Check this out http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10324596/detect-when-home-button-is-pressed-ios 

The link shows about general IOS development, is there not one associated with cocos2dx listener setup with keycode input? I’ve tried that doesnt seem to work so not sure if was missing something, or is it like the link you have provided...

Try this http://stackoverflow.com/questions/24049840/back-and-home-buttons-pressed-event-for-android-devices-cocos2d-x-3 

Let us know how it goes

I’ve tried that link before but only in IOS Simulator, I guess will try on phone but didnt seem to work. Looks like it doesnt mention listener for the event which you may need to set up?

What happens on phone, any logs?

No logs, but I do see void AppDelegate::applicationDidEnterBackground() show cclog. Unsure how to port values from current scene to reset. Can you use director for it?

Where do you see that?

Under AppDelegate::applicationDidEnterBackground I put in a log within that function. I saw the output on console when I pushed and resumed app. So I guess thats the way of triggering any actions, is there something in the actual game scene that does that? I want to port values in the game scene to reset but unsure how to do this..

Try creating a wrapper to communicate with it.

A wrapper in what sense can you provide sample code?

to be able to communicate with Objective-c code and get a response from it, within a loop so you can actively check what is happening with the home button.

The appdelegate is part of cocos2dx, I understand about the loop, can you provide an example?