iPhone 5 Touchscreen Problems

Just unboxed the iPhone 5 and for the most part it's great. But one big problem has been occurring with the touchscreen, which I've heard is new (integrated with the display itself versus a separate capacitive layer as in past iPhones). I'm curious if anyone else has been having this issue or has any suggestions on what to do...


The touchscreen acts up by "sensing" my finger even when it's not actually touching the screen, but is just very close. This happens gradually at first, then it seems to get a little worse, requiring me to use more exaggerated gestures to actually get the phone to do what I want it to do. Eventually the phone will just respond to my hand waving above it even several millimeters above the screen, and seems to go haywire. It starts missing the letter/button that I'm trying to type. Sometimes the whole screen freezes to where I can't swipe to unlock, slide between home screen pages, etc. Although the physical buttons like the home button and standby button do seem to still respond despite the touchscreen being messed up or frozen, it doesn't get rid of the problem when I go back to what I was doing.


Eventually, I end up resetting the phone by holding down both the standby and home buttons simultaneously for a few seconds. When the device powers on again, it seems to have done the trick and the touchscreen is back to normal. However, the problem reoccurs with a fairly high/annoying level of frequency. (I mean I've only had the device for a few hours total and it's already happened at least half a dozen times.)


Has anyone else experienced this? Does this sound like I have a lemon or could this be a general issue? I wonder if it can be fixed with a software patch or if I need a replacement screen/device. Pretty frustrating to deal with right out of the box, and I don't really want to go anywhere near an Apple Store today with all the craziness that's probably taking place...

iPhone 5, iOS 6

Posted on Sep 21, 2012 12:58 PM

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243 replies

Sep 23, 2012 9:10 PM in response to westlawn51

In addition to my iPhone having these issues:

- Randomly frozen touchscreen (FIX: quickly locking/unlocking your phone 2 times, or pressing the lock button 4 times)

- Typing "L", "O", and "Enter" whenever I try to type. (No fix found :( )

- Touchscreen responding when mere millimeters above the screen (FIX: open multitasking bar, lock, then unlock, but this doesn't always work)

- Registering touches in the wrong area, usually the corners and edges (No fix found :( )

- Delayed response to touches (FIX: lock/unlock 2 times, or press lock button 4 times)


My iPhone also scrolls pages without me touching the actual screen.

Let me explain why this is somewhat cool, but odd:

I tend to run my finger along the edge of my phone, and since I'm right handed, it's always on the right side. So when I got this one, I did the same thing. Before I found the other issues, I noticed that it actually scrolled through webpages when I did this, as if I were touching the screen. I started to use this, thinking it was pretty freaking cool, and wondering why Apple wasn't advertising this. But I noticed today that it was getting even more sensitive, which is somewhat disconcerting, because I do it unconsciously, and I'd end up at the bottom of my newsfeed all of a sudden.

All of the following issues also began showing up today as I noticed it was doing this. It froze once yesterday, and I didn't think much of it. When I got home from work today, it froze every five minutes.


I think it has to do with the new screen, new positioning of internal magnets, the new aluminum band, or possibly all three. Here's what I think, and I'm just taking a shot in the dark here:

•I would think that the aluminum casing would absorb static electricity from your body and clothes, as well as anything else you put it against. Since the screen responds to electrical changes, this could possibly explain why I could scroll using the side.

•The magnets in the phone itself could be askew, and causing the screen to react to those as well as your finger.

•The new screen is too sensitive.

Sep 24, 2012 10:02 AM in response to ChungLing

I had (and have) a similar problem as Carloski. When charging (and laying flat), my touchscreen is not responsive or 50% responsive at best. I returned it to the apple store after dealing with a tech on the phone who told me to reboot/restore/etc. The Apple store couldnt find the problem so they replaced the phone. The new phone is also having this problem. Its an annoyance, but I am waiting to hear what others have to say before replacing this second phone.

Sep 24, 2012 11:43 AM in response to timallsopp

Update:


Spoke to an Apple representative twice over the weekend. We did soft, hard reset, restore, restore from back up, you name it. Finally came tot he conclusion that i get a new phone. 14 day delivery wait! Not great when i have a business to run and cant use a phone. Can pick one up at a local Genius Bar but obviously very busy and not guranteeded they will have a replacement available. The Apple guys were all good to deal with, its just the product isnt. Really hope this gets sorted.


Interesting that of all the Apple people i have spoken with, non have heard of this problem?!

Sep 24, 2012 2:17 PM in response to westlawn51

Same problem here.


I got my iPhone on launch day, September 21. Was able to activate it and restore content from my iPhone 4 to it, quickly. It worked perfectly for most of the first day, but now (on day four with iPhone 5) I've had at least six "dead touchscreen" moments, and they are becoming more frequent: the phone just stops responding to any taps or swipes -- sometimes mid-task. I can't type. I can't move anything on the screen. Can't even unlock the lock screen or shut the phone down using the final shutdown swipe. I just have to wait for it to start responding again.


I'm suspecting a hardware defect, and I'll be at the Genius bar first-thing tomorrow to find out what Apple has to say. I'll post an update afterwards.

Sep 24, 2012 2:25 PM in response to katzschner

I had mine replaced the first day. I notice that the trouble occurs when the device is plugged in and charging. Once I unplug and reset, it works fine. I had this problem with the original and now the replacement. Additionally, random apps open and even the call feature and starts entering numbers. This only seems to happen though when its attached to the charger. Odd.....

Sep 24, 2012 6:22 PM in response to westlawn51

Amd75 -I would have apple replace it for a second time. Those phones cost to much to have it not work properly. I took mine back because completely froze up. I was getting text but I could not unlock the screen to get them. It totally locked up. When I handed it to the apple tech, the phone was still locked so they replaced it. They were very helpful. I recommend for anyone who's phone is freezing up or not acting right is to return to it to the apple store.

Sep 26, 2012 8:54 PM in response to sweetwood

I had exactly the same issue, tried restoring the phone but the problem is still on and off. Sometimes when it went completely dead I had to force it to restart, quite disappointed really as even my fossil old 3GS that I just replaced with this new iphone is more stable than this!
Good to finally see I am not alone here, will monitor the problem for a few days and if it gets worse I will take it to the Genius bar for the engineers to examine

Sep 27, 2012 3:59 AM in response to westlawn51

My touch screen is also acting up. Originally I only noticed it when it had charged to 100% and was still hooked to the charger. I called Apple and they told me to take it in to a retail store and they'd swap it for me and they did, no problem there. In fact, while I waited several people looking to buy their first 5 were turned away saying they had none in stock, and the one given to me was not in retail packaging.


The new phone needed a charge after everything was restored so I plugged it in and it was working fine. I left it in the bedroom while I watched some TV and when I went back to it it was reading 99% charge and was again, non-responsive. I unplugged it to see if that helped. It did not. I did a hard reset (because I could not slide to power off) and when it came back on my power was up to 100%. Did I just lose 1% of battery capacity on the day this device was takes out of the box?


It very quickly (too quickly) dropped to 96% so I put it back on the charger while I slept. In the morning at 100% again the touchscreen was non-responsive but started working again when I unplugged, I did not need to restart.


I have another Genius Bar appointment for Saturday. I posted a link to this discussion where I set up the appointment.


The only issues I've had while not on the charger is that at home I could not get it to back up to iCloud until I reset it. I also noted that I'm having trouble with the space bar. I assumed it had something to do with muscle memory and the space bar being closer to the home button and bottom of the phone than it was on my 4, but someone else here mentioned the space bar so I suppose it could be related.


I'll try to take some video when I charge it tonight/tomorrow just so I don't feel like a complete con artist when I go back in asking for my third 5.

Sep 27, 2012 4:17 AM in response to westlawn51

Update #3 - my replacement arrived late on 9/25 and so far everything is working well. They issued the replacement late on 9/22 (Saturday) so a 9/25 delivery wasn't too bad of wait compared to what I had originally though it might be. The Apple CS reps are definitely some of the best in the business.


To anyone experincing simlar issues iwth your touchscreen, I'd recommend an immdiate call to Apple CS or appointment at a Genius bar to have it replaced. That seems to be the only viable option to help resolve this issue.

Sep 27, 2012 6:56 AM in response to westlawn51

I had a similar problem with my iPhone 5. I recieved it on Sept 21st and initially didn't notice any issues. Then I had the screen go completely blank on me for about 4-6 seconds a couple of times, sometimes screen will be completely unresponsive when I touch to open an app, type or any other functions. At other times, the screen will select something at random before my finger even touches the screen, or will not let me scroll and instead jitters up and down like crazy. I called Apple CS and she was very nice, but walked me through the same procedures I had already attempted on my own, which included soft reset, hard reset, and restore to factory settings and set up the phone again. None of that solved the issue. I then went to my local Apple store. I didn't have an appointment, but they were not really busy at the Genius Bar so they were able to help me out. They looked up the notes from my earlier call to CS and decided to try a DFU. So far, that has seemed to work, but I am keeping my fingers crossed because the initial problems didn't present themselves until after a day or 2 of use. They told me the next step, if the problem persists is to replace the phone with a new one.

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iPhone 5 Touchscreen Problems

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