Chosen Solution
I replaced the digitizer on 2017 iPad and want to know if I can also swap out the home buttons?
The big one, is the Air 1 digitizer cross-compatible?. Also, check here. I haven’t confirmed this personally so caveat emptor.
Answer: yes. The original iPad Air Digitizer works as a replacement. Be careful when removing the cracked or bad digitizer as the home button comes off in the same way that the original Air does. The 2017 model has sensors on the cable for TouchID. Simply take the original home button off the 2017 model and swap it onto the replacement digitizer.
Hello, ran into this same issue and here is what I found: Basically the digitizer works, but the button does not from the iPad Air 1st generation. Read my full post here regarding this same question: Replacing/Repairing Home Button and Cables for iPad 5
