iPad Pro touch screen intermittent unresponsive

The gyroscope hardware/software fault possibility was one that was explored earlier on and one that I was able to bring attention to ASC moderators here, who, in turn, mentioned this touch screen issue to Apple engineering employees sometime back in the Fall of 2019.

I have not seen anymore updates about whether Apple engineering has even acknowledged or is working on this issue, let alone know if Apple is receiving enough, relevant and quantitative feedback concerning this touch screen issue.

This issue, whatever is causing this, is a mess, now, and has been going on for far too long.

There is no way to know if there is enough feedback and outcry on this issue.

You are free and welcome to submit feedback about this issue to Apple.

iPad Feedback

http://www.apple.com/feedback/ipad.html

Every iPad Pro/Air 3 user affected by this touch screen issue/bugs needs to keep sending/hammering Apple with feedback and outcries for this issue to get fixed and you all really need to call Apple, in California, and, basically, keep hammeing their customer support on this issue, until they get the message that Apple has a touch screen problem with their iPad Pro models across the board and they need to start acknowledging this problem.

Cognizant Apple employees read ALL feedback generated from all of the various feedback pages and transfers the data to the proper and responsible Apple teams and personnel, but NO Apple employees will ever respond with any type of direct, individual replies from the feedback you post.

The more users that post product feedback about any product issue, the faster Apple, in California, is made aware and starts working on a fix/solution for a future software update.

You could, also, contact Apple Product support and service about your Apple iPad issues, directly.

Tap on the link below and scroll down some to get to the Apple Product Support section and phone numbers for your location/region.

https://www.apple.com/contact/

Good Luck to All!

Hello again and new POSSIBLE fix.

I mentioned deleting the YouTube App before and it kinda worked, but there was still some missed touches, just not as much as before. The YouTube App and the iPad are so synergistic, my iPad is practically useless without it. YouTube and the iPad go together like fingers on a hand.

I found another potential fix which so far has been almost perfect. I have a suspicion Apple's engineers know of this issue and are working to fix it. I've been running the beta versions of iOS and dropped touches have been happening less and less on each subsequent beta. For the first time, I am able to type compose this entire post with only a few missed touches.

I think this issue may be a combination of everyone's hunch. It is both hardware and software. I've had the issue temporarily resolve itself with an alcohol cleaning of the screen. I've also experienced the issue when the humidity was high. Regardless, the issue doesn't show up on my other devices, so it is specific to my iPad. My latest hunch is that the capacitive touch screen sensitivity changes based on the environment and the software does a bad job of compensating for it. It maybe happening to the iPad Pros more because they have a large touch area with more complex circuitry for handling the pencil. A few users have had success by using mounting the pencil, restarting or restoring settings, cleaning the screen and switching cases. Many of them claimed the fix was only temporary, which hints at the software recalibrating the digitizer.

All of you here need to keep sending Apple feedback on this issue.

All of you here can keep sending as much feeback on this issue as you like.

iPad Feedback

http://www.apple.com/feedback/ipad.html

Cognizant Apple employees read ALL feedback generated from all of the various feedback pages and transfers the data to the proper and responsible Apple teams and personnel, but NO Apple employees will ever respond with any type of direct, individual replies from the feedback you post.

The more users that post product feedback about any product issue, the faster Apple, in California, is made aware and starts working on a fix/solution for a future software update.

Also, I suggest to everyone contacting/reaching out to Apple Product support and services.

Tap on the first link below and scroll down some to get to the Apple Product Support section and phone numbers for your location/region.

https://www.apple.com/contact/

OR

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201232

Escalate this iPad Pro touch screen issue, if you all need to.

I believe that this issues is still only affecting a small and still growing amount of iPad Pro across all years and models and not enough of you are contacting Apple directly and/or sending enough feedback on this issue.

Nothing will come of this if none of you here do not spend time to continue to hammer the feedback pages about this issue and contact/call Apple directly and continue to bug them and let them know that this is a real issue NOT caused by user damage or error.

If anyone calls Apple and you get no sataifactuon from your first Apple support employee encounter, politely ask to have this issue escalated up to more senior support representatives and engineering staff, if you can

This issue has been going on for, at least, 18 moths, now!

Too long for this issue to keep continuing.

Best of Luck to All of You!

Posting a new theory based on YouTube videos of iFixit Website iPad Pro/iPadAir 3 device teardowns.

IFIXIT TEARDOWNS 2015/2017/2018 iPad PRO/2019 iPad Air 3 MODELS

( My Observations )

The 2015/2016 iPad Pro models seem less affected to this intermittent, unresponsive touch screen problem/issue than later iPad Pro models and the 10.5 inch iPad Pro model based 2019 iPad Air 3 and I really wanted to understand why this touch screen issue seems, more or less, limited to the 2017 and 2018 and ( perhaps) even the newest 2020 iPad Pro models.

I created this write up!

IFIXIT TEARDOWNS 2015/2017 iPad PRO/2018 iPad PRO/2019 iPad Air 3 MODELS

( My video observations )

I did some online searching and researching, very recently, to try and figure out this vexing and troublesome iPad Pro and iPad Air 3 touch screen issues and found some iFixit videos on the teardowns of both the 2015 and later 2017 and 2018 iPad Pro models.

While speculation really isn't allow in the “official” communities, it is my hope to maybe bring a better understanding of this issue to myself and other iPad Pro and iPad Air 3 owners of another possible explanation that might be a more possible and definitive hardware based explanation that, after some time, this issue may not be solvable, as my explanation is such that this maybe a complete design/engineering and manufacturing flaw without any solution.

The 2015/2016 iPad Pro models, whenin landscape orientation, have a thin strip logic/mothetboard located in the middle of the iPad’s aluminium back panel/chassis/electrical components housing.

Two large, rechargeable, Li-ion/Li-polymer batteries sit on either side of the thin strip electronics board.

The logic/motherboard strip is only half the length of the iPad’s aluminium chassis/back panel in those older iPad Pro models, with a long, extended, but soldered Lightning port cable assembly going the rest of the length of the iPad’s chassis.

So, in the 2015/2016 iPad Pro models, the electronics logic/motherboard is a thin and short board with a extended, long Lightning connector connection soldered/connected to this board and the Lightning connector/port is fixed in place at the connection/port end to the short side panel of the iPad Pro's aluminium back panel/chassis/components housing.

In newer iPad Pro models, it is, basically, the same configuation, except that the the thin logic/board goes the full length of the iPad’s back alumimium chassis, now, and there is no more soldered extension cable for the Lightnimg connector port, any longer.

The actual Lightning port is soldered/connected to the end of the motherboard or is part of the motherboard, now.

This subtle difference is design may make that thin electrical logic board/motherboard more susceptible to slight flexion of the board from the constant and slight flexion of the iPad's larger aluminum back plate/chassis/housing causing slight electrical connections breaks ( temporary or permanent? ) in the logic/motherboard, causing the intermittent, unresponsive touch issues and maybe some of the other issues, like stuck in headphone jack mode issues and some of the other currently unsolvable larger screen iPad issues going on.

I’m on my second iPad Air 3. The first one touch started to become unresponsive after about a month or so of use, took it back for service, after 3 weeks they replaced it with what appears to be a brand new one. The touch became unresponsive for as long as 20-30 seconds, and happened more and more often to the point it became basically unusable for me.

This second one worked great for more than a month, but after that it stared to also develop unresponsive touch randomly. This one though do it much less frequently and it last 2-5 secs, so i is somehow usable. Still not sure if I should send this one too to service (I can't right now)

I have no screen protector, just using a simple apple smartcover. Tried to tape the side contacts but made no difference. Reboots, resets etc don’t help. It does it even with no third party app installed, and with its default factory settings.

From what I observed it seems to be heat related. It happens more often when it’s hot, or especially when I plug it in and I use it while it’s charging (it feels warmer close to the lightning port). In a chill environment, doing light reading and not plugged in, seems to work fine. If i try to do more, like bring a Youtube in a half of the screen while browsing in the other half, or if I just plug it in to charge, it starts doing it. Weird that both worked fine for about a month.

Recently I purchased an iPad Air 3 to upgrade my old iPad. Backed it up and restored the new iPad from the backup. I had no problems with my old iPad but the new one immediately started doing the exact thing you're describing. Most of the time it was only if it had something plugged into the lightening port. AppleCare worked with me, I reset a bunch of stuff, and eventually wiped the new iPad and started from scratch. Still had the issue. So off to the Apple store I went and they gave me a new iPad.

The new one started having the same issue. So I agree that it's more than likely a software problem. Following up with AppleCare they recommended that I reset it to factory setting and then re-download all of my apps and set it up again. Huge pain which I haven't got around to trying yet.

Oddly mine fixed itself after the 13.4.1 update. After many months of suffering, this update somehow fixed it. I know it could start having issues again but it’s been a while since the update and it works fine. Finger crossed.

Do you have the latest ios updates ? After so much pain, I’m almost can’t believe it that since about 3 ios updates ago, the problem disappeared. I just hope it will stay that way. I have an iPad Air 3 4G.

I STRONGLY suggest contacting/reaching out to Apple Product support and services, again.

Tap on the first link below and scroll down some to get to the Apple Product Support section and phone numbers for your location/region.

https://www.apple.com/contact/

OR

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201232

If you need to, if initial 1st tier Apple customer phone support is of no help to you, I encourage you to calmly ask to have this issue escalated up to more responsible, senior Apple customer support employees to see if they can come up with a possible fix or solution to this iPad touch screen issue, or not, but I make no guarantees, whatsoever.

If you need to, you can have this issue escalated all the way up to Apple engineering staff level of customer support.

Do not settle for initial contact, 1st tier Apple customer phone support.

Apple product issues can be escalated to more senior Apple product support staff.

Even if no acceptable resolution, Apple, AT LEAST, logs all support calls and issues.

Best of Luck to You!

I am sorry to learn that you are experiencing touch scree issues with your fairly recent 2019 iPad Air 3 model.

I believe that your 2019 iPad Air 3 may have contracted an serious, hardware and/or software related, intermittent, unresponsive touch screen issue/problem/bug/flaw.

There is absolutely nothing that can be done.

Apple really does NOT have a final fix or solution to this issue.

There are many things causing this ongoing issue.

This intermittent unresponsive screen issue appears to be a rather difficult issue to resolve as this issue has been going on for 20 months, now!

See this Apple support link for some additional help, if needed.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201406

This is a well known issue here in these iPad support communities.

This intermittent, unresponsive touch screen issue affects a continuing, growing minority of iPad Pro users/models across all 4 years of iPad Pro models, as well as the new 2019 10.5 inch screen iPad Air 3, which is based from the 2017, 10.5 inch screen iPad Pro models.

Take a look at these long standing, longer posts on the subject of this intermittent, unresponsive touch screen

issue, below.

Because this issue is either STILL only affecting a growing, but still very small minority of iPad Pro/iPad Air 3 users OR iPad Pro/iPad Air 3 users are simply NOT reporting this issue enough here in these official Apple iPad support communities OR simply NOT posting enough feedback to Apple about this intermittent, unresponsive iPad Pro touch screen issue to alert the proper responsible and cognizant Apple employees and teams and get them working on this iPad Pro touch screen problem.

iPad Pro touch screen intermittent unresp... - Apple Community

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250085450

iPad Pro screen unresponsive - Apple Community

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8658399

iPad Pro 12.9” not responding to touch in... - Apple Community

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8396370

The best you can do is to continue to alert Apple to this growing issue and hammer the Apple iPad feedback pages mutiple times on this issue.

The only way to get Apple to, DIRECTLY, listen to you is to use their feedback portion of their website.

iPad Feedback

http://www.apple.com/feedback/ipad.html

Cognizant Apple employees read ALL feedback generated from all of the various feedback pages and transfers the data to the proper and responsible Apple teams and personnel , but NO Apple employees will ever respond with any type of direct, individual replies from the feedback you post.

You can post as much multiple feedback about this issue any time.

The more users that post product feedback about any product issue, the faster Apple is made aware and starts working on a fix/solution for a future software update.

As I stated, this intermittent, unresponsive and unresolved iPad Pro touch screen issue has plagued a small, but growing minority of iPad Pro users across all 4 years of iPad Pro models for over 18 months, now!

Also, I STRONGLY suggest contacting/reaching out to Apple Product support and services on this larger screen iPad intermittent, unresponsive touch screen issue and if you have to, escalate this issue to higher levels of Apple customer support personnel to get their attentions on this issue.

Tap on the first link below and scroll down some to get to the Apple Product Support section and phone numbers for your location/region.

https://www.apple.com/contact/

OR

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201232

If you need to, if initial 1st tier Apple customer support is of no help to you, you can calmly ask to have this issue escalated up to more responsible, senior Apple customer support employees to see if they can come up with a better possible solution to these iPad issue/s, but I make no guarantees, whatsoever, to ANY type of outcome for these iPad issues.

Most 2019 iPad Air 3 models started having this intermittent, unresponsive touch screen issue early in the introduction of iPadOS 13, which was last September/October 2019.

This is a serious, unresolved hardware/software problem that has been plaguing a growing minority of iPad Pro users, across all model years, for the past 18 months, or so.

For iPad Pro users, this intermittent, unresponsive touch screen issue started waaaay back with either a late iOS 11 update OR with the introduction of iOS 12.

There is NO final resolution for this from Apple, to date.

No way to know whether Apple has any type of final fix/solution coming soon, or not.

Sorry that your iPad Air 3 has contracted this issue.

You are now part of small, but still very much a growing minority of larger screen iPad users that have been affected by this intermittent, unresponsive larger iPad touch screen problem/bug/flaw.

Sorry & Best of Luck to You!

You need to call contact Apple support per the many places I have posted this info her.

This is the ONLY real way to grab Apple's attention on this issue.

Sitting back and just hoping and waiting for Apple to fix this issue will NOT work!

No cognizant Apple design or engineering teams or personnel or leadership reads these user to user technical support communities.

None.

They just don’t.

Also, just sending reply-less feedback will not help all that much either, unless everyone with this issue just keeps hammering the feedback page and sends daily and multiple feedback to the iPad feedback page about this issue.

You all just need to keep sending Apple constant feedback to the iPad feedback page that I have repeatedly posted the link here and all of you need to keep hounding and calling Apple customer technical support on this issue.

Every time some one calls Apple support, the calls get logged and recorded.

These are the ONLY two real ways to capture Apple's attention on issues like this. Constant feedback through the iPas feedback link and constant phone calls to Apple support!

It’s not software or they would have fixed it years ago after this first started happening with the iPad Pro going back to iOS 11. It’s a hardware issue. I was told to take mine in For repair. Any “fix” is temporary.

That solved the problem temporarily. It will return. Mine was fine for several days after a full backup and restore, then the problem reappeared Note, that if it happens while plugged in and charging, removing the charging cable instantly restores the touchscreen to normal functionality - for awhile. Also, on mine when the screen freezes, the right side of the screen is often responsive, where the left side is dead. Rebooting always helps, but only for a short time. Touch screen controller, charging circuit, battery communication are all suspects.

Apple told me it’s a problem with that iPad hardware and not the iOS. Mine is getting worse all the time. It’s a characteristic of all MPDY2LL/A. He said we just happened to pick the iPad with problems. If you have Apple care you can trade for a refurbish, but eventually it will do the same thing. Doesn’t seem fair to me. We pay a lot for iPads. Supposably they stopped selling that model number.

After over a year of intermittent unresponsiveness, removing the case and managing the overheating has completely eliminated the problem for me. Despite what Apple says I don’t think it’s a hardware problem and I supported Apple gear in the past for one of my jobs.