On Wednesday,Apple officially revealed the iPhone 16e, the spiritual successor to the iPhone SE.
(The iPod touch was killed off a long time ago.)
We call it the ‘Home’ button: [It] takes you home from wherever you are."
And at that point in time, that’s all the Home button did.
Want to leave an app?
Hit the Home button.
But that simplicity didn’t last forever.
One of the first non-home functions of the Home button was to take screenshots.
All of a sudden, the Home button had more than one purpose.
Next came Voice Control.
(Fun fact:It still exists on iOS!)
“Call Mom,” or “play a song.")
Of course, the real revolution came in 2011, with the iPhone 4S and Siri.
Apple took the Voice Command control and assigned it to Siri.
(The utility of asking Siri to do anything has been a point of contention ever since.
)The Home button’s next milestone came with the iPhone 5s.
For this model, Apple outfitted the button with a fingerprint reader.
It was the era of Touch ID.
Gone was the iconic rounded square icon in the center of the Home button, replaced by solid glass.
Perhaps the Home button’s final development was when it ceased to be a true button at all.
With the iPhone 7 series, Apple replaced the physical button with a capacitive one.
But nothing lasts forever.
Since then, only the iPhone SE line has offered a Home buttonat least in the iPhone space.
And as of the iPhone 16e, the Home button is gone from Apple’s lineup.
What the Home button got right
It’s not that gesture controls aren’t greatthey are!
But the Home button had some undeniable perks.
(Touch ID also works when your face is all puffy from sleep.)
More simply, the Home button was abutton, and buttons are great!
There’s a satisfaction in clicking something and seeing an action as a result.
You could also have some fun with the Home button that you might’t with Face ID.
Repeat that five times, and you could use any finger to authenticate yourself.
(This still works on Macs with Touch ID.)
And if your Home button broke, it was a real pain in the ass.
While Touch ID is superior to Face ID in some ways, it falls short in many others.
Are your hands wet?
Your fingerprint willnotscan until they’re dry.
Do you suffer from dry skin in the winter?
Ge used to using your passcode for a few months.
Better take them off.
The extra screen real estate the removal of the bottom bezel affords is also an undeniable plus.
It’s hardly a contest.
But for everything else on iOS?
Those bezels are hardly missed.
There are still plenty of Home button iPhones in use right now.
The point is, for a long time, the Home button mattered.
And until Apple drops support for all Home button devices entirely, it still does.
