"...you can get your home button on the touchscreen, available for you at any point that the screen is powered on. Go into Settings, and then General, and then Accessibility, and then Assistive Touch. Turn Assistive Touch on, and you'll see a persistent white dot in the top left corner of your screen. This is your new home button, and more: Tapping it will open a menu that can take you home, launch Siri, lock your screen and turn the volume up and down, among other features."The great thing about this solution is you can designate any part of the screen for your new touchscreen "home" button, so if you'd prefer it further up or down, it's your decision to make.
Gilbert also notes makeuseof.com has a recalibration solution which may or may not bring your non-responsive home button back to life:
- Launch any pre-installed iOS app like Calendar, Safari, Reminders, or Notes.
- Press and hold your the iPhone power button for about 4 seconds, until the “Slide to power off” prompt appears.
- Release the power button, and press and hold the home button for 6-7 seconds. This should force close the app and reset/recalibrate your home button. Note, it make take 3-4 attempts using this method to get the home button back working.
(Image: Gregory Han)
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Another solution that I was skeptical of until it saved my iPhone: put your phone close to your face, with the home button directly in front of your mouth. Then blow. HARD. Do it a few times to be sure it works. Reminded me of my childhood filled with blowing on Nintendo cartridges to make them work, but it really did revive my home button! I went from having to press it multiple times just to get a response to it working like brand new.
Wow, in the past i have issues with the iphone 4, the home button was a real problem, but with this tip, i will be able to use the home button a lot less.
Thanks.
Good to know.
I would recommend to jailbreak your iPhone and install a tweak called Zephyr. It lets you swipe up from the bottom of your screen (much like the notification center) to close an app or launch the app switcher.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz-ZH3VW0ec