Gadgetory

no matter how good you are to your iPhone there is a chance that eventually your home button will crap out just look at all the Apple forms filled with users complaining about a home button that slow to respond or just doesn't work Apple did redesign the home button for the iPhone 5 to prevent this from happening but if you have an older iPhone that's out of warranty like mine here are four things you can do to fix that defunct button okay the first thing you want to try is to calibrate your home button this is something that Apple does recommend doing especially if your home button does click but it's just slow to respond okay open up an apple app like the clock now hold down the sleep button until slide to power off shows up as soon as it does hold down the home button the app will close and your home button will be calibrated check to see if that fixed it if your home button still doesn't work try this next trick there is a chance that through normal usage wear-and-tear the docking port got misaligned moving the home button along with it before we continue beware that if you're too feisty with your iPhone you can damage it okay get an iPhone USB cable and plug it in now push down on the top just a little so that the 30-pin connector pushes up behind the home button then tap the home button and remove the cable for many people this little hack will do the trick but if your home button is still not responding well enough gives us next of a try considering this is a physical button you have to remember that there's space around it where dirt can get stuck for this fix you'll need 99.99% isopropyl alcohol which you can find at a hardware store do not use rubbing alcohol because that has water in it and will further damage your phone okay using a cotton ball tissue or eyedropper apply a few drops of the alcohol directly on and around the home button avoiding the screen once you do grab a pencil or other narrow object and tap tap tap the home button to allow the alcohol to get in and around the button give it about ten minutes to completely dry before checking to see if the alcohol solve the problem I'm sorry that it had to come to this but if the three previous tips didn't fix your home button your final option is to enable the on-screen home button this will put a small button on your screen that'll do everything your home button would normally do let me show you go to settings down to general then head on over to accessibility here scroll down to assistive touch turn that on and you'll see this new button show up on your screen now when you tap it you'll get a choice of actions like home will take you to your home screen or you can even activate Siri from here if the button ever gets in the way just drag it somewhere else the solution is hardly ideal but it could hold you over until you're ready to buy a new phone or get it repaired if you have any questions or ideas let me know on Twitter and check out more how-tos on how to see Netcom for CNET I'm Sharon Vaknin