iPad Pro touchscreen intermittently unresponsive, but works with Apple Pencil

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Level 1

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iPad Pro touchscreen intermittently unresponsive, but works with Apple Pencil

I have the newest iPad Pro 12.9, with about 1/3 of 1TB memory used. In recent months I notice more and more the touchscreen is unresponsive to my fingertips, where in the past it was as smooth and silk and reliable consistently.

Sometimes the screen ‘hangs’, and nothing moves - screen is frozen - then it might ‘loosen up’ and move a bit, then I wait a few more seconds and it becomes more responsive to finger touch.

I finally went out and purchased an Apple Pencil (latest version, magnetic mount), and it doesn’t seem to have the intermittent problem for controlling the screen, although I don’t always grab it when my fingertip doesn’t get proper screen response.

I took the bait of the Apple TV commercials suggesting you ditch your laptop/desktop and use only an iPad Pro for all computing tasks (along with my iPhone X Max), and for months it was working great. It has only been the past few months that screen intermittent response has become an annoying issue.

I power down the iPad every night (not just sleep).

Anyone else noticing this erratic screen sensitivity?

iPad Pro, iOS 12

Posted on Jul 13, 2019 8:01 AM

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Answer 1

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gaetanotuf

Level 2

275 points

Jul 13, 2019 8:19 AM in response to EddieTheWire

Hi Eddie,

I understand that it can be annoying to see the iPad you recently purchased doesn't perform as expected but the fact that the Display is unresponsive could be related to different factor as described in here:

Get help with the display on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

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

In order to isolate the issue try to reproduce the problem by:

removing cover, screen protector you may have on your iPad;

check if there are available updates (both iOS updates and App Store updates) > https://support.apple.com/en-ie/guide/ipad/ipad9a74c576/ios

Try to reproduce issue after considering to reset the settings of your iPad > https://support.apple.com/en-ie/guide/iphone/iphea1c2fe48/ios BUT be aware this will delete "all personalised settings including network settings, the keyboard dictionary, the Home screen layout, location settings, privacy settings, and Apple Pay cards—are removed or reset to their defaults. No data or media are deleted."

Finally if all those steps will not work try the last step:

Make sure to have a full backup of your iPad, log out from iCloud and restore it as new:

https://support.apple.com/en-ie/HT203977 (iTunes is a better option than iCloud);
restore as new using iTunes > https://support.apple.com/en-ie/guide/ipad/ipad9a74c804/ios

If after restored as new you will set up the device without logging into the iCloud account you will still verify there are issues, or you may need help performing backups and restore, I suggest you to contact Apple Official Support and consider also repair options or schedule an appointment just to verify it's not a physical issue.

Regards

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iPad Pro touchscreen intermittently unresponsive, but works with Apple Pencil

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