Does the iPad setup wizard require a home button in iOS 10?

Question

I'm about to factory reset an iPad with a broken home button. I've been using AssistiveTouch in place of the button. In iOS 10, unlocking requires the home button, so I have to use AssistiveTouch every time I turn the iPad on. My question is—if I factory reset it, is there a part of the iOS 10 setup screen that requires the home button to proceed? If I reset, AssistiveTouch will not be enabled and I won't be able to enable it until the iPad is finished being set up. This could make the device unusable.

Answer 1

The first thing you have to do is unlock the device, which requires you to press the home button.

A thread on Apple Support Communities has a possible workaround, but I can't verify it:

Once you download iOS10 and get to "Hello" screen, connect your iPhone to iTunes. Under iPhone>Summary page, there is an icon that says "configure accesibility". Click on it and a window pops up, and enable "Speak auto-text" under "seeing" and "mono-audit" under hearing. I THINK it should work with just choosing one or the other or any other options for those with seeing/hearing problems. Click on done, and you see your vertual home button is back on "Hello" screen.

^{https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7667716}