And Then One Day, No Button and No Touch I.D.

[Marrk]

Apple did away with the button on my iPhone SE (the physical button on the physical phone doesn't work anymore) and my Touch ID. Instead, I have an icon of a button on the screen, and I have to log in.

Seems strange that Apple would do this without letting me know in advance.

 

[Rod]

You have Assistive Touch Turned on. Usually a measure taken by users who's physical Home button has stopped working.

"Use On-Screen Home Button​

To use an onscreen home button on an iPhone, you can utilize the AssistiveTouch feature. This allows you to add a virtual home button on your screen, which functions similarly to the physical home button. Here's how you can set it up:

1. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch > AssistiveTouch, then turn on AssistiveTouch. (In your case turn off)
2. Once enabled, a button will appear on the screen. You can drag this button to any position on the screen.
3. Tap the AssistiveTouch button to open the menu, and then tap the Home button in the pop-up to return to the home screen.

Additionally, you can customize the AssistiveTouch menu to include only the Home button if desired. To do this:

1. Navigate to Settings > Accessibility > Touch > AssistiveTouch.
2. Tap Customize Top Level Menu.
3. Tap the minus sign to remove any buttons you don't need, leaving only the Home button.4

If you prefer, you can also use Siri to turn on AssistiveTouch by saying, "Hey Siri, turn on assistive touch". This feature is particularly useful for users with older iPhones or those who prefer a virtual home button over gesture."

It's probably possible to use Siri in the same way to turn it off.

 

[Marrk]

@Rod Thank you, Rod. You are correct. I had AssistiveTouch turned "On."

When I turned it "Off," I had neither buttons. When I rebooted the phone, AssistiveTouch was back "On."

Is there a step that I am omitting? Does the phone had to be plugged in to a power adaptor?

 

[Rod]

No. I had the impression this was a new to you iPhone. My reasoning was because you said, "Apple did away with the button on my iPhone SE (the physical button on the physical phone doesn't work anymore) and my Touch ID."

Apple may make well advertised changes to hardware and software between models and Operating Systems but they do not change the basic functions of your iPhone.

So, this doesn't mean faults do not occur. They do, but in most cases they are fixable.

TBC

 

[Rod]

I would suggest, although there may be a simpler answer that you simply Reset All Contents and Settings. It's very difficult to check all the settings on an iPhone remotely so short of you taking it to an Apple Store Resetting All Contents and Settings is what I would do.

This is not as bad as it sounds because all of your apps will reload from the App Store and all your Mail, contacts, notes, calendars, reminders ect will be restored from iCloud.

Initially after erasure all you need to do is Login to your Apple account and the rest will happen automatically. It will take a while but the result will be much the same as a new iPhone. All of your settings will return to default states.
So, assuming the "virtual" Home button was one of them it should return to the physical button. You will need to re record your finger print, re enter third party email accounts and login afresh to those apps that require logins and setup Apple Pay for your iCloud account.
Beleive me I've done this a few times and although you wont have to do it all in one day it does take a few hours. It is a good learning ecperience though and will refamiliarise you with all your old settings as well as new current options.

The other option is after erasure to restore your iPhone from your iCloud Backup if you have one. iCloud backups are encrypted so retain a lot of your personal data and preferences but they take a long time to complete and may not fix your probem as Assistive Touch may be retored too dependent on how old the iCloud Backup is. I do an update to mine every night.

Obviously the easy way is to take it to an Apple Genius bar if thats an option for you. They may do the same as I have suggested anyway but you wont have to do it.