In my iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus first impressions I had pointed out that I wasn’t able to use nails to press the Home button. It was an issue, but at that time I didn’t think it was such as major issue.
But as Myke Hurley (via Daring Fireball) has discovered, it looks like the capacitive Force Touch Home button needs skin contact so it won’t work with gloves, which could be a major issue for users during wintertime.
https://twitter.com/imyke/status/776916630643302402
According to some reports, it seems to be possible to press the Home button with capacitive gloves as Twitter user Carl Hancock has shown in the video below. But we are hearing reports that it doesn’t work with all types of capacitive gloves.
https://twitter.com/carlhancock/status/776937439306846209
The only workaround would be to swipe to the left and tap on one of the widgets on the Lock screen to enter the passcode.
Apple has removed the hardware Home button on the iPhone 7 in favor of a capacitive home button. This button simulates the feeling of being pressed by using the Taptic Engine. I’m assuming that Apple is using Touch ID fingerprint sensor to register the touch.
It remains to be seen if Apple will be able to address this issue with a software update, as it would be quite annoying for users if they can’t use the Home button while wearing gloves during wintertime, which is fast approaching in most countries.
