technology soft icon fix is a nice touch. Stick a back button and recent apps button on too and iOS might start to look half as good as Android.

  13. Alizio says:

    Awesome works for me

  14. Xtra says:

    Great one. Responsiveness is perfect now.

  15. Dorel says:

    You can avoid taking the phone to a service by doing a very simple thing. Just push down the button and blow around it very hard. The airflow will clear the dust and stuff like that and the button will become very responsive. Worked for me (the re-calibration did not help).

  16. ghost says:

    how can it be a hardware problem if there is a software fix? anyway, just doing the thing with calculator,power button, home button actually worked for me,so, sweet..

  17. Ali says:

    Mine is not working ….:(

  18. Mictan says:

    It worked! Thanks heaps!

  19. Mirit says:

    OMG! This actually works. Pure magic :)

  20. Ellie P. says:

    This worked for me. If your button is still not working, you can set up a button that works as the home button that you touch on the touch screen. You go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Assisted Touch > On. Then you can move the button around the screen. Clicking on it will give you the option to go to the home screen, plus many other options. This option is less convenient than getting the physical button fixed, but it is free, as replacing your device is quite expensive.

  21. jowie says:

    the above process didn’t work for, but 1 unusual thing that works for me, hold your phone facing down, then flick the home button repeatedly, youll notice that dust come out on the button, repeat if necessary, this process works for me, now my iphone has a soft touch home button

  22. henry says:

    WOW! It worked! I was skeptical, but it WORKED! Word of advice from a moron, open the app and press the POWER button. Stupid me kept trying to press the home button waiting for the slide to power off to come on :p

  23. Scott says:

    Amazing. I couldn’t figure out why my Home button wasn’t working like it should. Totally fixed it. I love the internets!

  24. Jldubb says:

    Actually works. Thanks for the info.

  25. Fayzal says:

    Thanks a million – the trick really worked!!!

  26. susan says:

    Thanx it really works!!

  27. cornelius says:

    lol, i cant stop pushing the button! thanks man. cool.

    im baked…. awesome

  28. Cassie says:

    it works! thank you so much… :)

  29. memphislis says:

    Wow! Thank you!

  30. Abun says:

    My is work now thank you for sharing this solution fix

  31. Tomoskie says:

    ThankYou!!!! It worked I was gonna get it repaired,but that was not the problem

  32. cas says:

    Update your phone. Or, restore. It worked for me

  33. Steve says:

    Button worked very sporadically before resetting as described. Now it works. I thought it was BS, but am happy with result.

  34. Farah says:

    Genius 😊 thank you ! It helped a ton!

  35. danibel says:

    THANK YOU SO MUCH! Sorry to yell but I have been debating replacing my iPhone over this issue. Now I don’t have to! Thanks again.

  36. Tony smith says:

    Amazing mine was totally unresponsive, had to drop it to get the home button to work. Try the reset now it works perfectly.

    Delighted thanks for the help.

  37. Julz says:

    I have done both now in case my home button stops working again. Im glad i found this as i was getting very frustrated with my phone, i love my iphone, this is the only problem i had with it, but wasnt prepared to replace the phone as have an upgrade in june :) Thanks

  38. viviennnnn says:

    Thanks so much, it actually worked. It was amazing! Now i don’t need to use the accessibility button which is really annoying
    so thanks!

  39. Bone2k says:

    Wow this actually worked on my New Ipad. I actually thought I had a hardware problem.

    Is it just me or are apple products and software getting more and more buggy all the time in general?

  40. Lu says:

    OMG thank you so much this literally made everything in my phone so much more responsive, not just the home button!

  41. Steff says:

    Just did it and it worked for me. Had a problem for months!!! Also put assistive touch on just in case!!

  42. Jones says:

    Awesome! Just true it and it miraculously worked!

  43. Johpat says:

    ThaNks It helps alot…:)

  44. Sara says:

    It works!!!! Thank you

  45. Mark says:

    A few months ago my home button stopped working. I called Apple. Interesting that they did not suggest this solution but suggested I reset the phone back to factory settings. It worked for a couple of months and started playing up again – and luckily I found this post….. upgraded to the latest operating system and now have assistive touch – exactly what I had thought was needed a couple of months ago!!! End of rant!

  46. jeqs says:

    i have read half of the feedbacks and gave me an idea on how to somehow fix the home button of my i phone… i’ll try it when i get home! hope it works!

  47. Emma says:

    Great thanks, can’t believe something so simple worked!

  48. joe says:

    it didn’t work for me at all

  49. Cyr says:

    Thank you SO much! Apple support just says to service the phone (undoubtedly an expensive hassle). Thank you for saving the day, my time, and my money!

  50. Maria says:

    Call me crazy, but this WORKS! Awesome, thank you!

  51. nick says:

    Why would this work if my BUTTON DOESNT WORK!!!!!!!!!!

  52. sd says:

    rubbing alcohol worked for me, after a year of it being moisture damaged

  53. Charlene says:

    I went to the apple store because my home button wasn’t working and I was not able to get an appt till the following day. Not able to use my phone an employee gave me a temporary fix so that I can use my phone….try this….
    1) Go to settings
    2)Go to General
    3)Accesibilities
    4)scroll down to Physical & Motor and turn on Assistive Touch.

    this gives you a round dot on your phone that you can move anywhere you want and when you touch it you can go back to your home screen making your phone accessible. Its a good temp fix until you get it looked at or working properly. Let me know if this works for you!

  54. iB says:

    Didn’t expect it to work but wow thanks!

    Now no excuse to get the iPhone5 from my 4 lol.

  55. Y.C says:

    It works! It works! It works!!!! Thanks

  56. AJG says:

    Thanks!!! For both your suggestion (which works great, for now) and for the assistive touch that others mentioned. Wish I had Google this earlier!

  57. Kara says:

    THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

  58. Summer says:

    Cleaning it worked! I had my doubts because the home button looked clean and I didn’t feel like the q-tip was getting to anything, but when I turned it back on it was perfect! My home button has been irritating me for months. Thanks!

  59. Jinx says:

    PERFECT! Thanks

  60. Zay says:

    THANK YOU!

  61. Lisa says:

    Brilliant home button works again!
    I some how managed to spill a glass off coke in my bag. Home button stopped working. Totally gutted. After reading all the tips I put as dab of alcohol on a cotton bud, wiped it around the button. It didn’t work straight off. But then all of a sudden it did! Fantastic! A dab Vodka saved me alot of hassle and money! Happy days!

  62. Tzc123 says:

    GENIUS! my home button has been annoying me for ages but now it works PERFECT! THANK YOU!

  63. iphoneuser says:

    just wanted to add that my girlfriend has been complaining about her home button not working well for a very long time. just found this article and had her try it out and she said it worked well. thanks!

  64. Hugh says:

    After the genius bar told me that corrosion on the home button contacts made my iphone useless, I let the battery go down to zero, sprayed contact cleaner through the connector slot on the contacts, and let it dry for 20 minutes. It now works like new. A $15.00 purchase saved me $150 for a replacement phone.

  65. Tanya says:

    It totally worked! Thank you

  66. bluw says:

    i am scared that my ipod might get ruined if i put alcohal on it no warrenty
    i used hand sanatizer but it didnt work

  67. bluw says:

    i am scared that my ipod might get ruined if i put alcohal on it

  68. chuck_tee1 says:

    I had problems with my home button recently and all I did was go to settings>accesibility>assitive touch and turn it on. A sqaure w/ a dot in it will appear. When you press it, it will give u numerous options including a touch screen home button. Works like a charm.

  69. Northsider says:

    Yes, it works for me. Can’t believe it. Thanks for the trick.

  70. Joe says:

    What!? This actually worked! Really wasn’t expecting it tO, it was progressively getting worse and sometimes completely unresponsive no matter how many times or how hard I pressed! Thought it was a hardware thing, but this trick worked. Thanks!

  71. tricia says:

    Fantastic!!! Works exactly as it says!

  72. Kyle says:

    So weird.. it actually worked. Right on.. thanks

  73. axiomus says:

    This indeed does work. I thought that I might have to replace the Home button. This was an extremely useful article, as usual osxdaily.

  74. Sak says:

    Button unresponsive, thought the worst (needed repair). Just tried this and it fixed the problem/worked like magic! Weird.. But thanks!

  75. Iphonefanactic says:

    Perfect !!! Works great again !!! Saved my day !!!!

    Thanks susan for assistive touch !!!

  76. NyomanPatra says:

    Hi All,

    I do both method force quit and rubbing alcohol and its working great. Thank you for your posting.

    have a great day all.

  77. Lea says:

    Hi!
    This is the first time that it has happened to me and I’m freaking out because I just bought my iPhone 2 months ago and now the home button isn’t working.
    I’ve tried the force quit method and it worked the first time and now my home button isn’t working.. AGAIN!
    I’ve tried cleaning it but it doesn’t work.
    I do have assistive touch but it worries me that the home buttons not working, please help.
    Ps. I’m not in the same country as where I bought my iPhone anymore so the warranty is in a different language so I don’t know if theyll accept it if I need some repairs.

  78. Jane says:

    Excellent!…Thanks for the help…I did all 3..cleaned, forced app close and added the assistive touch…works perfectly now.

  79. Derek L says:

    I tried few times, did not work. I used the usb cable and slightly push it, the home button work for that moment only. Finally I pushed the home button near its edges. right/top/left/bottom few times in that circular sequence and viola! It fixed the problem! Home button still worked since 3 days ago.

  80. Spencer says:

    I am not quite sure how…
    BUT THIS FIXED ALL OF MY HOME BUTTON PROBLEMS!!!!!
    Thanks

  81. NMC says:

    This worked!! I have had problems with my home key for months now and I wish I would’ve searched for this when I first had issues!
    Thank you!!!
    Thank you!!!
    Thank you!!!

  82. Tim says:

    I had already tried the forced close but it didn’t help me.

    After reading the other suggestions here, I tried cleaning the button by first holding the button down and then spraying around its edges gently with compressed air. That didn’t seem to do much for it.

    Then I tried holding the button down while very gently running a tissue with a small amount of rubbing alcohol on it around the edges of the button “well”. That seems to have made a difference. For the moment, the button is working correctly. Hopefully, it will continue to do so!

    Thanks for everyone’s reports and suggestions here! :)

  83. Charmsy says:

    Thank you so much!!!

  84. Malaysia says:

    Yes i made it!! amazing! thank you so much!!

  85. cd says:

    thank you so much! this worked so great. i dropped the bottom of my phone into a (very) shallow puddle of water, and the homebutton stopped working shortly after. i thought my phone was irreparable. but this worked perfectly somehow. thank you!

  86. Brittainie says:

    Wow i cannot believe this worked for me. Worked instantaniously! I was so worried that i was having some water damage issue etc, ofher sights kept telling me to pay $149 to get it repaired or take our the battery and do all this stuff that i am WAY too untech-savvy to ever attempt. This tool about five seconds and completely illiminated my issue and i have had alot of problems for awhile. It had been so bad that i have to press insanely hard for a long period of time and multiple times to get it to work, but not anymore! How this works- i see no logical answer but i don’t care, IT WORKS! Whoever discovered this thankyou, you are an iphone god!

  87. Joanne says:

    Thank you Susan from 7/3 and the other people who assisted with the process for IPhone 4s. You are awesome! God Bless you for being so creative!

  88. Raceylee109 says:

    Assistive touch amen. Just came back from Mexico and got caught in rain with iPhone in bag. Was able to scrounge some rice at resort but it’s been a 4+day process. Spotting on screen is clearing since I arrive home and got a nice big bag of rice and good ziplock bag. Have to say phone otherwise functions well and have been using it sparingly since accident due to impatience. Gonna leave it overnight hoping for clear screen! Only problems were and still are. Home button not working and phone won’t stay shut down. Any thoughts. Assistice touch solves my first problem for now.

  89. Renee M says:

    THANK YOU!!!

  90. Siddharth says:

    Thanks so much it worked :)

  91. Zahra Moosa says:

    OMG You are a life-saver! Thank You so much! *thumbs up*

  92. […] wasn’t working.  And I didn’t know why.  I did a little research, and found this handy little tip.  Thought I would share it for those out there with an […]

  93. Rakesh says:

    Thanks! It works like brand new. You save my life, I was going to replace the home button.

  94. Duygu says:

    Hey tried this fix but doesn’t work as my home button is damaged after I dropped in the toilet so holding down doesn’t do any good for me :(( sadly. However this assetive touch is really good at least I can use the phone till my contract finishes. Whoever suggested the the touch thing thank you million times nearly cried for my phone as I found a really hard to leave without it thanks a lot

  95. E says:

    Thanks for the tip! It worked BUT first when the charger was in

  96. Samantha says:

    WorKs like brand new.! Love it, thankks so much. What a life saver was about to go out and buy a brand new ipod.!

  97. Daddy says:

    Worked! Thank you!!!

  98. Eddie says:

    SOLVED THIS ISSUE by holding down the POWER button while it is PLUGGED IN to the charger. You will see the “slide to power off” screen come up, when that happens, start holding down the HOME button at the same time. Trust me. There are a lot of suggestions here which are good but none worked for me. Hope this helps.

  99. Ama says:

    cleaned mine with nail polish remover because I didn’t have alcohol. it worked.

  100. sarah says:

    i tried doing this, but the voice control thing pops up instead. someone please help me!

  101. komatineni says:

    WTH.. It works. Never even thought that this would avoid a trip to apple support.
    Thanks a ton.

  102. Aaron says:

    Yeah this doesn’t always work. The problem is, how the hell are you supposed to calibrate the home button when you have to press the home button for this to work? When the issue is at its worst you can’t even use the home button to calibrate because…. It’s not working!

  103. jen says:

    worked like a charm! thank you so much for saving me a trip to the apple store :)

  104. jason craig says:

    Thank God I found the assistive touch. I was honestly about to go to the doctor my fingers are so numb from having to press that button so hard to make it work.

    After reading about how awesome Apple is and are so easy to work with, they offered little to no help at the store. It has been a nightmare. My company has purchased 10 computers and 9 iphones and they still can’t do anything for my home button not working except suggest I sell it on ebay and come back and buy a new one.

    Why would I come off $150 for a replacement phone just to make it do what they said it would do? Not like I want a better phone, I just want a phone that does what its supposed to do. As far as suggesting I sell it on eBay… is it there policy to try and pass their problem off to the next guy?

  105. Eddie says:

    I tried this fix originally and it did work, however, the second time I had this issue, it did not solve my problem. I went several days using the “assistive touch” feature, even got an estimate for repair at a local shop ($80) and then after 4 days, voila! My iPhone went back to working again like nothing ever happened. It’s been working now for a couple of days with no issue. The only thing I can think of is I drained the battery almost dead – around 6%. Maybe that did something?

  106. Jana says:

    Worked for me!!! Thanks!

  107. Naysh311 says:

    You rock!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you for publishing this tip…saving money for our wedding and did not need to hand over $150 to apple for a replacement phone…yippee!

  108. Winniew says:

    Work for me too, thanks!

  109. Sam says:

    the home button does not work. so i cant use this, re name the page its misleading

  110. San says:

    Wonderful fix. It works perfect.
    In my case, I still need to press home buttom until voice control appears on screen first.

  111. DEB says:

    This was GREAT! Tried first with Stocks and the Power Off never went away, then tried with Weather and it worked like a charm. So frustrating before, and such an easy fix for iPhone….. thank you!

  112. Mac n' Cheese says:

    Mine still doesn’t work… :(

  113. Yoga says:

    Thanks. It works for me.

  114. Budara says:

    Awesome it works for me… My home button works normally now. Thanks.

  115. Imran says:

    WOWWWW !! I am so happy, i tried it twice, first time it didnt work but 2nd time when i did, i could not beleive it got fixed !!!
    Thanks alot

  116. Rao says:

    Thanks It worked for me !!!!!!!!!

  117. Rohan says:

    On my jail broken iPhone I set a swipe down gesture from the menu bar to replace the home button click, and menu bar double tap to simulate a home double click. So much quicker and easier

  118. Rebecca Black says:

    Thank you! My home button was only working one out of every 30 clicks. Driving me NUTS! This worked perfectly! Phew!

  119. Brian says:

    That seems to have helped. Thanks!

  120. […] can sometimes fix an unresponsive Home button by force quitting apps, but that doesn’t always work. If your iOS devices home button is […]

  121. Tim says:

    The work around if nothing works is Settings>General>Accessibility>Physical & Motor> Assistive Touch.
    This puts a home button on your screen.

  122. thinh says:

    This actually works. Thumbs up!

  123. VeeVee says:

    WOW!

  124. Dave says:

    Tried the power off trick… didn’t expect it to work, but was pleasantly surprised. I’ve only had my iPhone 4 for about three months, and was pretty upset about the button suddenly going bad today… Very happy now!

  125. dan says:

    the reason this trick sometimes work is because it actually resets the home button from a software standpoint. so if the issue of your home button is from a software side this should fix the probelm, if not the q-tip with rubbing alcohol may fix it also.

  126. Katy says:

    Fantastic!!! It worked…was thinking I was going to have to get a new phone as mines out of guarantee…

  127. Juju says:

    It worked!!!!!!! wahooo it was getting stuck for a couple of weeks n really getting on my nerves.. thankssss

  128. Dina says:

    THANK YOU! It worked, I was worried I needed to get a new phone!

  129. Plumbgray says:

    Thank You! Worked for me as well, Had to do several times also pressed the home button really firmly several times. Not sure which one did it but working like new now!!
    Plumbgray

  130. Regina says:

    WOW! Worked like charm!!! Had to do it 3 times but finally got it working. Must be a bug because my phone is new and the home key has never worked! So glad I found this fix! TIP: Be sure to hold that home key down until the voice control pops up. Takes a while

  131. Bcowden says:

    Yay!! It worked finally! Thank goodness because it started getting to the point where I was punching the phone to make the button work! Thanks!:))

  132. Hernan says:

    It really work !

  133. herb zydney says:

    Great blog. I had a non working home button. What worked for me was the recommendation:

    = push down on either side of the home button.

    All back to normal – even a little better than before.

  134. Dee says:

    I’ve had this problem with my home button for about 7 months now, I’ve done everything and it still doesn’t work correctly. I just tried the method with the q-tip and it seems like its working but, I have gotten to a point where we pay all this money for a good phone and it starts to break and then apple act like they don’t want to fix it. This is my last time getting an IPhone I’m switching to Android .Apple has lost another customer….

    • Tony says:

      Just wait unitl you do go to an Android–it is not just apple..but all the manufacturers… that overprice their phones and then give you a limited warranty that does not cover anything. See you when you get back from the darkside–meaning Android.

  135. Oj2011 says:

    Try putting the charger cable in and push the button upwards with the the cable! Worked for me :)

  136. Rav says:

    I had decided to change the phone as this problem was very annoying. When i looked at the solution, i dint believe it as i expected it to be a hardware problem. I still went ahead to try it with really very little hope or expectation that it may even work but i am quite surprised that it actually worked like a charm !!

    I am using iphone 4, i din’t upgrade to IOS 5 yet. Kudos to this solution.

    Thanks a lot

  137. Rakesh says:

    I was worried that I will have to send phone for a fix but this has really worked for me and I am very happy now…! Thanks

  138. Carlangas3536 says:

    wow!! it worked for me on an iPhone 4 running iOS 5.1.1, just fixed it, will update later if it still works

  139. Jay says:

    Amazing. Just amazing. Thanks so much!

  140. tomf says:

    did not work for me, but turning on assistive touch is a work around until I get it repaird. settings- general-accessibility- turn on assistive touch. This adds a see through button to bottom right of screen, with 4 icons, gestures, favorites, device and HOME. So I can use HOME to get back, well, HOME. The other buttons may be useful also when I get time to check them out. This is not a fix for the home button, but a work around.

  141. ccs says:

    this fix worked for me…home button was driving me crazy.

    thanks:)

  142. jj says:

    It worked for about an hour – then kaput. Repeating the process didn’t help

  143. charpopmill says:

    Worked for me :)

  144. jj says:

    It worked! My IPhone had a water damage, january this year and since then the home button is useless and the worst part is the voice control goes by itself. Went to apple and asked how much would it cost me for repair, it’s $150ish. Today, i fixed my Iphone for free. I’m so happy! Thanks!!! A real deal..

  145. L says:

    Does. Not. Work.

  146. Randy says:

    I was also sceptical. It worked for me like a charm! Thanks

  147. Jacquie says:

    Worked! I am amazed! Thanks!

  148. Sarah says:

    Thanks so much – it worked brilliantly!

  149. suzzain says:

    it worked. Amazing….Thanks a lot.

  150. Steven says:

    Thanks! Didn’t think it would work, but it did!

  151. oz says:

    i never respond to things like this, but amazingly it actually worked, thanks so much

  152. Aseem says:

    I am surprised but it worked :). Thanks

  153. Charlene says:

    It works but the Home button still doesnt , i have to do it everytime ….

  154. Andrea says:

    WOW. Thanks so much! This worked like a charm and saved me a visit to the iphone store.

  155. Jessica says:

    It worked for like 2 seconds theb stopped! help please!

  156. distressed says:

    Thanks a lot. This worked like a charm :P

  157. imTravi says:

    Worked like a charm…thanks a lot

  158. Jelly says:

    Ugh it worked for a while and then it stopped. I tried to fix it again and it doesn’t seem to work well anymore. Lame!

  159. shaz says:

    LOLz, mine just worked by blowing with mouth sealed into the cable port.

  160. Jelly says:

    It worked!! I dealt with unresponsive home button for more than a year until I did this trick. Woohoo! Thank u!

  161. Jen says:

    thought this might help.

    if you guys’ home button is totally unresponsive you can go to general settings and turn on the assistive touch home button for the 3rd step :)

    my home button becomes wonky periodically if i get a faulty charge either with an imitation charger or a fishy wall socket.

  162. Samantha says:

    Hey guys I tried this trick and it worked half the day for me then stopped again. I have the ipod touch 4g and for that i read somewhere (maybe it was here i cant remember) that if you press thr power button down first, then press the home button and keep it down, and create a seal between ur mouth and the ipod sync cable place and blow hard, not too hard for moisture to get through but just some pressure, it worked soo well!!!

    Theres also the alcohol method that i didnt try but ive heard that worked really well too :)

    Different problems will have different solutions

  163. Nico says:

    Thank you. Worked

  164. moha32 says:

    works like a charm :)

  165. JN says:

    great tutor!

  166. Happybunny says:

    So happy this worked :D I spilt coke over my iPhone about 2 months ago and it was fine then about 2 weeks ago my home button started playing up like not working at all or only sometimes then I tried his and it actually worked :D

  167. Rae says:

    OH MY GOSH!!! For the past months I have had problems with my button I was ready to buy a new iPod due to this button being the main way to do practically anything. THANK YOU SOOO MUCH!!!! It soo worked!!!!

  168. MJ says:

    Worked a treat thank you!!!

  169. scott says:

    Yep, it worked for me too. Just cancelled my appointment at the Apple store. thanks.

  170. zerodmg says:

    hey you could use activator!!!! and make some gesture work like the home button!!!!

  171. michmunch says:

    Thanks loads! I got up minutes ago and found my home button absolutely unresponsive unless I pressed it real hard. Your simple solution without having to download any app is fabulous! Thanks for sharing once again!! :)

  172. Steve says:

    thanks so much, it worked for now at least, hoping it doesnt happen again

  173. Mackyroni says:

    thanks for this… thought twice before doing it but it works.. i used to push the button harder than usual for it to work.. this is worth a try ;)

  174. Maggie says:

    Wow!! was skeptical, but this totally worked! no more annoyances with the home key! Definitely give it a try; it might work for you, too!

  175. Charles says:

    It worked great! Awesome!

  176. cjb says:

    I tried to do this but the “slide to power off” screen never went away, no matter how long I held down the home button for. What am I doing wrong here?

  177. Jfarnz says:

    Ive been having problems with the home button on my iPhone 4 for a few months now and even got the phone replaced once. I’ve tried just about everything to fix the problem. In the past there were times where my home button wouldn’t work at all. This definitely fixed my problem though. Thanks for the tip!

  178. veedubdave says:

    Snake oil.

    Did nothing for my sticky button. Suspect a hardware failure on mine,so may need to get it replaced. Shame as I was hoping for a free or very cheap fix…

  179. Patrick says:

    This is a great tip. How it work? no idea, but it seems to have. Thanks again!

  180. Nicole says:

    It really worked and I have had problem for months!

  181. Chantal says:

    wow, thank you! it really worked!! :D

  182. John Sautner says:

    Have the same problem of an unresponsive Home Button. Tried most of the suggested remedies. Some worked for a short while and then the problem came back.

    I suspected that is was a hardware problem all along. So, I took the. iPad and squeezed hard to the right of the Home button with my thumb and forefinger. Note: not the button itself, but just to the right. I was holding the IPad in landscape mode with the home key to the right.

    Guess what? Problem solved! I hope the rumor is true that the IPad 3 will not have a home key. One less mechanical problem.

    iPad is the greatest invention ever made. Really enjoy using it!

    Sincerely, John

  183. Julio C says:

    Amazing! This works great, thank you!

  184. Steve says:

    BTW also fixed slow unresponsive Power Button on iPod touch 4th generation.

  185. Steve says:

    Worked for me on iPod touch 4th generation. Thank You.

  186. Adele says:

    Thank you very much! That worked for me – I was just about to cry AND you saved me a trip into the city :-)

  187. Claire says:

    This did not work for me.
    No change, my button is still not working.

    Sick of this.

    Am not liking the new updates at all either.
    iPhone is slowly going downhill to me.
    Something that was once so simple and unique is getting over complicated.

  188. sujoy sarkar says:

    thanks that totally helped. I was gonna replace the button and all that kind of stuff but his was a big help.

  189. Dave the Apple Geek says:

    Worked awesome thanks !

  190. Michael says:

    I’m usually skeptical of these things, figuring they don’t do anything since it just has to be a year of schmutz, cheetos, and various nasties filling up my iPhone 4’s Home button. This actually worked however. I’ve been playing around with things that lately had been annoying (like double clicking to get to the multi-task, but it would be triple clicking which causes a reverse in colors). I’m happy.

  191. James says:

    I had home button problems with my iPhone 4 and tried this and several other solutions from the web. None worked.

    I’m not saying this trick can’t work… Just remember that there are many reasons the for home button malfunctioning. So finding the solution is tough sometimes. In my case, I got a new iPhone (thanks AppleCare).

  192. Dave says:

    Interesting! However I’d like to point out that sometimes those home buttons fail all on their own. I had to get my iPad 1 replaced due to a funky switch. No rain, physical damage or excessive use was involved, the switch simply failed early.

    As to recalibration that seems bogus too. It is a digital input what would they be calibrating. Sounds more like the force quit reinitalizes some code.

  193. Fernando Salgado says:

    It works…
    My “Home” button now got back to it’s normal way.

    Obrigado pela “dica”!

  194. Storm608 says:

    Might work for an iPhone but won’t with an iPod, 4th generation. All that happens is that “Voice Control” comes up and no slide to power off appears. The only way you can shut it off is to press and hold the power button on the top – that’s with 2 units.

    • gstead says:

      Not sure if this is your issue, but make sure Step 2 is performed with the ‘Power’ button (top of device), not the ‘Home’ button. I made this mistake first time and couldn’t figure out why Voice Control kept launching…

    • troy says:

      Voice Control” comes up and no slide to power off appears you have to wait patiently..,,..it will mark my word

  195. Wow, it works. Was not expecting it to. My home button would intermittently stop working and it was so frustrating. Was about to replace! Thanks!!

  196. simon says:

    Awesome!!!:D Thanks:)

  197. Phil says:

    Miraculously my Home-button got back to it’s normal behaviour, applying this Hint.

    Thanks

  198. Abdul Cabbar says:

    Placebo.

  199. Alain says:

    It works! So cool. Was thinking about replacing my iPod Touch for that very reason. Splendid – thanks!

  200. Donovan says:

    Whoa. It actually works. Shocked, but cool.

  201. lmaowtfbbq says:

    force quitting apps doesn’t recalibrate anything it’s all in your head

    • Tyler says:

      Just worked for me. The home button has been driving me nuts for about a week now.

      I just did his trick, no more headache.

    • Azadi says:

      It worked for me! Had assumed hardware, but as out of warranty would have to pay. This saved me monies and I’m happy!

  202. Kona Ron says:

    Yes, this does the trick. You can also restore the iPhone from iTunes, that will fix any other software problem.

    For physical button problems try this: turn the phone off and then put rubbing alcohol on a q-tip. Press the button down and swap the qtip all around the rim, sometimes you’ll see grime and pocket lint type stuff stuck around the edges. A friend of mine does smartphone repair and he says most complaints about buttons not working are because some gunk has gotten behind them. To get it perfect again you’d have to take apart the phone which is too much work for most people.

    • madison says:

      it did not work for me.

    • Matt says:

      Did this last night…. PERFECT!!!! Am so happy that my home button works like new again! I can’t get over how it actually responds every time I press it now!

      MAGIC!

    • Katy says:

      Try pressing down on the button while air dusting it. Just try to clean it really well. That did the trick for me.

    • Ana says:

      Awesome. Did both and my home button is working again!
      I’ve been having problems for over 6 months. Apple store said was hardware damage….needed replacement!

      Thank you

    • Susan says:

      EASY EASY !!!
      Go to settings. Under general, scroll down to Assistive Touch, turn it on, and a very transparent icon will appear on all your screens. Touch it and it will show a home icon (along with other icons), when you touch the home icon it will always take you back to the home screen from whatever icon your under. EXAMPLE: If you are in your messages, touch the transparent icon, hit home and it will take you back to the home screen. Couldn’t fix it … So I improvised!

      • Laura says:

        Perfect! Thank you! I’m guessing my phone has a hardware issue due to moisture or dropping it, but this will work until I am able to get it fixed or replaced.

      • liz says:

        Thank you for this, its saved me a repair!!!

      • Bethanie says:

        I don’t have this? Is this only for iPhones and 4th generation iPod touches?

        • Ama says:

          I have an Iphone 4 and didn’t have the assistive touch either. Trying to fix my home button I restored it and upgraded the software from itunes and now I have it. It’s helped with the home button not working properly and all.

          • Tim says:

            Ama, with 4 you have to go to general and then accessibility. There you will find the Assitive Touch option.

          • Martine says:

            Hi all I cannot find assistive touch- not in general under settings or under ‘accessibility’ – in accessibility only lists options such as voice over, zoom, large text ect.

            Home button malfunctioning- tried trick re power off and worked once but not anymore. Need to get interim solution working before getting phone fixed. Help!

      • Jessica says:

        This is a life savor! The reset power on/off didn’t really do the trick so I’m improvising as well now Thank you for sharing!!

      • Tahlia says:

        Thank you so much! I dropped my iPhone in the toilet and the only thing that was wrong with it was that the home button had stopped working. Thanks to you, it is now back in working order :D

      • MBM says:

        Until I get home to clean the button, your solution has worked, thanks very much for sharing with everybody:)

        good job:)

      • Ev says:

        Susan,
        Thank you so much for that post. I never knew about the assistive touch function and it has saved me from getting mad at my iPhone and doing something I might regret :-)
        Ev.

      • PO says:

        Thanks much. This worked.

      • Amber says:

        Genius!!! Assistive touch is so much less frustrating, thank you!!!

      • greg says:

        Susan,

        Just wanted to say thanks for the suggestion. I had to upgrade my phone OS but afterwards I was able to add the feature and it works great. I’m not paying $600+ for a full procie phone.

      • Fiona says:

        Thank you SO much for this post. I have tried absolutely everything for months and nothing has worked to fix my iPhone 4 home button. I was so frustrated that I almost replaced the phone entirely. Thanks so much for this solution- it WORKS. You have saved me the cost of a full replacement!

      • Tina says:

        This is awesome! I had to use a different “route” to find it on mine. Settings > General > Accessibility > Assistive Touch

        It’s useful for so many other things too like creating shortcuts for your most used applications! Love it!

        My home button is still not working 100%, but this saved me a trip to Apple Store and made my iPhone fully functioning again. I wasn’t able to get out of any application without having to do a hard restart because my home button wasn’t responding at all. I’d use the Assistive Touch whether my home button was functioning or not!

      • mia says:

        thank you so much!! So helpful…had to resort to assistive touch, home button must be broken.

      • williw says:

        Thanks, I tried everything and my home screen button doesn’t want to work! What you suggested did the trick…I no longer need the home button!!!! Thanks!

      • Rhonda says:

        Thank you!!! Only dropped my iPhone once but it must have been enough to cause something to loosen the home key. Now I don’t have to worry about it 😊.

      • Jay says:

        I did this and LOVE it.

      • leah says:

        Omg your a freaking life saver…. I love you lol

      • Sirish says:

        Susan …you da best !!! this is a gr8 help and i’m using it all the time now. its actually replaced the home button.

        thanks for ur help !!

      • guy says:

        Nice touch Susan, thanks!

      • Sonia says:

        This worked great! Thanks!

      • Zorro says:

        But, do you have a tip for how to take a screenshot?

      • JT says:

        THANK YOU – this has saved me so much frustration and money on my Iphone 4.

      • Aimee says:

        Susan..You are brilliant! Thank you!So much! I had washed my I phone and it was all but lost except for the home icon. The information you gave with the Assistive Touch was the best information I had been given in the almost full week of trolling on the internet of “fixits” Thank you! You saved me from Blackberry Hell!!!

      • Candace says:

        That’s friggin brilliant!!! I was starting to go nuts!

      • Snooke says:

        im glad i found this. i have no experience with the iPhone internal components and i was going to possibly break mines by doing so.

      • Danielle says:

        OMG thank you so much this is like my life saver!!!!

      • Gupta says:

        Thanks a ton for the tip, Susan. I was struggling with this home button issue for the past one week. Thanks once again.

      • melinda says:

        OMG SUSAN I LOVE YOU! ugh.. no home button and a business to run.. I was so frustrated…. too bad no one at the verizon store could help me. Apple is sending me a new phone but this will save my life till it arrives….many thanks

      • Melissa says:

        THANK YOU for this tip! i was looking for something like this on my iphone (I figured it had to exist somewhere lol) but I didn’t know what it was called. Now I don’t have to turn my phone off and on to get back to the home screen lol

      • Naye says:

        Omg, this helped so much thank you! I think my home button got wet and it doesn’t want to work at all but this really helped!

      • Rosemary says:

        Thanks this will save me from having to get a new phone!!!

      • bb says:

        Susan,

        Thanks this worked for me also!! Greatly appreciated! I didn’t know about the feature being on my iphone until I read your post. Thank you for sharing!

      • oretis says:

        Thanks Susan! This really helps as a work around for the moment.

      • Mitch says:

        Thank you so much such a big help. this will work till I can get an upgrade.

      • Roz says:

        Thank you Susan this works. I tried everything and i am pleased to say something so simple like this has solved my problem.

      • beth says:

        this helped me a ton, i was getting so frustrated at pushing the home button 10 times before it would work. With the assistive touch it makes it so much easier for me!

      • alyssa says:

        thank YOU i dropped my phone in top ramen! ugggh home button not working this is a life saver!! never knew about this…

        also mine i had to go to settings; general; accesibility and then assistive touch!

      • habtom says:

        great! it solved my problem. i think i have a hardware problem.

      • Amber says:

        Thank you for this tip! Saved me another day until I could get my phone replaced!

      • Christine says:

        THANK YOU!! Huge life saver!

    • Susan says:

      See Susan’s comments below. 7/3/2012 The Best Fix !!!! Use Assistive Touch! Will never fail!

      • Moh says:

        Thank you Susan !! ‘Assistive touch’ helped me. Why can’t Apple come up with these fixes to help us out ??!!

    • Girish Hampali says:

      It works… awesome..

    • Alhammadi says:

      thanks , works like new

    • Anna says:

      This didnt help :c kindve redundadnt too since the button itself doesnt work in the FIRST PLACE ?!

      • sharon says:

        anna, power the phone off, and when you put it on you should have your main screen, then go straight to settings to set up the assistive touch, my button wont work, but once i powered the phone off and on i was able to get to settings and do it, and it works!

    • Kathy says:

      Looked on a few forums. Everyone mentioned it was after upgrading. Common sense with old “rubber ball” mice made me think to do the above. I took a tissue, put a little isopropyl alcohol on it and cleaned the face of the button and the edges while pressing, using my fingernail to get as much of the inside edges as possible. Voila! When in doubt, first clean it. Anything. Oils from your fingers, external products like sunscreen when you have your hone at the beach or pool, dust. Everything gets anywhere.

    • Deanna says:

      Best trick ever! No needless trip to the Apple Store! Thank you!

    • MG says:

      Worked perfectly for me! Thanks for the cleaning tip!!

    • Butch says:

      Thanks a million Ron for the alcohol & Q-tip fix! It has fixed my phone after 8 months of pain in the B_ _ _ that no one seemed to have a fix for!

      I also took the suggestion put forth by Susan on July 3, 2012 below and turned on the Adaptive Touch feature just in case trouble starts again. It allows access to the Home screen at any time with just a couple of touches beginning in the corner of the screen.
      Thanks to both of you for these really helpful fixes!

    • Jardin says:

      Go into settings, on iPhone then general, then accessibility, scroll done to assistive touch, and turn it on.
      Now yr home button is in the top left of the screen! And you no longer need to use the button to press! Problem solved!

    • kathy says:

      I cleaned mine and it works great now. Thank you Kona!

    • Vicky says:

      Q-tip w/ alcohol works! Thank you!

    • Sarah says:

      Brilliant!!!! Thanks! I was about to open the phone up…your post probably saved the phone.

    • todao says:

      Thanks.. the responsiveness has returned to my home button.

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