iPad Air Is it just me or is the iPad Air 4's scrolling kinda wonky?

[Tigro]

I made a jump from iPad 6th gen to the new iPad Air and while I love the device overall, the scrolling experience is sometimes... weird and unreliable. Since I usually operate with the iPad in both hands horizontally and scrolling with the side of my right hand index finger, a bit of nail sometimes gets in the way (because of the angle of the finger, not my nails as those as kept short). This never posed any problems but ever since I got the Air 4, from time to time it does not recognize that finger side as a touch I suppose cause it overshoots if I want to stop scrolling during a pending scroll and keeps going as if nothing happened.

It's not easy to reproduce cause 9 times out of 10 I can scroll up and down and stop mid scroll at full speed with no problem but that 1 time is infuriating enough to make me miss the scrolling on my old iPad. Is the implementation of scrolling different on iPadOS 14 or is it that the Apple pencil-compatible screens behave a little differently which I need to get used to? I get an overall feeling that the scrolling on this device is more _fluid_ but less _responsive_ and I'd take the jittery immediate reactions of the old iPad over beautiful tweening which sometimes causes to miss a stopping spot any day to be honest. Did you have such feelings about scrolling here?

 

[AutomaticApple]

Since I usually operate with the iPad in both hands horizontally and scrolling with the side of my right hand index finger, a bit of nail sometimes gets in the way (because of the angle of the finger, not my nails as those as kept short). This never posed any problems but ever since I got the Air 4, from time to time it does not recognize that finger side as a touch I suppose cause it overshoots if I want to stop scrolling during a pending scroll and keeps going as if nothing happened.

I just use my middle finger. I don't know if it is a bad habit or not. ?

 

[fenjen]

I made a jump from iPad 6th gen to the new iPad Air and while I love the device overall, the scrolling experience is sometimes... weird and unreliable. Since I usually operate with the iPad in both hands horizontally and scrolling with the side of my right hand index finger, a bit of nail sometimes gets in the way (because of the angle of the finger, not my nails as those as kept short). This never posed any problems but ever since I got the Air 4, from time to time it does not recognize that finger side as a touch I suppose cause it overshoots if I want to stop scrolling during a pending scroll and keeps going as if nothing happened.

It's not easy to reproduce cause 9 times out of 10 I can scroll up and down and stop mid scroll at full speed with no problem but that 1 time is infuriating enough to make me miss the scrolling on my old iPad. Is the implementation of scrolling different on iPadOS 14 or is it that the Apple pencil-compatible screens behave a little differently which I need to get used to? I get an overall feeling that the scrolling on this device is more _fluid_ but less _responsive_ and I'd take the jittery immediate reactions of the old iPad over beautiful tweening which sometimes causes to miss a stopping spot any day to be honest. Did you have such feelings about scrolling here?

I had a similar problem but with tempered glass screen protectors on the iPad Pro 12.9 inch first gen. I scroll with the side of my finger too, and it wouldn't register light touches with the screen protector. At the time I read somewhere that they made the touchscreens a bit less sensitive on purpose (don't know where I read it).

 

[Tigro]

I had a similar problem but with tempered glass screen protectors on the iPad Pro 12.9 inch first gen. I scroll with the side of my finger too, and it wouldn't register light touches with the screen protector. At the time I read somewhere that they made the touchscreens a bit less sensitive on purpose (don't know where I read it).

Gotcha, good to know that it's most likely not my device being defective then but rather a need to change the scrolling habits a bit

 

[Amplelink]

I know what you’re saying and I’m also pretty certain that’s a “you” thing and not a hardware problem. And I say that because it’s a “me” thing too.

 

[Denser]

Hi tigro!

I’ve just bought a sky blue 64GB iPad Air 2020 and I’ve faced the exact problem as you! It is day 2 and I have severe pain in my arms dealing with the unreliable scrolling.I’ve also come from iPad 6th gen Which has far superior responsiveness and less fluidity (something I don’t need). Every few scroll touches there is a dropped touch which basically prevents me from stopping the scrolling when my mind wishes it. The screen remains in motion and acts as though it hasn’t received the reverse scroll touch. This happens repeatedly. I am baffled apple thought this was an improvemnet.

I am still within the return window on amazon and evaluating whether to return the iPad Air. Would you please let me know if it gets better? Is it something that requires getting used to? Have you gotten used to it? If not what action did you take? Can the transition from iPad 6th gen to iPad air 4 be done? I don’t use the pencil and use it basically for surfing and media, nothing fancy.

I bought and returned a sky blue 64 GB iPad Air 4 6 months back for EXACTLY the same issue. It’s serial numher was DMPF29NXQ16Q. My current 2 day old sky blue 64 GB iPad Air 4 has serial number DMPFP0V9Q16Q. Only the middle 4 charcaters in the serials are different although the purchases are 6 months apart. I think it is a bad batch perhaps. Or china targeting its critics perhaps. I have been outspoken against Chinese surveillance tech in my amazon comments over the years. Would you be able to share your serial or confirm if yours was also a sky blue 64 Gb with just 4 chars in the middle differing?


I am surprised yours was the only post I found on the internet with this problem. iPad Air 4 scrolling is a nightmare and not as responsive as iPad 6th gen. There are dropped scrolling touches every few scrolls. I find iPad 6th gen‘s immediate reaction to scroll touch far superior to whatever this is. And this issue seems specific to scrolling alone and not typing.

I appreciate your having spent the time to read and welcome any response, if at all. Just happy to know I am not the only one suffering.

 

[1BadManVan]

I had scrolling issues on my old air 4 as well but turned out it didn’t like the screen protector. Seemed to be more picky about what one you have on, issues went away after I removed it.

 

[joeblow7777]

No scrolling problems with my Air 4. I don't use a screen protector.

 

[ericwn]

Hi tigro!

I’ve just bought a sky blue 64GB iPad Air 2020 and I’ve faced the exact problem as you! It is day 2 and I have severe pain in my arms dealing with the unreliable scrolling.I’ve also come from iPad 6th gen Which has far superior responsiveness and less fluidity (something I don’t need). Every few scroll touches there is a dropped touch which basically prevents me from stopping the scrolling when my mind wishes it. The screen remains in motion and acts as though it hasn’t received the reverse scroll touch. This happens repeatedly. I am baffled apple thought this was an improvemnet.

I am still within the return window on amazon and evaluating whether to return the iPad Air. Would you please let me know if it gets better? Is it something that requires getting used to? Have you gotten used to it? If not what action did you take? Can the transition from iPad 6th gen to iPad air 4 be done? I don’t use the pencil and use it basically for surfing and media, nothing fancy.

I bought and returned a sky blue 64 GB iPad Air 4 6 months back for EXACTLY the same issue. It’s serial numher was DMPF29NXQ16Q. My current 2 day old sky blue 64 GB iPad Air 4 has serial number DMPFP0V9Q16Q. Only the middle 4 charcaters in the serials are different although the purchases are 6 months apart. I think it is a bad batch perhaps. Or china targeting its critics perhaps. I have been outspoken against Chinese surveillance tech in my amazon comments over the years. Would you be able to share your serial or confirm if yours was also a sky blue 64 Gb with just 4 chars in the middle differing?


I am surprised yours was the only post I found on the internet with this problem. iPad Air 4 scrolling is a nightmare and not as responsive as iPad 6th gen. There are dropped scrolling touches every few scrolls. I find iPad 6th gen‘s immediate reaction to scroll touch far superior to whatever this is. And this issue seems specific to scrolling alone and not typing.

I appreciate your having spent the time to read and welcome any response, if at all. Just happy to know I am not the only one suffering.

China trying to silence you through the potentially faulty work of one of Foxconn’s workers is rich. But sure they kept that iPad around just for you and only waited until you put an order in. Then Apple told the party who told Foxconn.

Thanks for the chuckle.

 

[snipr125]

Hi tigro!

I’ve just bought a sky blue 64GB iPad Air 2020 and I’ve faced the exact problem as you! It is day 2 and I have severe pain in my arms dealing with the unreliable scrolling.I’ve also come from iPad 6th gen Which has far superior responsiveness and less fluidity (something I don’t need). Every few scroll touches there is a dropped touch which basically prevents me from stopping the scrolling when my mind wishes it. The screen remains in motion and acts as though it hasn’t received the reverse scroll touch. This happens repeatedly. I am baffled apple thought this was an improvemnet.

I am still within the return window on amazon and evaluating whether to return the iPad Air. Would you please let me know if it gets better? Is it something that requires getting used to? Have you gotten used to it? If not what action did you take? Can the transition from iPad 6th gen to iPad air 4 be done? I don’t use the pencil and use it basically for surfing and media, nothing fancy.

I bought and returned a sky blue 64 GB iPad Air 4 6 months back for EXACTLY the same issue. It’s serial numher was DMPF29NXQ16Q. My current 2 day old sky blue 64 GB iPad Air 4 has serial number DMPFP0V9Q16Q. Only the middle 4 charcaters in the serials are different although the purchases are 6 months apart. I think it is a bad batch perhaps. Or china targeting its critics perhaps. I have been outspoken against Chinese surveillance tech in my amazon comments over the years. Would you be able to share your serial or confirm if yours was also a sky blue 64 Gb with just 4 chars in the middle differing?


I am surprised yours was the only post I found on the internet with this problem. iPad Air 4 scrolling is a nightmare and not as responsive as iPad 6th gen. There are dropped scrolling touches every few scrolls. I find iPad 6th gen‘s immediate reaction to scroll touch far superior to whatever this is. And this issue seems specific to scrolling alone and not typing.

I appreciate your having spent the time to read and welcome any response, if at all. Just happy to know I am not the only one suffering.

Denser, you shouldn't really be publishing your devices Serial numbers online like this. Someone could report your device stolen etc.

 

[Denser]

So I replaced the iPad Air 4 and the replacement also had the same touch issue. I‘ve returned the air and have gone back to using iPad 6th gen.

I’ve now handled 3 iPad Air 4 (all bought online) which drops touches when you wish to suddenly change direction of scrolling. Issue is undeniable. I’ve attached a video. I’ve got two more such vids. This video is from the 1st such iPad Air 4 I bought 7 months back.

My nerves in arm area start paining within minutes of starting use of the iPad Air 4 because of all the dropped touches. This is without screen protector. when a screen protector was added it made the touch 10 times worse with gross unresponsiveness. So I removed it. The pain went away as soon I went back to iPad 6th gen, which i now use 8 hrs a day without any such pain.

I can work almost at 3x the speed on my iPad 6th gen than iPad Air 4.

All 3 iPad Airs were blue. One other person using a Green iPad Air 4 has reported “unresponsive touch at times” in Amazon review comments.

Either apple has tuned this display for working with Apple Pencil, thus making it more fluid but not responsive to repeated scrolls or I’ve been targeted with bad pieces. Not entirely inconceivable that china produces a couple of pieces with bad screens in every batch and hands over the serial numbers of those pieces to collaborating vested interests in countries where iPads are sold. (Sounds weird, I know, but I am putting it out there)

 

[Sensamic]

I really don’t understand this issue.

Is it really that important?

Everyone has it?

 

[BlackJacques]

Mine did not seem to register touches or track my finger moving across the screen all the time. I exchanged it and the new one has never had such a problem. I suspect it was a faulty digitizer. Added bonus is that the new one has almost zero light bleed compared to the earlier one, had a more recent build date too. Old one had a build date closer to the launch.