There are a handful of reasons why your iPhone touch screen is not responding but the most common of them all is due to rogue apps. Regardless whether it’s a third-party app or pre-installed, if it keeps on crashing your iPhone’s overall performance may be affected that would result to freezes, lags and display issues. Another possibility is that there’s a problem with the firmware that caused other services to stop.
If your iPhone touch screen is not responding because of these reasons, then don’t worry as there’s always something you can do about it. However, if your device has recently been dropped on a hard surface or got wet and then the touch screen stopped responding, then you can almost expect it to be a hardware issue and the best thing you can do about it is schedule an appointment at the Genius Bar.
If the touch screen stopped working without apparent reason or cause, then continue reading as this troubleshooting guide may be able to help you fix your iPhone touch screen and make it work again.
iPhone touch screen is not responding due to apps
Some apps may cause your iPhone touch screen to stop responding especially if it’s a huge application that uses your phone’s CPU, GPU and RAM. Game apps are often the most common cause why an iPhone stops responding. Don’t get me wrong, iPhones nowadays are more capable in running even the most graphics-intensive games but there are times when these apps crash or stop working. When happens, your iPhone touch screen may also stop responding.
Moreover, if there are a lot of apps running in the background, your iPhone may also experience this problem. Pressing the Home button or swiping up to go back to the Home screen won’t actually close the apps. They will continue to run in the background. The more apps running, the slower your iPhone becomes and this may lead to crashes and freezes. But the thing about it is that it would be a lot easier to if an iPhone touch screen won’t respond because of apps. Here’s what you need to do to fix iPhone touch screen issues.
For iPhone 8 and earlier devices, follow these steps:
- Double-click the Home button to show your most recently used apps.
- Swipe right or left to find the app that you want to close.
- Swipe up on the app’s preview to close the app.
But for iPhone X up to the recent models, follow these:
- From the Home screen, swipe up and pause.
- Swipe right or left to find the app that you want to close.
- Swipe up on the app’s preview to close the app.
This is going to close applications running in the background. It’s effective most of the time, especially in the case with an iPhone with a touch screen that’s not responding. But of course, you can only use this procedure if the problem is intermittent. Meaning, the touch screen may stop responding but may work after a few seconds or minutes.
If your iPhone touch screen stopped responding after installing an app or if the problem occurs when you’re using a certain app, then you have to uninstall that app to fix the problem. And here’s how you do that:
- Lightly touch and hold the app until it jiggles. If you press too firmly, you may open the Quick Actions menu.
- Tap X in the upper-left corner of the app.
- Tap Delete.
If the iPhone touch screen is not working intermittently due to an application, then it should work properly after doing these procedures.
iPhone touch screen not responding due to a firmware issue
Another possibility you need to rule out is the chance that the problem is with the iOS itself or the firmware. Of course, if the touch screen is no longer responding and your device just stays like that until the battery is all drained, you’re left with a very few troubleshooting options. However, most of the time if this problem started without apparent reason or cause, it could be that the firmware has crashed or some of its services. The best thing you can do about it is to force reboot your iPhone.
iPhone X, iPhone 8, or iPhone 8 Plus
- Press and quickly release the Volume Up key.
- Press and quickly release the Volume Down key.
- Press and hold the Side key until you see the Apple logo.
iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus
- Press and hold both the Side and Volume Down keys for at least 10 seconds.
- When you see the Apple logo, release the keys.
iPhone 6s and earlier
- Press and hold both the Home and the Top or Side keys for at least 10 seconds.
- When you see the Apple logo, release the keys.
What this procedure does is refresh your iPhone’s memory and reload all its services and applications. If the iPhone touch screen is not working due to a firmware crash, glitch or any minor system errors, then this procedure will make the touchscreen work perfectly again once the device has become active.
However, if the touch screen is not responding even after doing this procedure, then you have no other choice but to restore your iPhone via recovery mode or through iTunes.
- Connect your iPhone to your computer using the Apple-supplied syncing cable/Lightning cable.
- While it’s connected, press and quickly release the Volume Up button.
- Then quick press and release the Volume Down button.
- Next, press and hold the Side/Power button and continue to hold as it restarts. Don’t release the Side/Power button when the Apple logo appears as you need to put the device in a recovery state.
- Release the Side/Power button when you see the Connect to iTunes logo on the screen.
- Go to iTunes then you should see a message saying that your connected iOS device is in recovery mode and prompts options to update or restore.
- Choose the Restore option to wipe everything from the phone system and then restore iOS through iTunes.
Regardless what kind of firmware issue your iPhone has that resulted to a non-responding touch screen, it should be resolved by this procedure. Unless of course it’s hardware. So, after doing these procedures and your iPhone touch screen is not responding still, then it’s a possible hardware problem and when it comes to these devices, there’s only so much you can do to address hardware issues. With that said, the best thing to do is make an appointment and then bring your phone to the Genius Bar so that Apple technician can check your iPhone for you.
I hope that we’ve been able to help you fix the problem with your device. We would appreciate it if you helped us spread the word so please share this post if you found it helpful. Thank you so much for reading!
