iPad behaving erratically: "ghost touching"

I have had the same exact issue for the last 2.5 months on my 1st generation iPad Mini 16Gb WIFI using iOS 6.2.1. I ignored it thinking it was a one off issue and ignored it all this while but it was really frustrating and irritating while using it to tweet or browse the internet. The erratic behaviour would suddenly come up from nowhere and I was not using it any book case only a soft silicon which was not even that hard. I have the warranty period expiring at the end of April', considering visiting an Apple Store and get this swapped for a refurbished unit. It is DEFINITELY the digitizer that is at fault here considering the amount of search I have done on Google. Sickening and irritating it is.

Recently had a screen repair on my iPad 4 32gb wifi model. Since then, I have had the phantom ghost touching the screen and erratic behavior. I have a Targus leather case, but have not tried removing it as of yet. I have had it for less than one year. Other than removing the case, what othr options do I have? It seems as though it's a mixed bag on whether or not I can have it replaced. Got it through BestBuy through work.

Better get it to an apple store while it is under warranty. I did and they had all the data as to when it was sold etc and warranty info. They gave me a brand new one, but since I was 4 months past the 1 year date they charged me $230 for a 64 gb model.

I have the same problem on my iPhone 5s. I took it back to the apple store and was told it was a 'bad app'. Bull. It's obviously hardware. I was told that I should do a hard reset, then totally reinstall all the apps one at a time (that I could t just restore a backup since the backup would be bad too). So I need to go through hours of work and not sure what data Ive lost, and then wait for this intermittent problem? Tonigt I wanted to play a game, and it dialed the phone waking my brother who got a phone call after midnight...

The issue has worsened after upgrading to iOS 7.1 and it tends to behave erractically and intermittently cause the touch screen to go bonkers. I will be sending it for warranty shortly and see if gets replaced still have a months window thankfully. It is mind boggling!

I have a lot of apps and a lot of data in apps on my iphone. I was told to do that.. To do a hard reset and reinstall apps, even the ones I use most often, would take hours. And I'd have to see what I can do about the data (sigh). For example, I have 5 years of auto maintenance data in one app, 2 years of medical data in another, etc. some will auto sync, but I have to go to each one to find out. Still, the problem has gotten so bad and recurs that I probably don't have an option about doing this. What a PITA. Especially since it looks to be a hardware problem.

Janet-114, thanks for the reply. I didn't want to start from scratch either.

I followed the advice of some of the other posters above and pressed down on the corners of the device (in my case, the top-left and bottom-right) and it seems to have rectified the issue temporarily. At least now I can use my iPad again. However, the first time I did this, it only worked for a few hours before acting up again. I pressed harder the second time and it has since worked consistently for the past day. That being said, I'm pretty careful with the device now. It would seem that something inside is pressing against something it shouldn't be, and by bending the device back, this alleviates the situation. It's a very awkward feeling bending such electronics, but it's better than holding an out-of-warranty brick.

I found that worked temporarily too... most of the time. So now I have an appointment at an apple store day after tomorrow and have a transcript of my chat session with apple support with their recommendation to exchange my 5s. Thank goodness my iPad doesn't have this problem too. You're right that it doesn't feel right to have to 'bend' expensive electronics.

So hopefully I'll have a working phone without this problem. It's bad when it happens on a phone and you can't stop it from dialing numbers or calling contacts. And when it's bad, I have problems even trying to shut down the phone since it won't let me 'slide to power off'.

So good luck with your iPad!

DDo a backup to your computer with iTunes, and another to iCloud. Do the testing you want and if you don't like the results or data loss you can restore from backup. Some apps will let you send the data out as email to save there. Just some thoughts for options.

I actually came out of it pretty good. I did do a full backup to my computer. After talking to the online chat people a couple of times and doing all they said, they made an appointment for me at the apple store for this morning. I went there and they simply pulled a replacement iphone out of a drawer, moved the SIM card over, and after making sure I knew how to reload the new phone, we did a 'delete everything' on the old phone. Voila -- I have a new phone without the phantom touches. Got home and restored from the backup.

Now if I can go a week without that happening, I'll actually believe that I'm fixed (grin).

I was surprised how quickly and painlessly the exchange happened. But looking at their write up, it was because I had the case Ids of the times I contacted the chat line and that I had made a fruitless trip before to the apple store. Good customer service.

Janet-114, that's great. But just to be clear, I take it that your iPhone was still under warranty? It is a 5S after all. I don't think Apple would be nearly as kind with an out-of-warranty device (e.g., my iPad 2). 😟

They are very good with in-warranty support/replacement. I had my iPod Touch 5 replaced on the spot last fall for free too because of a stuck home-switch. Just be wary that there may be consequences from the replacement. I'm guessing they hand out refurbs upon replacement as the battery life on my replacement iPod Touch 5 is already noticeably shorter than on my original device.

Good point. I have an iPad 2 too, and hope nothing happens to it. I actually got the 5s because my old 4 had a home switch that frequently didn't work, so I decided it was time to upgrade. My iPad 2 is going to have to last me a while longer.

Anyway, good luck with your iPad.

Ok here is my two cents worth. Please see the You Tube video : By Leon Stacey "iPad mini touch screen problems after new screen - The computer Room Nottingham.

I purchased a used ipad mini 32GB with celluar data. It was purchased with a cracked screen, however still functioned fine. After a month it started the ghost in the machine stuff. I tried all of the soft fixes for the unit with no luck even the bending of the case, removing the cover etc. I replaced the cracked screen thinking that it would fix the problem of random touch screen selections. After the screen replacement it continued with more enlarge/zoom accurances. I watch a dissambly video that made a point about covering up any exposed copper

traces to the left and right of the Home button. I ignored this warning because I was in a hurry. I had the touch screen hooked up and replaced but not installed due to testing. I had a piece bubble wrap between the display and the touch screen to keep it from closing shut with the sticky tape. It work great perfect.

Then i closed up the unit and applied pressure to the touch screen to secure it. Guess what? Randome touch screen selections.

So watched that video listed above. Went back and put duck tape on any exposed copper/metal traces i.e. to he left and right sides of the Home Button. I even put some on the top camera sides just incase. (Beware not much clearance up there so use thin tape or it wont seal) After that no ghost in the machine. The ipad touch screens are very sensitive so pressing continuously over time causes those bare traces to interfear with the touch screen.

Greetings! I won -yes, it happens - my iPad 16 wifi mini last spring and been using it since quite heavily. I have recently discovered similar ghost typing etc. behaviour. But as far as I have got now it seem to be related to memory usage - or more presice lack of memory. I´m using both Coursera and Udacity- clients for equivalent MOOC-courses. And because I´m watching the lectures mostly offline at my summer cottage I normally download the lectures whenever I´m on wifi-region. So memory is often almost full and this ghost behaviour seems to happen mostly - at least - on these phases. Just deleted a lot of old lectures and iPad is working at least now fine. So some kind of error on memory usage might also be reason for this misbehaviour.

Hope it will help someone.

2 months later after replacing touch screen, ghost touches appears. I was trying to cover copper and chrome open contacts as it was described in youtube video (ipad mini ghost touches after replacement) but all was in vain. Yesterday I found out why ghost touches appears in my case - poor contact in digitizer lock. Just put digitizer cable deeper, up to the white line and it seems to solve the problem.