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Developer Hardware HomePod iPhone News

Leaked HomePod firmware hints at resizable virtual Home button for iPhone 8

It’s the leaked firmware that keeps on giving.

In a recent discovery, developer Steve Troughton-Smith found code strings within the HomePod firmware that indicated a virtual Home button for the iPhone 8. The Home button can apparently be hidden and resized as needed.

There apparently isn’t a way to change the Home button’s color, and tab bars that display at the bottom of apps will appear below the button.


The iPhone 8 is expected to be introduced around the usual September time frame. The new phone will reportedly be slightly larger than the iPhone 7 and sport an OLED display that runs nearly edge to edge making it as big as the iPhone 7 Plus screen.

The larger screen means that there might not be room for a physical Home button, which Apple looks to be replacing with a virtual on-screen version.

The HomePod isn’t shipping until December, but the firmware for the device leaked online recently and developers have been sifting through it ever since looking for details about all of Apple’s unreleased iOS-based products.

The leaked firmware has also indicated that the iPhone 8 will have a split status bar to leave room for the front-facing camera and sensors, supports facial recognition, and will include tap to wake like the Apple Watch.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

Via The Mac Observer and Twitter