The back button on iphone

Use the side, Home, and other buttons on your iPhone

Learn about the buttons and switches on your iPhone.

From left to right: iPhone SE (1st generation), iPhone 8, and iPhone X and later

Sleep

On iPhone 6 and later, press the side button to wake your iPhone or put it to sleep. On iPhone SE (1st generation) and earlier, press the top button.

Ring/Silent

Use the ring/silent switch to mute sounds and alerts.

If the switch shows orange, it means your iPhone is in silent mode and will vibrate for incoming calls or alerts. When in silent mode, the alarms you set in the Clock app will still sound, and calls from Favorite contacts will still ring.

Volume up/down

Use the volume up/down buttons to adjust the volume when listening to music, watching videos, or playing games.

When you press the buttons, you’ll see the Volume under the indicator. When you’re not using other apps, the buttons will adjust the ringer volume and you’ll see Ringer under the indicator.

Home button/Touch ID

Use the Home button to unlock your device or make purchases using Touch ID. Press the Home button once to go to the Home screen. Press the Home button twice to bring up the App Switcher.

Restart

On iPhone X and later, press and hold the side button and one of the volume buttons to restart your iPhone. On iPhone SE (2nd generation), 8, 7, or 6, press and hold the side button. On iPhone SE (1st generation) and earlier, press and hold the top button.

Siri

Press and hold the side button or Home button to use Siri.

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Back button on iPhone

There is an opinion that in iPhone apps, there’s no point in placing the Back button on screens that are directly accessible via the main navigation menu (at the bottom) — because the button just leads to the main screen, which can be reached with one click on the menu.

On the other hand, the apparent convention is to have the button on these screens, the same as any other screen.

Are there any Apple guidelines concerning this? Or any other authoritative sources?

3 Answers 3

The iOS HIG doesn’t specifically say about the back button on the directly accessible screen, however, just because it happens to be possible to get back to the main screen via the main menu, that doesn’t mean that’s the best way to do it.

While in the app, returning from deeper screens using the back button should stop at the main screen otherwise you’d go back, back, back — oh! No back button! Context switch — Think — How do I get back to the top — I guess I’ll have to use the main menu button.

So I think it should be there.

Usually when you go to a new page on the iPhone, the new page swipes in from the right, giving a sense that you’re moving forward. The mentally natural way to go back to the previous page is to move backward via the back button. It’s quicker to use the back button than to parse the 4+ menu items for the right item that would take them back to the previous page. 1 button VS 4 buttons — 1 button wins.

Benefits of each option:

Keeping the back button:

• Consistent with other pages in this app
• Consistent with a very familiar pattern on this platform
• Consistent behaviour with similar patterns on other interfaces (e.g. the ever-present back button on a browser).
• From any page, users can get back as far as they want using just one button

Removing the back button:

• It could be argued that it removes clutter. However, by creating a conspicuous absence that isn’t on other pages, with something very familiar noticeably disappearing on some page transitions, you’re as likely to actually increase the cognitive effort required to process that page, and distract them with something appearing and disappearing for reasons unrelated to their task.
• Two buttons on the same page would have the same function, and it could be argued that that removing duplication or redundancy is always a good thing. This isn’t always true: this misconception is dealt with very well at Is it frowned upon to allow the user two different options to perform the same action?

So, that’s four benefits for keeping it, and the two apparent benefits for removing it don’t stand up to scrutiny.

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How to Go Back on the iPhone or iPad (iOS 15 & iPadOS 15)

Here’s how to swipe and tap your way back on the iPhone.

* This post is part of iPhone Life‘s Tip of the Day newsletter. Sign Up. *

Sometimes figuring out how to go back on your iPhone can be more confusing than one would think. How do you return to the previous screen if you went from one app to another? How do you go back to the previous page within the same app? In this article, we’ll answer all your questions about how to go back on your iPhone or iPad.

Jump To:

• What Is the Back Button on iPhone?
• How to Return to an App Using the Back Button on an iPhone
• How to Return to a Previous Screen on a Webpage
• How to Go Back in iPhone or iPad Apps Using the Home Bar

What We Talk About When We Talk About the Back Button on iPhone

If you’ve ever wondered how to go back in iPhone or iPad, you’ll be happy to know that when you’ve followed a link from one app page to another on your iPhone, there is a little back button on iPhone and iPad to take you back where you started. Before this back button addition in iOS 9, if a notification opened a different app, you could only go back by either returning to the Home screen or double-clicking the Home button to open to the App Switcher. Since then, Apple has also added the option to use the Home bar to swipe back and forth between apps. You might also want to navigate back on a website you found through an app, and be frustrated when you find yourself back on the previous app instead of on the previous page of the website. We will cover how to go back on an iPhone and iPad in all its different forms, so you’re never confused by the iPhone back buttons again.

How to Return to an App Using the Back Button on an iPhone

Where is the back button on iPhone? There are actually a couple of answers to this, depending on if you want to go back to the previous screen, or return to an app from an external page. Let’s first look at how to go back to an app from a webpage that opened, for example, if you tapped on a link in your Mail app. For more great tips on how to easily navigate apps, check out our Tip of the Day.

1. In Chrome, locate the back button at the top left of your screen, above the address bar.

In Safari, this will instead show up as a button that says Done.

Tap the back button to navigate back to the original app.

How to Return to a Previous Screen on a Webpage

Now, if you just want to go back to a previous screen in a web browser on your iPhone, you’ll want to look at the arrows on the bottom of the webpage. If you opened the link from an app (such as through your email or clicked on an ad) and you follow the steps above, you’ll return to the app rather than the previous page on the website, which can be frustrating. Whether you’ve opened this site through an app or are surfing in Safari or a different browser, to go back to a previous page, follow these steps.

Locate the back arrow at the bottom of your screen. These will look a little different depending on which browser you are using. I am using Safari as an example.

Tap that button to return to a previous page.

How to Go Back in iPhone Apps Using the Home Bar

The third way to go back on your iPhone also works for returning to an app from an external link.

1. Press the Home bar.

Move the Home bar to the right to return to the previous open app.

Release the Home bar and start working in the previous app.

You can repeat this process in reverse as well. Once you have mastered this gesture, you will be able to quickly navigate back and forth between two apps.

To switch between apps when you want go to an app that isn’t the last one you opened, you can just swipe up on your Home screen to view all your open apps and tap the one you want to view. Next, learn what all the buttons and ports on your iPhone can do!

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Apple added a secret button to your iPhone, and you may not have even noticed

Button of the Month: iOS 14’s Back Tap

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In today’s digital age, it sometimes feels like hardware has taken a back seat to the software that drives our devices. Button of the Month is a monthly column that explores the physical pieces of our phones, tablets, and controllers that we interact with every day.

Your iPhone got a new button last month, and you may not have even noticed.

No, Apple didn’t sneak into your house and secretly superglue a button onto your smartphone. But it did release iOS 14, the latest version of its iPhone software, which includes a feature called Back Tap. Back Tap adds a fascinating new “button” to your phone that blurs the line between hardware and software.

Back Tap turns the entire back of your iPhone into a giant touch-sensitive button that you can double or triple tap to trigger specific functions on your phone. There’s a good chance that you haven’t noticed it yet. Apple slipped the settings for Back Tap into its Accessibility menu.

Its intended purpose is to give users more options for interacting with their devices. Most of Back Tap’s options reflect that, with settings to open the app switcher, notification menu, or control center; scroll through an app or webpage; trigger Siri; or take a screenshot.

But Back Tap also ties into Apple’s incredibly robust Shortcuts app, which means you can effectively make those new buttons do almost anything you can imagine. It’s a fascinating kind of button: entirely invisible to the naked eye, completely nonfunctional until it’s enabled through software, but can be tasked to open, interact with, or accomplish nearly any task on your smartphone with just a quick tap.

That software customization is key. It’s easy to imagine a world where Apple limited Back Tap to just a few preset options focused on making the iPhone UI more accessible. But by opening it up to Shortcuts, the company turned Back Tap into a tool of limitless creativity, letting users come up with their own ways to take advantage of the new button on the back of their devices.

(It’s not just Apple. Google experimented with a similar, albeit more limited, feature for Android 11, although it didn’t end up making the final cut. Some enterprising developers have since replicated the feature for any Android device.)

This is also a level of control that’s almost unheard of for iOS devices. Imagine if Apple let you remap the side button (for Siri and Apple Pay) on an iPhone 12 to, say, launch Google Assistant or send a preset text message to your partner. It’s practically unthinkable.

It works well, too. The software is responsive, and whatever Apple’s doing to differentiate between an intentional tap and just regularly holding your phone, it works well. I’ve found it particularly useful for triggering Control Center to quickly toggle system settings.

Back Tap repurposes the existing sensors and hardware on your iPhone with software to create a new hardware interaction that wasn’t available before. It’s a new physical button users can interact with — but one that’s almost completely free of Apple’s limitations.

Physical buttons, of course, are the most direct form of interaction. It’s why Samsung insists on a bespoke Bixby button and why Netflix pays for a spot on your Roku remote. And while Apple may not quite be willing to give up control of the physical buttons on your iPhone, Back Tap — with its almost button — is the next best thing.

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How to use the iPhone Apple logo as a secret button

(Pocket-lint) — There are a number of clever features built into Apple’s iOS software — some of which you will find in our iPhone tips and tricks — but a feature called Back Tap is one of our absolute favourites. We love it so much, we felt it deserved its own explainer.

Back Tap turns the Apple logo on the back of your iPhone into a secret button. Yes really. You can program the logo to take a screenshot when you double tap it and launch Shazam when you triple tap it for example, or you can set up a Siri Shortcut to use as the double and triple tap, such as call your partner.

Back Tap is not on by default though. Here’s what you can make the Apple logo secret button do and how to set up Back Tap.

What is Back Tap and what options are there?

The feature that turns the Apple logo on the back of your iPhone into a secret button is called Back Tap. It is hidden within the Accessibility settings of your iPhone and it is switched off by default. If you turn it on, you can choose a number of options to happen when you double tap or triple tap the logo on the back of your iPhone.

The standard options available for both double tap and triple tap are:

• None
• Accessibility Shortcut
• App Switcher
• Control Centre
• Home
• Lock Screen
• Mute
• Notification Centre
• Reachability
• Screenshot
• Shake
• Siri Spotlight
• Volume Down
• Volume Up
• Assistive Touch
• Classic Invert
• Magnifier
• Smart Invert
• Speak Screen
• VoiceOver
• Zoom
• Scroll Down
• Scroll Up

There are also Siri Shortcuts at the bottom of the list of options. If you have created Siri Shortcuts, they will appear here. If you haven’t, you can create a Siri Shortcut, such as Send a WhatsApp message to your partner, show your News Today feed, or call your bestie for example. You’ll then be able to use any of the Shortcuts you create as an option for double tapping or triple tapping the Apple logo.

How to setup the Apple logo as a secret button

To turn the Apple logo on the back of your iPhone into a secret button when you double tap or triple tap it, follow the steps below:

1. Open Settings on your iPhone
2. Tap on Accessibility
3. Tap on Touch
4. Tap on Back Tap at the bottom
5. Tap on Double Tap
6. Select the shortcut you want to happen when you double tap the Apple logo
7. Tap on Back Tap at the top of your screen
8. Tap on Triple Tap
9. Select the shortcut you want to happen when you triple tap the Apple logo

How to use the Apple logo as a secret button

Once you have setup Back Tap, using the feature is very easy. You just double tap or triple tap the back of your iPhone where the Apple logo is. It works even when you have a case on in our experience, though we haven’t tried it with all cases of course.

You don’t need to push the logo, just double or triple tap the logo with your finger and the shortcut you have selected for that action will happen straight away, whether a call or a screenshot.

Note: If you have a case on, you may just need to make a note where the Apple logo is on your device. For the iPhone 11 and 12 models, it is in the middle of the rear for example, while on the iPhone XR, it is above the middle in the top third.

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