Daniel Hruska The so-called The home button is the most used and undoubtedly the most important button on the iPhone. For every new user of this smartphone, it forms a gateway that they can open at any time and immediately return to a familiar and safe place. More experienced users can use it to launch more advanced functions such as Spotlight, the multitasking bar or Siri. Because the home button serves many purposes, it itself is subject to a potential wear and tear risk. Try to casually count how many times you press it every day. It will probably be a high number. This is why the home button has been more problematic than any other button for several years now.
The original iPhone
The first generation was presented and put on sale in 2007. The world first saw a circular button with a square with rounded corners in the middle symbolizing the outline of the application icon. Its primary functionality was thus immediately known to everyone. The home button in the iPhone 2G was not part of the part with the display but of the part with the docking connector. Getting to it was not exactly an easy task, so the replacement was quite difficult. If we look at the failure rate, it was not as high as today's generations, however, software functions requiring double or triple button presses were yet to be introduced.
iPhone 3G and 3GS
The two models debuted in 2008 and 2009, and in terms of home button design, they were very similar. Instead of being part of the part with the 30-pin connector, the home button was attached to the part with the display. This part would consist of two parts that could be replaced independently of each other. The guts of the iPhone 3G and 3GS were accessed by removing the front part with glass, which is a relatively easy operation. And since the home button was part of the outer frame of the display, it was also easy to replace.
Apple repaired the front part by replacing both parts of the part with the display, i.e. the LCD itself. If the cause of the malfunction was not a bad contact under the home button, the problem was solved. These two models didn't have the same failure rate as the current models, but then again - at the time, iOS didn't have that many features that required it to be pressed multiple times.
iPhone 4
The fourth generation of the apple phone officially saw the light of day in the summer of 2010 in a slimmer body with a completely new design. Due to the replacement of the home button, one has to focus on the back side of the body of the device, which does not make accessing it very easy. To make matters worse, iOS 4 brought multitasking with switching between applications, which the user can access by double-pressing the home button. Its use side by side with the failure rate has suddenly skyrocketed.
In the iPhone 4, a flex cable was also used for signal conduction, which caused additional disturbances. With some devices, it happened that from time to time it stopped working completely. Sometimes the second press was not correctly identified, so the system responded only to a single press instead of a double press. The flex cable under the home button relied on the contact of the home button with a metal plate that wore out over time.
iPhone 4S
Although it looks almost identical to its predecessor from the outside, it is a different device inside. Although the home button is attached to the same part, again a flex cable was used, but Apple decided to add a rubber seal and glue. Due to the use of the same plastic mechanism, the iPhone 4S suffers from exactly the same problems as the iPhone 4. It is interesting that Apple integrated AssistiveTouch in iOS 5, a function that allows you to simulate hardware buttons directly on the display.
iPhone 5
The current model brought an even narrower profile. Not only has Apple completely sunk the home button into the glass, but the press is also "different". There is no doubt that the Cupertino engineers had to do something differently. Similar to the 4S, the home button was attached to the display, but with the help of a stronger and more durable rubber seal, to which a metal ring was additionally attached from the underside of the new one. But that's pretty much all there is to innovation. There is still the old, well-known problematic flex cable under the home button, although it is wrapped in yellow tape for protection. Only time will tell if the same plastic mechanism will wear out as quickly as previous generations.
Home buttons of the future
We're slowly but surely nearing the end of the six-year iPhone sales cycle, iteration number seven will soon begin, but Apple keeps repeating the same home button mistake over and over again. Of course, it's too early to say whether a bit of metal and yellow tape in the iPhone 5 will solve past problems, but the answer is likely to be ne. For now, we can watch how it develops after a year and a few months with the iPhone 4S.
The question arises as to whether there is any solution at all. Cables and components will fail over time, that's a simple fact. No hardware placed in the tiny and thin boxes we use every day has a chance to last forever. Apple may be trying to come up with an improvement in the design of the home button, but the hardware alone may not be enough for it. But what about the software?
AssistiveTouch shows us how Apple is trying to experiment with gestures replacing physical buttons. An even better example can be seen on the iPad, where the home button is not needed at all thanks to gestures. At the same time, when using them, work on the iPad is faster and smoother. Although the iPhone does not have such a large display for gestures performed with four fingers, for example a tweak from Cydia zephyr it works in style as if it were made by Apple. Hopefully we will see new gestures in iOS 7. More advanced users would certainly welcome them, while less demanding users could continue to use the home button exactly as they have been used to.
there was never a problem with the flex cable itself, the problem was, is and always will be in the membrane button. Membrane buttons are used everywhere today, but unfortunately they have a rather limited lifespan in any device. The home button is perhaps the most used thing on any iPhone (followed by the power button at the top - also a membrane construction). It would be best to replace the button with a momentary button, but these cannot be created with a sufficiently low profile combined with a good lifespan. Solution? Put a touch pad there, which we can find for example on Androids, but Apple will definitely not go in this direction, or rubber membrane buttons that are used, for example, in calculators or remote controls, but there will be a similar problem with a low profile.
Great article. I have an iPhone 3gs and I don't have the slightest problem with the Home button. On the other hand, with Mute - they didn't solve that enough with a piece of plastic embedded deep in the back cover (replacement with a 2k cover as well). The biggest drawback of the Home button is the mechanical response, I doubt that a sensor would be a good way to go.
I have to disagree, the problem with the Home button has occurred with almost every iPhone 4 model, but I have never encountered it with the 4S or 5 and that I have passed through many iPhones.... I think that this problem has been solved in most cases already with 4ky....
I can't agree with that, the iPhone 4 is in this respect the most defective phone generation ever. Every iPhone 4 owner I know has had their phone returned because of the home button. In addition, in order to repair it, basically the entire iPhone has to be gutted.
Exactly, sorry and mistake…
I can also add that I encountered the most non-functional homs with 4s
I read in quite a few articles that the home button is not needed or that one day it will definitely be cancelled. it is said to be replaced by a gesture ala iPad. The problem is that with this solution it would not be possible to control the phone with one hand, which btw was also the reason why a larger display is not needed.