iPad Pro 12.9” not responding to touch intermittently

I have an I-Pad Pro

I have looked at the discussions that people have submited about the screen freeze.

Until Apple helps with the solution of this problem I have figured out the temporarly solution to help with this freezing.

The freezing drove me nuts but I had noticed that everytime this would happen I was in the same spots sitting on the couch laying it on my leg, using it on the counter, etc.

The I-Pad had the back of itself covered and heats up extremely, keeping the back of the I-Pad uncovered keeps it cool and the freezing stopped.

I hope this helps it did for me.

Solution! I had this exact problem, saw this post and got depressed thinking my I pad was broke. Turns out the Apple Pencil was causing the problem. Dropped ot one too many times I guess.

The pencil worked perfect, but my finger/ hands intermittently didn’t work. The broken pencil was tricking the pad into thinking it was touching the screen even when it was not, and when the pencil tip is touching the screen the pad wont register your hands... new pencil and my Ipad pro works good as new... hope this helps someone👍

This is soooo annoying! It happens randomly but about every minute on my device.

Has anyone retured it and received a perfectly working one so far??

btw: the error occured 11! Times during writing this short text.

My iPad Pro 12.9 was spastically unresponsive to touches on the screen when I typed on the keyboard. Some times I would continually tap on one or two keys and nothing! I took off my case and no issues. I got to thinking and realized that I had the case folded up so the magnetic cover that turns the iPad on when I opened and closed it was on the back of the iPad. I decided to try turning that function off and it worked! No issues!!I turned off Lock/Unlock feature under settings/display brightness for the iPad cover and now no issues. Don’t get rid if your case or cover, just turn that feature off. Hope that helps 😉

This is very frustrating. I purchased a 12.9 refurb from Apple. All worked fine for a short time. Then the intermittent touch issues started. Went through lots of communication with apple via text, phone, then finally 2 trips to an Apple store. They finally decided to swap out my iPad with a new one. Problem was resolved THEEEEEEEEN It started again on my new iPad. I don't know what to do now. I have a high dollar tablet that is worthless from time to time. If I had to guess what is going on here, it's like the iPad thinks I'm using the apple pencil and ignores all touch except for 5 ginger gestures. PLEASE HELP APPLE.

My iPad Pro 10.5 screen continues to experience pauses lasting several seconds where it and/or the on-screen keyboard becomes unresponsive - prior to resuming normal operation returning for a short while.

I’ve tried refreshing and/or disabling all the Accessibilty, Display Accomodations, Limiting Frame Rate, Reduce Motion, Background App Refresh, power-off and forced restart, disabling the cover auto-lock and isolating the Apple Pencil (and its magnets) well away from the iPad. Nothing at all seems to mitigate this issue on the iPad Pro...

Yes, as part of systematic testing, in addition to physically removing the Apple Pencil from the envirnment, I have completely deleted the Pencil from the iPad. For me, the issue is definitely not with the Pencil.

Interestingly, I have tried removing the iPad from its case (an STM Dux Plus 10.5). Having done so, without its case, the iPad appears to be working completely as expected. For those not familiar with this case, it consists of a hard polycarbonate back plate, full TPU armoured edging and pencil holder with a folding folio cover. Despite only being used at home, the case is ruggedised and is designed to provide a very high degree of protection in harsh environments. Once in the case, the iPad is effectively in a secure “cocooned“ environment. In addition to the case, the iPad has a Zag glass+ screen protector to provide effective protection for the screen.

So, with the case off (and the relatively expensive screen protector in-place), my iPad seems to behave normally. Within the case, it doesn’t. Armed with the results of systematic system tests and this experimental knowledge, it follows that unexpected behaviour is lnked in some way with the case.

The STM case design is such that the iPad has rigid but gentle support within the case. Examination and physical testing is such that I am satisfied that problems with the iPad are not due to mechanical support or pressure on the iPad within the case. The iPad itself is pristine - in the exact condition it was from manufacture.

The folio case cover has the usual tiny magnet to trigger the screen-lock feature - but this magnet, with the cover open (and the erroneous behavior evident) is seperated from the iPad sensor by 40cm. Even if this tiny magnet were made of the most exotic of materials, with an insane magnetic flux, it is positioned so far from the sensor as to be well beyond its reach. The folio cover also has a “flap” that secures the cover closed on the iPad when not in use; the flap contains a magnet that holds the flap closed on three tiny steel plates on the underside on the case. The flap magnet is thus even further away from the iPad sensor.

So, still stumped as to the definitive cause of the iPad problem, but hopefully the above knowledge might contribute to our collective knowledge.

Some case materials are better at dispersing/absorbing the heat generated from the back of the iPad.

Maybe the hard polycarbonite back of the case is too hard and not letting the heat from the back of the iPad disperse properly or is allowing the iPad to build up heat from behind and the hard plastic can't vent or disperse the heat enough.

There are a few makers of these hard polycarbonate cases with bonded TPU rubber side rails found online.

I tried two on my large iPad Pro. Hated them both.

The hard polycarbonate back was slick and slippery with no tactile grip and the very soft TPU rubber side rails were not strong and rigid enough to stand up to holding my iPad along its sides/edges without the soft rubber edge rails pulling away from the edge of the iPad.

These cases were both cheap in quality and price.

I got my money back for both.

It is not a good design and not an ideal choice for an iPad case material.

The whole point of having protective cases for iPads is to have mostly rigid protection all around. Not just the back.

Still looking for a good replacement case for my damaged Apple backcase which is still in good shape except one of the corner edges broke away.

Oh well, each to their own taste - and needs - in protecting their tech-assets.

The STM Dux Plus, as sold by Apple, was far from cheap. At the time, very few case options were available for the Pro 10.5 - and “good” options were (and still are) rather limited. Other iPads in my stable have benefitted from Apple Leather Smart Cases (sadly not availble for any of the iPads beyond the Mini-2 and Air); these, for me, have always been an excellent choice - but some people didn’t like them either.

The STM Dux Plus TPM body may be soft-ish to the touch, but its design for this model iPad certainly doesn’t lack rigidity (not that I have any intent upon defending it in providing this objective viewpoint).

As for heat, it’s never appeared to be an obvious issue; the temperature of this iPad has never gone beyond perceptably warm. As part of my systematic testing, I’ve investigated the possibility of heat being a potential factor (using a thermal camera) and have not observed anything that might support this hypothesis. Besides, if the problem I see was of thermal origin - then the issue with the iPad and its on-screen keyboard freezing (no pun intended), for seconds at a time, wouldn’t exist from cold power-up.

One annecdotal observation, from me, is that the issue has become more problematic with time - which could be indicative of component aging.

Component aging on a 1-1/2 year old device?

Not buying that.

Now that the case is off and the iPad can vent heat properly, I would use that thermal camera with and without the case on to see if it can read the thermal differential.

I really think this is a heat related issue.

Also, the internal heat does ramp up when you are charging the iPad’s battery, making the iPad potentially warmer when being in tne case.

AND if you are using the iPad whilst charging at the same time, the iPad/iPad battery heats up even more and potentially more with the case applied.

I am theorising that the issue is a heat related one and NOT a component based/aging issue.

Although, do you leave your iPad up and running all the time or do you turn it off when not in use or when you charge it?

Constantly turning the device on/off could be similar to turning a computer on/off rather than putting it to sleep and leave it running.

Turning devices on/off on a consistent basis can have the potential to cause component “brown-outs”.

So my 10.5“ Pro has been doing this as well. I started noticing this the last couple months. It’s intermittent and can be fixed with a reboot until whatever triggers it happens again. I do not have a pencil, so it can’t be that. I do have a case with magnet and a tempered glass screen protector. Both have been on it since it came out if the box and they never caused a problem before. I usually notice it starts while playing a game that requires quite a bit of touch activity. Once it starts acting up, various touch activities act weird For a period of time. Taps don’t register. Tap and hold (to pop up something) doesn’t work, or works as if your finger is lifting off the screen even though it isn’t. And drawing behavior gets whacky. When it gets into this state, if you just go into Notes and draw on a page you’ll see. Select a marker and color, then draw squiggly lines quickly, like you are trying to fill in the page. Parts of the line don’t register or even stranger, they draw, but then erase. Reboot and go into Notes and do the same thing and it works perfectly.

Just my gut feeling, it was introduced in a software update at some point, but it affects only certain hardware. Sounds odd, but I’ve seen problems get introduced by an OS update, but only affect a subset of devices. It doesnt seem to be a hardware component failure because the way to fix it is so predictable..just reboot.

That always fixes this problem immediately. My iPad is not warm or charging when the problem occurs. It’s like touch events are being buffered up and getting hung, overflowed etc, causing the system to not catch any events until it gets flushed out. Playing a game or typing a lot seems to be a trigger.

This is happening to me too. I have the iPad Pro 12.9 2nd gen on iOS 12.1. I was having this issue and got a replacement which seemed to fix it for awhile. Now happening again all the time on the replacement. Anyone find a fix for this? Is it software or hardware? I would try for another replacement if I knew for sure It was a hardware issue.

Someone here mentioned that there was an issue with the Apple Pencil when the iPad is plugged into power for chraging or to just use the iPad while being externally powered.

If you are trying to use the Apple Pencil while the iPad is plugged into power or charging, try using tge Pencil with the iPad while not be charged at the same time.

Also, normal touch could be affected from the using of the iPad when plugged into power to charge or use with external power.

Did you take it in to Apple? I've got an appointment to have mine looked at by a Apple Technician. Im convinced Apple sold me a refurbished IPad Pro. The kid who "sold" this iPad to me rushed me out the door...it was the worst shopping experience I've ever had with Apple. But I love my devices and only want it to function as promised.

If these tech can't determine if this is a software or hardware issue, you can ask for a replacement iPad Pro.

Under extended AppleCare+, a replacement iPad will cost you a small fee of $49 U.S.D..

Good Luck to You!