iPad Home button fails in Guided Access after iPadOS 27 update

We've seen this issue at our school for a number of weeks, restarting didn't work for us as we had a kiosk app start up immediately after the iPad rebooted and locking the screen.

This week we managed to install the iPadOS 27.2 update which fixed the issue of ending Guided Access and we found a shortcut to get back into the settings of the kiosk app. Today there was another iPadOS update, so hoping that doesn't break anything else.

Hi Muriel,

Re: "iPad Home button fails in Guided Access after iPadOS 27 update"

If you haven't tried it already: wondering if restarting your iPad could help.

That sometimes restores order when something is not working as expected'

If needed: See how to: Restart your iPad - Apple Support

Am no expert in this area, yet your post to the community deserves some response.

_____________

For iPadOS 27: Apple support provides the linked article below:

Lock iPad to one app with Guided Access - Apple Support

When setting up: The choices for ending a session say:

Set up Guided Access

1. Go to the Settings app on your iPad.
2. Tap Accessibility, tap Guided Access, then turn on Guided Access.
3. Do any of the following for Guided Access sessions:

• • End a session with a passcode: Tap Passcode Settings, tap Set Guided Access Passcode, then enter a passcode.
  • End a session with Face ID or Touch ID: Tap Passcode Settings, then turn on Face ID (on an iPad with Face ID) or Touch ID (on other iPad models).

Also says:

"End a Guided Access session

Depending on the passcode options you chose when you set up Guided Access, you’ll enter your Guided Access passcode or use Face ID to end a Guided Access session.

• Use the passcode: Triple-click the top button (on an iPad with Face ID) or Home button (on other iPad models), then enter your Guided Access passcode.
• Use Face ID or Touch ID: If you turned on the Face ID or Touch ID option in Guided Access Passcode Settings, triple-click the top button or Home button, then unlock your iPad with Face ID or Touch ID (depending on your iPad model)."

_______________________________________________________________

I don't know whether or not you could make use of the Accessibility shortcut if you wanted to:

See how to: Quickly turn accessibility features on or off on iPad

Eg: says:

"You can quickly turn many accessibility features on or off by clicking an iPad button. You can also use Control Center, Siri, or Vocal Shortcuts."

also says:

"To use the Accessibility Shortcut while Guided Access is on, you must turn on Accessibility Shortcut in Guided Access settings."

___________________________

If you want to reach out to them: Apple provides an Accessibility Support Team

See: How to contact Apple for help with accessibility features - Apple Support 

_________

If you wish: You can send feedback to let Apple know of your experience:

If others also experience the same problem, Apple may address it in an update:

To provide feedback about an accessibility feature on an Apple product,

email the Accessibility team: [email protected]. 

All the best :-)

Yes - letting the battery go to 0% and then plugging it in was the only thing that worked for us. Once it restarted, we turned off GA and will leave it off until Apple releases a bug fix!

Note - someone mentioned it’s not usually a great idea to let a battery drain completely, but in our case, we had to do it to get the iPad functioning for our child, and it worked.

Works OK now on iPadOS 27.2

I wanted to add, we are experiencing this same issue at our school district. We have several devices which are "app locked" (Via Securly) into an Application. Some of our iPads auto-updated to iOS 27, and since then, the home button functionality ceased while in app lock. Previously, the home button would wake the device.

Similarly, iOS 27 iPads which are locked into an app via "Guided Access" also lose home button functionality (Cannot triple press to escape).

Our assessment at the moment is when locked into an app, whether guided access or via a management service, home button loses its functionality.

We were able to successfully replicate this issue across several iPads. Seems to occur every time.

Thanks!

~Sean

Yes, draining the battery worked for us on two of our iPads. We let the batteries drain and then plugged them back in, and the iPads were out of Guided Access. We then disabled GA so that it won’t happen again.

Note that this fix will depend on the age/health of your battery. In our case, our iPads were basically unusable without the Home button functionality so we were willing to take the chance, and it worked.

This finally worked for us: From Reddit: "force-shut down the iPad and turn it back on. Once you get to the Home Screen, keep pressing the Home button, and you might get the prompt for the Guided Access password. Enter the password".

This is THE WORST new “feature” with iOS 27.0. The only way to get out of Guided Access is to let the iPad battery drain to 0% and THEN plug it in. Once it starts back up again, it will be out of Guided Access mode. Just don’t put it back into GA because it is definitely disabling the Home button.

Thank you for your post to the community on this topic under discussion.

Usually used only as a last resort:

In the linked article below: There are instructions for how to:

(1) Force restart iPad (models with Face ID or with Touch ID in the top button)

or

(2) Force restart iPad (models with the Home button)

You might want to try it: Force restart iPad - Apple Support

__________________

More info. if needed:

What to do: If your iPad doesn't respond - Apple Support

Now i see this is an IOS 27 issue. Had this issue with my sons ipad. Thought it was some key sequence he had hit. Now i know.

i had ended up taking it to best buy and the were able to wipe it oit and let me start over.

Fix this Apple.

Yellow-06-GT wrote: "...Fix this Apple."

Yellow-06-GT ~ Apple is unlikely to see your directive in this user-to-user community. So instead:

Product Feedback - Apple

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Restarting the ipads - I've done this on several ipads I manage and they just jump back into guided access when they've rebooted. Nothing is working. It's very frustrating. I can't even recover my ipad as it just freezes.

I am seeing the exact same thing! And none of the usual guided access tricks work because the home button is disabled so the triple press does not work.

Has draining the battery and then restarting actually worked? We are trying this now, because NOTHING else has worked — we can’t even put the device into lost mode. What a nightmare.

Apparently our device’s battery health is not great — post update, when it drains completely, it has taken between 90 minutes to six hours to begin charging again.