Summary
iPhone touchscreen.. One of the essential electronic tools in your daily toolbox is your iPhone. Even though these state-of-the-art smartphones are excellent, Apple’s best sometimes have software and hardware issues. One such annoyance is an unresponsive touchscreen, however we strongly advise you to read our comprehensive advice before throwing your iOS device out the third-floor window.
After all, rebooting your iPhone may occasionally resolve a malfunctioning touchscreen fast. However, there are situations when troubleshooting and fixing a glitchy screen may need more serious measures.
Thankfully, we have some experience with mobile electronics, so we can guide you through a number of various techniques to restore functionality to your iPhone’s touchscreen.
Give your iPhone a restart
It should be clear to you what to attempt first: restart your iPhone.
Your iPhone and a Mac or Windows PC are very similar devices inside, and you may have previously had issues with those devices that may be resolved with a quick restart. With an iPhone, this is also sometimes true. Whether you’re using the most recent iPhone 15 Pro Max, the iPhone SE (2022) with Touch ID, or the 2013 iPhone 5s, the instructions are the same (albeit on some of the more older versions, the side button will be the top button).
Step 1: To activate the Slide to power off control, press and hold the right-side button as well as either of the volume buttons. That button will be on the top rather than the side if you’re using an older iPhone, such as an iPhone SE (2016) or an iPhone 5s or previous model.
Step 2: Move the slider to the right and left.
Step 3:Give your gadget a minimum of 30 seconds to completely shut down.
Step 4: To see the Apple logo, press and hold the button on the right side of your iPhone.
Step 5: After a brief start up, your smartphone will go back to the lock screen.
Step 6: To unlock your iPhone, swipe up or push the front home button, depending on the model, and enter your password.
Restart your iPhone with force
Naturally, you may not be able to adjust the power-off slider on your iPhone correctly to turn it off if your touchscreen is performing strangely. You’ll have to use a forced restart in this situation, which is essentially resetting your iPhone without first shutting it down.
For iPhone devices launched before 2018, the procedure is somewhat different than just shutting off your device.
How to force restart an iPhone 8, iPhone SE, or an iPhone with Face ID
- Press and quickly release the volume up button.
- Press and quickly release the volume down button.
- Press and hold the right-side button until the Apple logo appears.
- Release the side button.
- Your device should continue booting up and return to the lock screen after a few seconds.
- Swipe up or press the home button and enter your passcode to unlock your device.
How to force restart an iPhone 7
- Press and hold the volume down button and the right-side button at the same time until the Apple logo appears.
- Release both buttons.
- Your device should continue booting up and return to the lock screen after a few seconds.
- Press the home button and enter your passcode to unlock your device.
How to force restart an iPhone SE (2016) or an iPhone 6s or earlier model
- Press and hold the home button and the right-side or top-corner button at the same time until the Apple logo appears.
- Release both buttons.
- Your device should continue booting up and return to the lock screen after a few seconds.
- Press the home button and enter your passcode to unlock your device.
Check your screen protector and clean your screen
These days, screen protectors are often quite thin and made to function well with contemporary smartphones. They may, however, sometimes have an impact on how responsive the touchscreen is on your iPhone. As a result, make sure your screen protector is correctly put to your iPhone’s touchscreen if you’re using one. If not, try taking it off and putting it back on or, if you have one available, using a fresh protector.
It’s a good idea to test removing your screen protector even if it has been applied correctly to make sure it’s not getting in the way. If, after removing your screen protector, your iPhone’s touchscreen functions correctly, you may want to consider getting a thinner screen protector from a respected company or maybe doing without a screen protector altogether.
The capacitative touchscreen on your iPhone may also be affected by dirt, dust, or moisture. This is particularly the case if you use a screen protector that lets tiny particles lodge between the film or glass and the screen. Try using a dry microfiber cloth to wipe your screen until it seems as clean as possible without applying a screen protector. You might try reapplying your screen protector at that time if the touchscreen is operational.
Unplug any connected accessories.
Although it’s not as widespread as it once was, there have been instances when linked accessories have interfered with touchscreen operations. Thus, try unplugging any wired headphones you may be using, or even simply the charger, and see if your touchscreen starts to function correctly. To be sure you’ve covered everything, make sure to restart your iPhone after unplugging the attachment.
It’s worth a try even if you’re using an industry-standard USB-C accessory like a charger or external storage device, even though our experience suggests this is more likely to happen with older Lightning accessories due to the peculiar way Apple’s proprietary Lightning port works. However, we cannot say for sure that the USB-C port on the new iPhone 15 models is immune to problems in this area.
You’ve probably identified the problem if, after removing any such attachment, the touchscreen on your smartphone starts to function. To see if things get better, try switching out the attachment with a different one. But if your touchscreen malfunctions when any kind of accessory is plugged into the Lightning or USB-C port, there’s probably a more serious issue at hand. To address this, you may need to get your hardware serviced or replaced by Apple, or you may need to try one of the software or hardware fixes listed in the following sections.
Upgrade your iPhone
Update your iPhone to the most recent version of iOS if, after attempting the aforementioned fixes, the touchscreen still doesn’t work. The quickest and simplest method to accomplish this is to hit General > Software Update if you can use your iPhone well enough to open the Settings app. If not, you will need to establish a connection with an iTunes-running Mac or Windows PC.
Step 1: Attach your gadget to your PC.
Step 2: Open Finder if you’re using macOS Catalina 10.15 or later. Open iTunes if you’re using Windows or macOS Mojave 10.14 (or earlier).
Step 3: If your iPhone is already connected to this computer and you can unlock it to go to the home screen (which you may be able to do with Face ID or Touch ID even if your touchscreen isn’t working), it should show up in the iTunes or Finder sidebar. To download and install the most recent iOS update, choose your iPhone from the sidebar and choose the Update option in Finder or iTunes.
Step 4: Your iPhone will urge you to “Trust” this computer if you haven’t used it with it before. Tap this prompt to confirm. You may be able to confirm by tapping on your touchscreen if it is sufficiently responsive, in which case you can upgrade your iPhone by following the previous instructions.
You won’t be able to verify the trust question, however, and your Mac or Windows PC won’t be able to connect to your iPhone normally if your touchscreen is completely broken. Rather, you must first place your iPhone in “Recovery” mode. That’s what to do, exactly:
- Make sure your computer and iPhone are linked
- Make sure iTunes is open if you’re using Windows or macOS 10.14 or older.
- Use the instructions in the section above that correspond to your particular model to force restart your iPhone.
- During the forced restart, your iPhone should display a recovery mode screen rather than the Apple logo.
- Your computer should display a popup informing you that an iPhone in recovery mode has been found.To initiate the download and installation of the most recent iOS version, choose Update from that window.
Make some room for storage
It is likely that your iPhone is rather full with applications, pictures, movies, and other types of material if you have been using it for a while. Additionally, those valuable bytes are limited, just like internal storage on any device. Some fundamental performance features on your iPhone may start to lag or cease operating entirely when it gets closer to filling up its storage.
The touchscreen is often not one of these impacted locations, although it sometimes is. Thankfully, your iPhone will automatically notify you when the internal storage becomes limited. Try removing a few programs that are seldom or never used if you get one of these notifications or find that your byte count is low.
Additionally, it doesn’t harm to delete a few movies and pictures from the device (iCloud backups are available for these data). It could just take a few fast deletions to relieve some of the stress on your iPhone and have it operating properly once again.
Give your iPhone some time to cool down
Using a lot of applications at once, or keeping many tabs open, may be quite taxing on your iPhone. Working longer hours may sometimes directly affect how well a gadget works, and this also applies to touchscreen functioning.
We advise turning off your iPhone for 15 to 30 minutes if you’ve discovered that it’s hot to the touch and your touchscreen isn’t working. If shutting off your phone isn’t an option (maybe you’re anticipating a crucial message or call), you might try using Airplane Mode or Low Power Mode.
Your iPhone may actually cool down if you undertake one of the aforementioned procedures. It could function perfectly when you switch it back on or turn off Airplane or Low Power Mode.
Verify that your applications are up to date
Have you observed that certain apps cause your iPhone’s touchscreen to become unresponsive only when you’re using them? We’ve experienced it before, and in some cases the solution is as easy as making sure the problematic program is updated to the most recent version.
You could also try removing the app and installing it again if you are on the most recent firmware. However, it’s a good idea to contact the app developer (via the App Store) if the touchscreen still doesn’t work properly and inform them of the unreliable performance.
Reset your iPhone to its factory settings
The last thing you may attempt is resetting your iPhone back to factory settings if upgrading it doesn’t fix any software-related problems that could be causing its touchscreen to freeze.
By doing this, you may restore your iPhone to its factory-original form and remove all data from it. It’s the most reliable method to verify that the issue you’re seeing is indeed hardware-related rather than software-related, but obviously, everything on your iPhone will be lost unless you have a backup or can create a new one.
If you use iCloud Backups, an automated backup should have been created within the past 24 hours if your iPhone was plugged in and connected to Wi-Fi during that period. If not, you’ll need to attempt creating a fresh backup on your PC or Mac.
Unfortunately, this will only work if you have already linked your iPhone to your computer and your touchscreen is utterly unresponsive. In the event that you don’t, your iPhone will ask you to “Trust” a computer that it perceives as being unfamiliar, and you won’t be able to verify the security prompt before allowing access to your iPhone’s data.
However, you may still wish to carry out a factory reset even if you are unable to get a recent backup. A backup may not be as necessary if your crucial data is already saved in other cloud services like Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud Photo Library, or Google Photos, depending on the applications you use and the kind of data on your iPhone. We advise against expecting this to be the case, however, and if you decide to go forward with a factory reset without a backup, be ready to lose at least part of your data.
Follow the three steps listed in the previous section to return your iPhone to factory settings; however, at the conclusion of the procedure, choose Restore instead of Update.
Proceed with the initial setup of your iPhone without restoring any data from a backup when the restore procedure is complete. You may verify that your device’s touchscreen is functioning correctly by configuring it as if it were a brand-new iPhone. When you’re happy, factoring reset it once again and selecting to restore your backup during setup will allow you to recover your backup.
Speak with Apple
It could be better to get in touch with Apple Support instead of factory resetting your iPhone, particularly if you don’t have a backup, since this might be a drastic measure. In light of the possibility that Apple can resolve the problem without erasing your device, this is probably a safer fallback option than factory resetting your iPhone.
Just remember that there’s no assurance that this will turn out to be the case. Apple takes your privacy and security very seriously, so even its own technicians and engineers can’t override the trusted computer prompt to access your data. If your iPhone has a serious hardware issue, Apple may replace it with a replacement unit, and it will be up to you to restore your data onto the new iPhone.
