Serious issues with iPhone 4 touch screen

Hi guys,

So this has been happening on and off over the past 6 months or so, in which my phone screen does not respond to any form of touch. Now this only used to happen periodically, but it was easily fixable by a quick knuckle tap on the back of the phone, ironically. Whilst I know that this is obviously not the most recommended method of fixing said problem, as it may cause it to screw up even more, in most scenarios I was left with little other options when I needed my phone the most and I needed a quick solution to resolve this problem, and thus this method of tapping the back of the phone in various places actually seemed to temporarily fix it 90% of the time.

This only happens on and off, however, and is extremely random. But as it’s gotten more consistent there seems to be a link between it and certain apps running, and even having the phone on charge. As a result, I have a suspicion that this may be as a result of the phone becoming ‘outdated’ ever since the release of the iPhone 6, because general updates for the phone’s OS itself have stopped coming through. I say this because when this problem first started, I was only experiencing it on certain apps - not on the whole phone. Some of these apps were Snapchat and Clash of Clans, but as the months went by it slowly started spreading to other apps and then the phone itself - almost like it was a virus. Now I can’t even play music on my phone, let alone answer incoming phone calls and/or reply to text messages, and is thus affecting my workload as I rely on my phone rather consistently.

As of this evening, the problem has gotten to a point in which I can barely even unlock the phone by swiping the screen/entering my passcode. No amount of rear-end physical force was able to fix it, even though it can be considered to make it worse. Nevertheless, I stand by the probability that it is an OS issue, considering it only started with a few apps and now is spread amongst the whole phone. Obviously this would thus be a compatibility issue, although I’m not sure how a phone that doesn’t receive OS updates anymore could even have this problem.

That being said, other apps still do receive updates with no problems, so I’m assuming this might be the reason.

I’m in the process of backing everything up and am even considering doing a full factory restore, but under these circumstances I doubt it would make a huge difference. I’m disappointed in Apple by their lack of continuing support for their ‘outdated’ devices. I can understand why they stop their general support by cutting OS updates and such, but at the very least they could still support some sort of compatibility packs so that for those people who can’t afford their ridiculously priced $1000 iPhone 6s or what-not, they can still at least use what they have appropriately.

Whilst I’m factory restoring and whatever, I’d still like some insight as to why this may be happening and how to fix it, or at least how to partially fix it in the long-term. It’s gotten down to the point where I’m having to use the force of a banana skin to forcefully have the phone react to some of touch (I’m not kidding, banana skins register as a ‘finger’ to iOS devices with touch-screens…)

Thanks guys,

- Lachie