How to fix an unresponsive iPhone touchscreen

Step 1: Press and hold the right-side button and either of the volume buttons until the Slide to power off control appears. If you’re using an older iPhone, such as a first-generation iPhone SE (2016) or an iPhone 5s or earlier model, that button will be on the top instead of the side.

Step 2: Drag the slider from left to right.

Step 3: Wait at least 30 seconds for your device to fully power down.

Step 4: Press and hold the button on the right side of your iPhone until you see the Apple logo appear.

Step 5: Your device will boot up and return to the lock screen after a few seconds.

Step 6: Depending on the model of your iPhone, swipe up or press the front home button and enter your passcode to unlock your device.

Screen protectors are usually very thin these days and are designed to work well with modern smartphones. However, in some rare cases, they can affect the responsiveness of your iPhone’s touchscreen. As such, if you’re using a screen protector, you should check whether it’s been properly applied to your iPhone’s touchscreen. If it hasn’t, try removing and reapplying it or using a new protector if you have one available.

Even if your screen protector has been properly applied, it’s still a good idea to try removing it just to make sure it’s not getting in the way. If your iPhone’s touchscreen begins working properly after taking your screen protector off, you may want to consider forgoing a screen protector entirely or buying a thinner one from a reputable brand.

Dirt, dust, or moisture can also interfere with how the iPhone’s capacitative touchscreen works, and this is especially true if you’re using a screen protector that allows small particles to get trapped in between the protective glass or film and your iPhone’s screen. Try cleaning your screen — without a screen protector installed — by using a dry microfiber cloth until it looks as spotless as possible. If the touchscreen is working properly at that point, you can try reapplying your screen protector.

It’s pretty uncommon these days, but we have encountered cases where connected accessories somehow get in the way of your touchscreen interactions. So, if you’re using wired headphones or even just a charger, try disconnecting those and seeing if your touchscreen begins working properly. Be sure to restart your iPhone after disconnecting the accessory to be certain you’ve covered all the bases.

If your device’s touchscreen begins working after any such accessory is removed, then it’s likely you’ve found the culprit. Try replacing the accessory with an alternative to see if things improve. However, if you experience touchscreen problems when any accessory is connected to the Lightning or USB-C port, regardless of type, then there’s likely a deeper problem that will require one of the software or hardware fixes in the following sections — or may even require that you contact Apple to get your hardware serviced or replaced.

Update your iPhone

If your iPhone touchscreen still isn’t responding after trying the steps above, the next thing to do is update your iPhone to the latest version of iOS. If you can interact with your iPhone well enough to get into the Settings app, then tapping General > Software Update is the fastest and easiest way to do this. Otherwise, you’ll have to connect to a Mac or a Windows PC running iTunes.

Step 1: Connect your device to your computer.

Step 2: If you’re running macOS Catalina 10.15 (or higher), launch Finder.
If you’re running macOS Mojave 10.14 (or earlier) or Windows, launch iTunes.

Step 3: If you can unlock your iPhone to get to the home screen — which may be possible using Face ID or Touch ID even if your touchscreen isn’t responding — and you’ve connected your iPhone to this computer before, then it should appear in the sidebar in Finder or iTunes. From here, you can select your iPhone in the sidebar and select the Update button in Finder or iTunes to download and install the latest iOS update.

Step 4: If you haven’t used your iPhone with this computer, you’ll see a prompt on your iPhone to “Trust” this computer that you’ll need to tap on to confirm. If your touchscreen is responsive enough, then you may be able to tap on that to confirm, and then continue with the step above to update your iPhone.

However, if your touchscreen isn’t working at all, then you won’t be able to confirm the trust prompt, and your Mac or Windows PC will have no way of communicating with your iPhone normally. Instead, you’ll need to put your iPhone in “Recovery” mode first. Here’s how to do that:

1. Ensure your iPhone is connected to your computer.
2. If you’re running Windows or macOS 10.14 or earlier, ensure iTunes is running.
3. Force restart your iPhone using the steps in the section above appropriate for your specific model.
4. Instead of seeing the Apple logo during the force restart, you should see a recovery mode screen appear on your iPhone.
5. A window should pop up on your computer telling you that an iPhone in recovery mode has been detected.
6. Select Update from that window to begin downloading and installing the latest iOS version.

This will erase everything on your iPhone, returning it to its original out-of-the-box state. It’s the best way to confirm that the problem you’re encountering is actually hardware and not software, but of course, you’ll lose everything on your iPhone unless you already have a backup, or you’re able to make a new one.

If you’re using iCloud Backups, you should already have an automatic backup made sometime in the last 24 hours — as long as your iPhone was connected to Wi-Fi and plugged in at some point during that time. Otherwise, you’ll have to try making a new backup to your Mac or PC.

Unfortunately, if your touchscreen is completely unresponsive, you’ll only be able to do this if you’ve previously connected your iPhone to your computer. Otherwise, your iPhone will prompt you to “Trust” what it sees as an unknown computer, and you won’t be able to confirm that security prompt to grant access to the data on your iPhone.

Nevertheless, even if you can’t get a recent backup, you may still want to go ahead and perform a factory reset anyway. Depending on the apps you use and the kind of data on your iPhone, a backup may not be as critical since your important data may already be stored in other cloud services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud Photo Library, or Google Photos. However, we don’t recommend assuming this is the case — make a backup if at all possible, and be prepared to lose at least some of your data if you choose to proceed with a factory reset without a backup.

To restore your iPhone back to factory settings, follow the three steps outlined in the section above, but in this case, click Restore at the end of the process rather than Update.

When your iPhone finishes the restore process, go through the initial setup without restoring your data from a backup. By setting your device up as a new iPhone you’ll be able to confirm that the touchscreen is working properly. Once you’re satisfied, you can restore your backup by factoring resetting it again and choosing to restore your backup during the setup process.