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iPad Pro 12.9 iPad pro Gen 3 touchscreen problem

F

flasch

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 11, 2018
7
5
I bought a new 12.9" iPad pro on the first available day last Wednesday. The o, k, and to a lesser extent i and j keys on the on-screen software keyboard consistently recognized touch with a click and change in colour of the key but the letter would often not appear in any program. For o in particular, it often required several attempts to make the letter register.

Spent time on the phone with apple and they didn't have a solution. A full restore to factory settings didn't help.

I returned it to the store today and picked up a new 12.9" iPad pro. Brought it home and this one is worse. Ofter 5 or more presses of o or k to get it to register. When the iPad is turned clockwise to landscape mode, the q and w are then in the same region of the device and they don't work either. Seven presses of the q before a letter appeared on the screen. It seems the bottom right of the touchscreen has an issue.

Called Apple and we went through the same routine. No solution. Taking it back tomorrow.

Apple couldn't find any reference to the same issue but I see that the iPhone X has had similar problems.

Any one else experience similar issues?
 
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Hmm, really weird you would have the same issue with two different iPads. I don't have that issue, and first I have seen, hopefully third times the charm for you.
 
It does seem very weird that two devices failed in the same way. I have a few thoughts and things to try.

First, what happens when you change the orientation of the ipad? Does it have the same problem with the same keys when it’s in portrait and landscape? What if you rotate it 180 degrees? If the same keys have the same problem no matter what the orientation that certainly points to a software issue rather than a hardware issue. If it only happens in one orientation then it seems like it might be a hardware issue with a weird sensitivity (or lack thereof) in certain parts of the screen.

When you say that you did a full factory reset did you restore from a backup after that or set it up as a new device? I can’t imagine what it would be in your backup that might cause this, but if it happened by restoring the same backup on both devices then it’s something to consider.

It would be interesting to try to do a full factory reset again and see how the device behaves even during the setup process. Like when you need to enter a WiFi password or enter your Apple ID does the keyboard work normally at that point or does it still have response issues? If it works normally at that point then what happens if you don’t restore your backup and set it up as a new ipad? Does the keyboard work as expected then?

And finally, do you have it plugged into a third party charger while you’re using it? I have seen some third party chargers that introduce some sort of noise on the line that cause touch sensitivity issues. Plugged into the charger it can be difficult to get touch responses to register, but as soon as you disconnect the charger then it works normally. If you have it plugged in (even to an apple charger) then I would try to unplug it and see if that makes a difference.
 
So, I didn't restore from a backup. It's factory settings from the box. The area affected is the bottom right in portrait mode (o,k,i,j), which moves to the bottom left in landscape mode after a 90 degree clockwise turn (q,w). Further rotation moves the keyboard out of the region of the screen that's affected. The second iPad wasn't ever plugged in. Opened the box, problem was during initial setup and persisted after setup and restart.
 
Very strange, but it certainly sounds like a hardware issue. I’d suggest opening the new one in the store and making sure it works before you leave.
 
Yes, absolutely. Will update this thread after a visit to the store tomorrow. Thanks everyone.
 
flasch said:
So, I didn't restore from a backup. It's factory settings from the box. The area affected is the bottom right in portrait mode (o,k,i,j), which moves to the bottom left in landscape mode after a 90 degree clockwise turn (q,w). Further rotation moves the keyboard out of the region of the screen that's affected. The second iPad wasn't ever plugged in. Opened the box, problem was during initial setup and persisted after setup and restart.
Click to expand...

Can you post a video showing us the problem?
 
flasch said:
Attempts to upload .m4v, .mov and .mp4 have resulted in an error message. Do you know which filetypes are allowed?
Click to expand...

Update: I went back to the store and showed the problem to the staff member. They were puzzled. A bunch of other staff members also found it surprising and didn’t have a solution. The genius stuff didn’t know what to make of it. I’m now on iPad number three and it seems to be working fine. Third time‘s the charm!
 
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I have a second gen iPad 12.9 doing this. I can type a sentence and then I'll have to go back and fix half the words. It'll go 3-4 characters at a time without recognizing the keys I've typed. Sometimes when it's happening I can repeatedly press the same key over and over without it registering.

I haven't done a full restore yet b/c I have some apps that will require a lot of internal downloads and organization.

The issue did persist thru from 11 to 12 upgrade.
 
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brentsg said:
I have a second gen iPad 12.9 doing this. I can type a sentence and then I'll have to go back and fix half the words. It'll go 3-4 characters at a time without recognizing the keys I've typed. Sometimes when it's happening I can repeatedly press the same key over and over without it registering.

I haven't done a full restore yet b/c I have some apps that will require a lot of internal downloads and organization.

The issue did persist thru from 11 to 12 upgrade.
Click to expand...

Apart from the rounded corners it seems nearly the same display than the gen 2 12.9 iPP. So it might be possible that one has the same problems...
 
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AlexJoda said:
Apart from the rounded corners it seems nearly the same display than the gen 2 12.9 iPP. So it might be possible that one has the same problems...
Click to expand...


I had the same issue on a 2nd gen iPad Pro 12.9 and am now since about 2 weeks seeing the same issue pop up on the 3 gen. I bought it in November. Very annoying.

While I can’t for example click on a specific key on the keyboard or scroll a website for a couple of seconds at a time, I can always pull down control center or push up back to Homescreen. So as with my old iPad I somehow doubt it is really down to a hardware fault.

I tried removing all bluetooth devices which didn’t work. I somehow feel removing the smart folio makes the issue less frequent, but that is ultimately anecdotal.

Let’s hope some future software update fixes it. Not really ideal to be forced to exchange your device multiple times and still have the issue.
 
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Seems you're facing the same issue I'm and other people are now facing. Here are more threads about unresponsive touch on modern iPads:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2016-ipad-pro-12-9-screen-intermittently-unresponsive.2118824

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/irresponsive-screen-ipad-pro-12-9-2nd-gen.2121051

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/refurbished-ipad-10-5-pro-mised-toches.2163962

Usually nothing software-wise helps in these cases :(

P.S. I want to believe... but I suspect it's a manufacturing problem with all iPad Pros and some other iPads.
 
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I'll probably be doing a full restore, then going for a replacement. I'm pretty disappointed because I use it so much.. and it was >$1000 device.
 
Same exact problem that is shown on the video above - iPad Pro 11 inch. Strangely enough, didn't started happening until 12.1.3 but clearly that is not the issue as my last year's iPad works fine
 
jlevy73 said:
Same exact problem that is shown on the video above - iPad Pro 11 inch. Strangely enough, didn't started happening until 12.1.3 but clearly that is not the issue as my last year's iPad works fine
Click to expand...


I think you may be right about it happening around the 12.1.3 update. Anyways, I hate it. You’ve got to type extra slow, being very observant that your problematic letters are actually typing and show up on the screen.

What I’ve found out is, if you type upside down in portrait mode it doesn’t have this issue. Which tells me this might be a hardware problem.

This iPad is only 8 days old, perfect condition. No screen protector, no case is being used either.
 
The only issues I’m having are with typing. Sometimes when you type, certain letters do not register in a certain sentence that you are typing, so the end result is typos that you have to go back and correct. These letters are being pressed, and they even click and light up on the keyboard but do NOT display on the screen.

For example, I could type this sentence.

“Here goes another typing test”

It’ll show on the keyboard as every letter being pressed, and lighting up.

Although it’ll look like this on the screen.

“Here oes another tping test”

Who knows why it does this... it seems to only do it when your typing with two thumbs in portrait mode.

I’m not having touch issues any other time. And this doesn’t happen all the time either. It is annoying, and having to constantly fix typos is not very fun. Or preparing ahead of time for your sentences that will be incompetent looking is ridiculous to say the least.

As far as normal operation, my tablet is perfect though. Swiping through apps, dragging and dropping things. I have no issues, other than a few letters not registering, even though I pressed them.
 
tps3443 said:
The only issues I’m having are with typing. Sometimes when you type, certain letters do not register in a certain sentence that you are typing, so the end result is typos that you have to go back and correct. These letters are being pressed, and they even click and light up on the keyboard but do NOT display on the screen.

For example, I could type this sentence.

“Here goes another typing test”

It’ll show on the keyboard as every letter being pressed, and lighting up.

Although it’ll look like this on the screen.

“Here oes another tping test”

Who knows why it does this... it seems to only do it when your typing with two thumbs in portrait mode.

I’m not having touch issues any other time. And this doesn’t happen all the time either. It is annoying, and having to constantly fix typos is not very fun. Or preparing ahead of time for your sentences that will be incompetent looking is ridiculous to say the least.

As far as normal operation, my tablet is perfect though. Swiping through apps, dragging and dropping things. I have no issues, other than a few letters not registering, even though I pressed them.
Click to expand...
Mine will occasionally do this in landscape mode too.
 
Otflyer said:
Mine will occasionally do this in landscape mode too.
Click to expand...
I have a new 12.9 pro and it’s doing the same thing. Seems mostly in top right corner quadrant in portrait mode on the power switch corner. But it can trickle down the right side. Seems to be getting worse, left side works perfect.
 
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