iPhone Touch Screen not Working - Here's What to Do

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Last Updated on November 20, 2019 by Husain Parvez

Troubles by the iPhone touch screen not working the way it should? Here’s a complete troubleshooting guide on what you need to know about the iPhone display and touch sensitivity problems and how you can easily resolve them.

For as long as humans have possessed the ability to innovate and create technology, it has been a mission to make devices that can be personalized. The epitome of personalized technology in the past decades has been the development of mobile phones, allowing people to connect and communicate from anywhere on the planet. As the software and hardware behind mobile phones have improved, brands like the Apple iPhone have redefined the term “cellphone” entirely for good.

The Apple iPhone is hands-down, the most popular smartphone available in the market available today. Whether it is the ability to make voice and video calls or operate your entire virtual social life online – an iPhone is all you need. But what happens when that near and dear smartphone starts giving you grief and you notice the iPhone touch screen not working the way it should?

How to Fix iPhone Touch Screen not Working Issue

While you would not expect such a grave issue to occur on the newer variants such as the iPhone 11, but it is a common sight for gadget repair experts to come across older iPhones with busted or unresponsive display screens. However, before you lose all hope in humanity and prepare to depart from your beloved iPhone, there are a few tried and tested solutions that you can try out and find a resolution.

Solution No.1: Begin with a Hard Reboot

You picked up your iPhone, pressed any button to turn the screen on, but can’t seem to swipe to the right to unlock it. Even the passcode buttons don’t seem to press right, so what do you do now? The immediate course of action should be to turn off your iPhone and boot it up again, but how do you do it when you can’t slide to power off? Fortunately, there is a way to perform a hard reboot on your iPhone, which allows you to forcefully reboot the device.

For iPhone 7 and newer – Press and hold the Power + Volume Down button until the screen boots off. Release the buttons, and then press to hold the Power button once again to make the iPhone turn on.
For iPhone 6S and older – Press and hold the Power + Home button until the screen boots off. Release the buttons, and then press to hold the Power button once again to make the iPhone turn on.

Once the Apple logo fades away and the iPhone boots back up, check to see if the issue with the unresponsive touch screen has been fixed.

Solution No.2: Clean and Wipe the Screen

We’re not here to judge if you don’t usually keep your iPhone screen clean and dirt-free all the time, or choose to pick it up and start using without making sure that your fingers are clean first. The way the capacitive display of modern mobile devices is designed makes it easier to use the touch display with multiple fingers. However, this can turn out to be an issue if there is oil, gunk, moisture, or dried out residue stuck to the screen.

Additionally, having a wet screen and wet fingers can also turn the iPhone screen completely unresponsive at times. You can start off by taking a piece of cloth, wetting it and then using it to wipe the display screen clean. Cleaning your hands, and then using a dry piece of cloth or tissue to wipe off the moisture from the screen should then get rid of any barriers on the screen that might be causing the iPhone touch not working problem.

Solution No.3: App-specific issue

The problem of an unresponsive touch screen may not be a device-wide issue, and may only arise when you try to access a specific app on your device. In such cases, you can rule out the possibility of any hardware issues with the display screen, since it is most likely being caused by the faulty app itself.

Press and hold the app icon until you see it vibrate on the screen.
You can then press the “X” mark on the app icon and press it to Delete the app.
Head back to the Apple App Store, search for the app and press the Get button to download and install it to your iPhone all over again.

Once the app is installed, open it to see if the issue of the unresponsive display screen has been fixed once and for all.

Solution No.4: Perform a Factory Reset

After spending a significant amount of time to get the device screen responsive to touch once again, the only action you can take on the software front is to perform a factory reset. Apple releases software updates for the iOS devices on a regular basis, and apart from imparting new features, these updates can sometimes cause odd errors too. If you’ve been facing the problem of non-responsiveness of the screen after a certain app installation or software update, performing a factory reset is the right course of action.

Before you begin the process, make sure that you’ve created a backup of all your essential data on iCloud or on your computer using the iTunes program.
Turn off your iPhone using the hard reboot method highlighted in Solution No. 1.
Open the iTunes app on your computer and connect one end of the Lightning cable to your computer.
Press and hold the Volume Down button on your iPhone and connect the Lightning cable.
iTunes will notify you that the iPhone has been detected in Recovery Mode, at which point you can choose to Restore
The entire process will take a few minutes as iTunes downloads the latest version of iOS for your iPhone and installs it on the device.

Once the process is complete, the iPhone will boot up by itself, and you will be able to check if the screen has become responsive again after turning on.

Solution No.5: Inspect the physical condition of the screen

The Apple iPhone has taken on the trend of the dual-glass construction which makes way for wireless charging, but this also adds to the overall fragility of the device. Whether you choose to rock your iPhone without a cover, or if the device endured a heavy fall at the worst angle, it can easily result in irreversible damage to the physical condition of the device. Under some circumstances, you might even elude breaking of the display from the horrid fall.

But this can still damage the paper-thin cables of the display, causing it to stop functioning entirely. Even if the device works fine and somehow survived the initial impact of a drop, it can still end up becoming irresponsive partially, or entirely with time. Additionally, water and moisture can also wreak havoc on the display, even on a water-resistant iPhone that has been pushed to the limits. Under such circumstances, getting the screen replaced could be your one and only hope to get the iPhone up and running once again.

Solution No.6: Reconnecting the cables

Although the Apple iPhone is designed to withstand serious use and abuse, multiple drops over the years can let a few screws loose. After a few years of daily usage, the flex cables that connect the display and the motherboard may come loose, causing the iPhone touch screen not working issue to surface. Since the flex cable for the display and the digitizer (the layer responsible for touch sensitivity on the screen) are separate, you might end up with a working display, and yet have no responsiveness to the touch.

You can choose to take your iPhone for some official Apple support or consult a mobile repair technician to check if the connections have come loose. Simply checking the flex cable connections isn’t rocket science, but you could end up ruining the display screen if you don’t know what you’re doing. Unless you have expertise in opening up the iPhone and closing it back together in one piece, it is best if you leave tinkering to the experts.

Final Words

Apple iPhone has undoubtedly been one of the most monumental inventions in the past decades, reshaping the way modern mobile phones are expected to function. Being premium smartphones that come with a heavy price tag, the repair market for the Apple iPhone is huge, making it easier to find affordable replacement parts locally and online. Although the issue of the iPhone touch screen not working has sometimes been related to the software, it is usually a hardware issue that requires display replacement.

Were you able to get your Apple iPhone touch screen up and running again, or will you be ordered a screen replacement to breathe life back into it? Be sure to share your thoughts in the comments section right down below.

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Husain Parvez

Editor at Whytheluckystiff

Sharing a love-hate relationship with Biotechnology in Uni, Husain moved on to his true calling of becoming a tech geek. While briefly being persuaded by the Apple clan, he made it back to Team Android, and has been a loyal comrade since, with a keen interest in IoT, Entertainment Tech, and Gaming.

iPhone Touch Screen not Working – Here’s What to Do