Is your iPhone’s home button busted? Whether it doesn’t work at all or is simply inconsistent, having a broken home button can be a real pain. Within a year of buying your iPhone, a quick trip to a Genius Bar will fix you up. But if your phone is out of warranty and you’re not ready to plop down a few hundred bucks for a new one, there’s a way to work around a broken home button. It’s called AssistiveTouch, and it’s totally free. To access it, go to Settings on your iPhone, and head into the General section. Scroll down and tap Accessibility, then find AssistiveTouch – it’s near the bottom – and switch it on. This pops up a semi-transparent overlay button that’ll appear on every screen. It was designed to help those who can’t hit the physical home button properly, but will also help you work around your broken button. Whether you want to go home, open multitasking or take a screenshot, AssistiveTouch will let you do it – and it won’t cost you a dime.
About Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with AI strategy, implementation and governance, as well as technology, media and marketing. Named one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices in Technology, he is a bestselling author, covers tech and business for Fox 5’s Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN, and writes the popular daily business blog Think About This. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.