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iPhone XS iPhone XS Touch Screen Not Working

M

mattmh_

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 22, 2020
8
2
My just over two year old iPhone XS' touch screen is regularly becoming unresponsive. To me it seems highly coincidental with the iOS 14 update but I don't know how to be sure of that, it's just a hunch. The screen sometimes starts working again but other times not. Often it begins working again after a forced restart - the only way to get it to turn off/on again. I'm also suspicious that it may have been caused by the colder weather as the screen is often freezing, and I think Apple had issues with an iPhone screen doing that before, I don't remember fully. Sometimes it selects something on the screen then seems to hold onto that point. It breaks now far more often than a few weeks so it's rapidly deteriorating.

Just wondering if anyone else has had a similar issue lately and whether they figured out the cause i.e. software/update and any potential work-arounds or fixes? Apple have said it's no longer covered by warranty and therefore is likely to be a full unit replacement over £500?! I have done diagnostics/analytics with the Apple assistant online and they have said there is no hardware issue detected. A backup and restore and update did not fix the issue, could be a software issue that's not been fixed though.
 
I'd try a full restore without using your backup and setup as new. You may have some corruption in your backup. If it doesn't fix it you can always use your backup and get the phone back to where your at now
 
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mattmh_ said:
My just over two year old iPhone XS' touch screen is regularly becoming unresponsive. To me it seems highly coincidental with the iOS 14 update but I don't know how to be sure of that, it's just a hunch. The screen sometimes starts working again but other times not. Often it begins working again after a forced restart - the only way to get it to turn off/on again. I'm also suspicious that it may have been caused by the colder weather as the screen is often freezing, and I think Apple had issues with an iPhone screen doing that before, I don't remember fully. Sometimes it selects something on the screen then seems to hold onto that point. It breaks now far more often than a few weeks so it's rapidly deteriorating.

Just wondering if anyone else has had a similar issue lately and whether they figured out the cause i.e. software/update and any potential work-arounds or fixes? Apple have said it's no longer covered by warranty and therefore is likely to be a full unit replacement over £500?! I have done diagnostics/analytics with the Apple assistant online and they have said there is no hardware issue detected. A backup and restore and update did not fix the issue, could be a software issue that's not been fixed though.
Click to expand...
I am having a similar problem with my Xs. My phone was fine, but began having issues with the touch screen after updating 14.2. At first it was letters on the edges (p and a), but then there were times that whole sections of the screen stopped working altogether. I’ve also had windows on the phone open by themselves, and the camera had taken pictures after I put it down. It feels almost like someone has taken over my phone. Over the course of today, the phone worked ok this morning, acted very wonky this afternoon (opening apps by itself) and now the screen has frozen completely and I can’t even swipe up to open it. Have been looking for fixes and have tried the backup and restore as well. Very frustrating.
 
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Mine's being sent for repair! I'll let you know how it goes. Also, it seems they've had issues with the iPhone 11 so I wouldn't be surprised if this were to be a widespread hardware issue that starts to emerge.
 
Hi Everyone,
I have the same problem here in Brazil. My XS does not work in a entire strip on the left part of the screen, from bottom to top. It´s impossible to type letters like "q" and "a" on the regular keyboard. I went to an Apple Authorized Service in my city but They said that I should pay to fix the problem (change the screen). The price : U$414.00.
 
So basically they replaced my phone, luckily I was insured! (Would've been £500+, but in total so far with ins. is £340) Still trying to get some info from Apple about the repair - they've told me I would be told and then have completely backtracked on this, even suggesting repair details would be sent with the phone in the box, how odd?! Still wondering if this is part of a bigger issue given current situation with iPhone 11... will keep my eyes peeled!
 
I have an issue with my XS since 14.3 (not sure if related.) Tap-to-wake doesn't work at all, and swipe up to unlock does not work right away. It takes multiple times, power button, swipe up, to eventually unlock the phone. Sometimes as many as 20 times. This also means you can't answer a phone call when it comes through as you can't interact with the phone unless it is unlocked. But once the phone is unlocked the screen works flawlessly. I took it into Apple and as it is out of warranty they wanted to charge $300 to replace the screen. This screen was installed by Apple less than a year ago. They were happy to try and sell me a new phone though. The technician said they don't get many XSes and he would make a note to send it over to engineering in case there are enough issues it may get fixed by development. I guess I'll keep using my 6s for now as this pretty much makes this phone unusable.
 
mrr0b0t said:
I have an issue with my XS since 14.3 (not sure if related.) Tap-to-wake doesn't work at all, and swipe up to unlock does not work right away. It takes multiple times, power button, swipe up, to eventually unlock the phone. Sometimes as many as 20 times. This also means you can't answer a phone call when it comes through as you can't interact with the phone unless it is unlocked. But once the phone is unlocked the screen works flawlessly. I took it into Apple and as it is out of warranty they wanted to charge $300 to replace the screen. This screen was installed by Apple less than a year ago. They were happy to try and sell me a new phone though. The technician said they don't get many XSes and he would make a note to send it over to engineering in case there are enough issues it may get fixed by development. I guess I'll keep using my 6s for now as this pretty much makes this phone unusable.
Click to expand...
Kinda in a similar situation. Had the iPhone screen replaced by Apple for a cracked screen (Under AppleCare, over 3 months ago). My iPhone XS just showing similar issues yesterday evening. Today it was sporadically working until later in the day it just stopped responding to my touches. Touch to wake still works, but swiping up to unlock, forget it.
The buttons still work, and I can open it up with a bluetooth keyboard that I paired up with it awhile ago. But cannot navigate around with the Bluetooth keyboard unfortunately.
Spoke with online support from Apple, looks like it might be $329 to repair via mail or Best Buy. Looked online and can get a used one for about the same price (64GB, not the 256GB i currently have).
I wasn’t planning on doing this, but might end up buying the iPhone 12 Pro base model. I was really hoping the phone would last longer than this. I have older iPhones that I have either sold or given to family members, and those had long lives. Maybe just bad luck on my part.
 
Are they putting faulty screens on when they replace them? How come the screens just stop working with no damage? This points to a larger issue.
 
mrr0b0t said:
Are they putting faulty screens on when they replace them? How come the screens just stop working with no damage? This points to a larger issue.
Click to expand...
Who knows? They might be dropping refurbished screens for the replacements. Mine just died just 10 days after the 90 day warranty on it.
 
mrr0b0t said:
I have an issue with my XS since 14.3 (not sure if related.) Tap-to-wake doesn't work at all, and swipe up to unlock does not work right away. It takes multiple times, power button, swipe up, to eventually unlock the phone. Sometimes as many as 20 times. This also means you can't answer a phone call when it comes through as you can't interact with the phone unless it is unlocked. But once the phone is unlocked the screen works flawlessly. I took it into Apple and as it is out of warranty they wanted to charge $300 to replace the screen. This screen was installed by Apple less than a year ago. They were happy to try and sell me a new phone though. The technician said they don't get many XSes and he would make a note to send it over to engineering in case there are enough issues it may get fixed by development. I guess I'll keep using my 6s for now as this pretty much makes this phone unusable.
Click to expand...
I made an account just to reply to this thread as there are very few results on this topic that I can find. I'm having the same issues with my XS as well, which I bought refurbished almost a year ago. When my screen began having issues about 2 weeks ago, I figured the culprit was going to be the 2-3 year old battery swelling and pushing against the screen. However, I opened up my XS and I didn't find any physical issues with the original battery. I went ahead and just replaced it with a 3rd party battery (which works just fine) but the screen issues still persist. I'm also suspicious this may be a software issue with iOS 14 and I am currently working on updating to iOS 14.4 and restoring my XS. To be clear, my phone is not cracked nor damaged. I'm really considering switching to Samsung whenever I can afford a new phone because this is just so frustrating.

Anyone else find a fix besides submitting to Apple's outrageous repair cost?
 
I ended up selling my old iPhone XS…but before that I did a complete wipe and fresh install of iOS on it. Still had issues with the screen, so it leads me to believe that it isn’t related to software, unfortunately.
 
mrr0b0t said:
Are they putting faulty screens on when they replace them? How come the screens just stop working with no damage? This points to a larger issue.
Click to expand...

No visible damage, but it doesn't mean the iPhone wasn't dropped. The iPhone 7 audio IC issue for example is related to drops.
 
Did anyone figure out a solution to this? I've had the same issue since I downloaded 14.2. Threw it in recovery mode, wiped it, and even before I put the backup on, it was still freezing up. Very interesting that it has happened to everyone only in the past few weeks or so.

There's no visible damage to the phone, it's been in a case for its entire life, and I haven't really dropped it either.
 
Unfortunately no solution here. My XS still has the tap to wake and swipe up to unlock issues, so I ended up buying a new phone. It’s really bad that the only choice for a phone is Apple or Google. I don’t want to support a company that doesnt stand by their products, but I also don’t want to be the product (use Google.) I guess I’ll just get AppleCare at the end of the one year warranty period to make it last as long as possible since they try to force obsolescence.
 
Same problem Here.... the iPhone XS is 1 year and half old and the touch screen fails in entire left. Same problem of Vivaldo.

Is so frustrating because the phone fails without drops or anything
 
Just checking in with everyone on this. I took my XS out of the drawer yesterday for the first time in a while (I bought a 12 pro to replace). It had the same behavior as before where it would not swipe up initially unless I used the power button first, and it would not tap to wake at all. I did two things since then and now it appears to be working flawlessly just as it did before all the problems appeared. I updated the software to 14.6 yesterday. And today I charged it for the first time ever today using a wireless charger. It could have been a software issue that started with 14.3 and persisted all the way until 14.6? I didn't notice any immediate change right after the update. It wasn't until after pulling off the wireless charger that it seemed to go back to normal. This is so bizarre.
 
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