Why is my Home Button not recognizing a press?

Hi Jacob,

I see you're at the point where you're ready to open up your iPad and try and figure out what's going on with the home button.

As you're no doubt aware, replacing the home button will result in the loss of your Touch ID capability, but ultimately that's the only solution for non-functional button.

I had one case where a home button wasn't working and I was able to fix it. Unfortunately, it's not very likely that the same fix will work for you, because I caused the issue myself when replacing a broken screen. What happened was, I somehow managed to knock off the little rubber bumper on top of the "click" dome of the button when reassembling the iPod Touch. While I thought the button was non-functional at first, I found out that pressing very hard on it actually generated a click. Here's a picture of what that little nub looks like on your iPad.

So I resigned myself to opening it back up again, after ordering a replacement button. When I went to replace the button, I realized what had happened. Curious as to whether it could be fixed, I cut a small piece of rubber that was about the same thickness as the original and glued it onto the dome. Note that the shape of the rubber doesn't matter; some are round and some are square, but of course it was easier for me to cut out a square that small rather than trying to make it round. I got the little nub glued back on, reassembled the home button and viola!, button back to working again! Now I have a spare, lol.

Anyway, I'm skeptical this will help you, as I don't see how you could lose that little piece of rubber without opening the phone and disassembling the home button like I did. But that seems like the place to look at, since deforming the dome has two functions; first, it makes the click sound, and second it makes electrical contact between the metal of the dome and the circuit board trace underneath the dome. If you take the cover off the button so you can see the dome, take something thin and dull and press down on the rubber; you should get a satisfying "click".

In trying to figure out how your button could have broken, I'm wondering if the glue holding the bracket may have failed; either that, or an excessively hard press or bump on the button might have bent it or knocked it loose. Once you have it open, take a good look at that bracket; that seems as though it may be the most likely source of the problem that I can think of. Most brackets I've seen have been held on with screws, but yours only relies on adhesive, so it would be more susceptible to coming loose.

Good luck with it; let us know what you find!