Here it is. The one and only real button on the front of this phone. Push it to summon the Home screen, which is your gateway to everything the iPhone can do.
Having a Home button is a wonderful thing. It means you can never get lost. No matter how deeply you burrow into the iPhone software, no matter how far off track you find yourself, one push of the Home button takes you all the way back to the beginning.
Sounds simple, but remember that the iPhone doesn't have an actual Back button or End button. The Home button is the only way out of some screens.
The Home button also wakes up the iPhone if it's in Standby mode. That's sometimes easier than finding the Sleep/Wake switch on the top edge.
Tip
The Home button is also a "force quit" button. If you press it for six seconds straight, whatever program you're running completely shuts down. That's a good troubleshooting technique when a particular program seems to be acting up.
Some beginners forget that the Home button is a physical pushbutton—it's not touch-sensitive like the screen—and get frustrated when it doesn't respond. Give it a real manly push.
Get iPhone: The Missing Manual now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
