iPad Pro 12.9” not responding to touch intermittently

I have had this same issue since I purchased my iPad Pro 2018 model.

It is worst when I use the touchscreen keyboard. Completely different to my iPhone in its responsiveness. Dropping every 3-4 letters. I have to type very slowly and wait to see if it is just slow and catching up or missing the letter.

Scrolling and dragging is also affected for me.

The issue is intermittent for me and I have three young children with disabilities so haven’t been able to face the thought of trying to replicate this in my closest store which isn’t easy to get to so I’ve just been checking on forums sporadically in the hope that someone had a solution or for Apple to formally identify this as a problem so I could quickly get it changed over if I went in store.

I have tried - full erase and reset. Disconnecting and also connecting my pencil. Turning off True Tone. Turning off multi gestures. Turning off Bluetooth. Charging. Rotating screen.

The only way I can use this iPad is to have a keyboard permanently attached and use it like a computer with a dodgy touchscreen.

the worst thing for me - I got this because I had such an awful, awful time with my butterfly keyboard on my MacBook.

My kids have had iPads for years and even with filthy and sometimes cracked screens they manage to be very responsive. They’ve been workhorses for the kids. I can’t believe this very expensive piece of equipment is so bad.

After two bad experiences with the MacBook and now iPad Pro I’m going to seriously reconsider my commitment to Apple when I purchase my next big ticket computing item.

Big thanks to the person who got the media on to this issue - it’s what alerted me that this forum had more recent posts to it and hopefully some action happens for those of us impacted.

Well I just spent almost an hour between a chat session and a phone session only to be told that there is no problem with my iPad Pro 2017 model but I was more than welcome to send it in for repairs.

Not sure I want to live without my iPad for two weeks because I live nowhere near an Apple Store.

The intermittent touch response issues has affected, to one degree or another, all three years of iPad Pro models.

It really started with the introduction of iOS 12 back in Oct., but some iPad Pro users claim this intermittent touch issues started as far back as iOS 11.4.1.

The iOS 12.2 update is supposed to fix the touch issues across all iPad Pro models.

I knew this in advance as I have been following the various beta releases on YouTube and one of the video series on this mentioned this being fixed in iOS 12.2 beta 3 or 4.

Unfortunately, posting our actual email addresses in a public forum, like this, is not a wise idea and there used to be a way to show the email address in our Apple profile section, temporarily when you tap on the image circle.

Unfortunately there is no way to do that any longer.

I could, temporarily, add it into my bio info, but seeing that this is still a public forum I'd still be worried about that.

So, there is no real way to contact me outside of the communities.

I don't do social media, so that is not an option either.

Sorry.

Michel

iOS 12 should have fixed this issue.

Have you tried a hard reset of your iPad by holding down both the Home and sleep/wake buttons simultaneously until your iPad goes to black and restarts with Apple logo, then release the buttons?

Ok, I think I’ve found the issue and a work around. I have read all 12 pages of posts in this thread. Looked at dozens of other people having the same issue but no fixes... The commonalities seems to be:

1. Intermittent nature of the problem.
2. The buttons and “Apple Pencil” and other nib type pointers seem to work.
3. It happens at home but never at the Apple store lying on the counter.
4. Some thought it was heat build-up from lap, leg or being on a blanket.
5. Some say different cases fix it for a while, but the problem comes back.

I believe the issue is static build up! Items 3,4,&5 are all static synchronizing situations. I always sit in a big lazy boy with a cotton throw and the dog on my lap. When I pick up the iPad it works for a little bit, then starts getting worse. So, I watched a wonderful YouTube video where an intelligent housewife was instructing us how to make antistatic spray so our dresses wouldn’t cling to our legs. Well, if you take her cup of water and 2 tablespoons of fabric softener put it in a bottle and sprits yourself, furniture or favorite blanket the problem magically disappears.

Now, I’m not sure if the iPad has a grounding issue or there is a screwup in the design of the touch screen or not, but I keep my little bottle of home maker spray beside the chair and life is good.

Give it a try, what could it hurt.

Youtube link: https://youtu.be/TXC4zWMqV88

Hey, I posted this this morning. I just figured out my problem.

k, I think I’ve found the issue and a work around. I have read all 12 pages of posts in this thread. Looked at dozens of other people having the same issue but no fixes... The commonalities seems to be:

1. Intermittent nature of the problem.
2. The buttons and “Apple Pencil” and other nib type pointers seem to work.
3. It happens at home but never at the Apple store lying on the counter.
4. Some thought it was heat build-up from lap, leg or being on a blanket.
5. Some say different cases fix it for a while, but the problem comes back.

I believe the issue is static build up! Items 3,4,&5 are all static synchronizing situations. I always sit in a big lazy boy with a cotton throw and the dog on my lap. When I pick up the iPad it works for a little bit, then starts getting worse. So, I watched a wonderful YouTube video where an intelligent housewife was instructing us how to make antistatic spray so our dresses wouldn’t cling to our legs. Well, if you take her cup of water and 2 tablespoons of fabric softener put it in a bottle and sprits yourself, furniture or favorite blanket the problem magically disappears.

Now, I’m not sure if the iPad has a grounding issue or there is a screwup in the design of the touch screen or not, but I keep my little bottle of home maker spray beside the chair and life is good.

Give it a try, what could it hurt.

Youtube link: https://youtu.be/TXC4zWMqV88

It is happening across all years of iPad Pros. This IS for sure and I have been fielding these reports since the introduction of iOS 12 since last Oct./Nov.

Nearly 800 users, across nearly 30-40 postings, to date, and a good many 2015, 2016 and 2017 model users being affected.

Not just users of the new 2018 iPad Pro models.

It is, also, happening to a smaller minority of 2017 and 2018 standard 9.7 inch screen iPad users, as well.

I have not currently upgraded to iOS 12, at all!

My 2015 iPad Pro is still running iOS 10.3.3 and I am having ZERO touch response issues!

So, I KNOW this is an iOS 12 software issue/bug.

New postings about this come 3-4 times a day.

Some older iPad Pro users have claimed the touch response issues started earlier than iOS 12 with the last iOS 11.4.1 release, but this issue has become more problematic for a lot more iPad Pro users since the beginning/release of iOS 12.

Many here running these iOS 12 beta versions said/claimed the same thing about iOS 12.2 and 12.3 and when the final 12.2/3 releases were put out by Apple, the released iOS 12.2/3 updates still had not fixed the iPad Pro touch screen issue/s.

Try turning off tap to wake.

Hard reset your device , this may help you for a while. And when the lag comes back just hard reset it again.

I’ve been hard resetting my device every four days .

But at least I can use it without any sort of lag or unresponsiveness.

I hope this helps

This is typical of Apple.

Ignore a major hardware/software issue until enough users complain and/or it makes headlines in the media and Apple then has to acknowledge the problem/issue and then has to come up with and offer a fix.

Find my postings ( quite a few here ) that have the iPad feedback link and also a link to contact Apple directly in California to discuss this issue with customer service employees. I am not going to post this info, yet, again.

The more users that post/alert Apple of this growing iPad Pro issue the better chance that Apple will have to eventually address this issue.

There are close to 1000 users that have posted into these communities with this issue on all three years of iPad Pro models.

This is still a very small minority of users affected, so everyone affected need to keep resubmitting feedback and also contact Apple on this issue.

Everyone with this iPad Pro unresponsive touch screen issue CAN post multiple feedback over time.

You do not have to post feedback just once.

Everyone with this issue really needs to, also, contact Apple in Cupertino, CA about this so Apple can tally these incidents that way, as well.

Good Luck!

Well guys I think I have finally found a fix!

After 3 replacement iPad pros over the last 8 months and trying almost everything it turns out that all you need to do is go to Settings>Accessibility then disable Tap to Wake and restart your device.

Since doing this 2 weeks ago I have not noticed a single stutter, everything has been smooth.

I suggest that everybody try this for a week or so and report back on here to let us know how it goes.

Hi there,

i´m having an 12.9 iPadPro 2018 with the same issue. Apple alredy sent me a new one because of this and the new is showing the same problems after a while. This all in the last 6 month. I´m going to call Apple Care again to make another exchange.

best regards

Markus

When you look at the post just above your post to me and you see "Apple, please fix this!!!!," it's not that clear all are aware this is not how to get Apple's attention. This is why I have provided the link multiple times throughout this thread. So more people will provide feedback the only way it is actually read by Apple.

Not sure who I'm replying here to, as the ability appears to have from Chrome, but jumped to Safari. Final update on my complete reinstall back in May.

Although there were signs that the iPad was going back to its bad old ways, they disappeared and it has behaved as it should since.

Haven't updated to 13 as yet, as am travelling and can't afford to risk breaking Duet, but either the hardware sorted itself out, or as suspected, it is software.

Atrocious that this has been allowed to continue for so many people.

It certainly wouldn’t help as dry skin will interfere with the capacitive touch screen. You would be well advised to discontinue your use of concetrated Isopropyl Alcohol (or Isopropanol as it is also known).

Notwithstanding any problems in this regard, many users of iPad Pro still report an endemic problem with these touch screens.