Apple iPhone 7 has 'hidden home button' on screen

New York, Oct 18: What if the home button of your new iPhone 7 stops working? No worries, as Apple's iPhone 7 home button has a virtual alternative that turns on automatically if the physical button fails to perform.

According to the Apple-tracking website MacRumors, the virtual home button sits neatly at the bottom of the iPhone 7's screen.

With the new iOS 10 in place, the iPhone 7 screen displays a message, saying that "Home Button may need service and "onscreen Home Button" can be used in the meantime.

"With the introduction of the iPhone 7, Apple did away with the classic click-mechanism home button in favour of a 'solid-state' pressure sensitive one that uses haptic feedback to mimic traditional button presses," the report added.

The iPhone 7 home button was redesigned in 2016. The new home button is like a sensor that can recognise a fingerprint and additional pressure.

"It also vibrates when a user presses the button, so he or she knows its features have been activated," Fortune reported on Tuesday.

While the feature is technically hidden, it can be turned on whenever the physical Home Button malfunctions.

Speculations are that Apple may finally move its home button into the glass on its next iPhone variant - eliminating physical buttons once and for all.