Please help, on messages app, my backarrow no longer works.

Thanks for the heads up. I do respect the need for heavy-duty, weather-resistant jackets and the Otter Box is the best one that I know of. It turns out that the problem is a bug that cropped up at least as far back as iOS 10. I'm confident that Apple is fully aware of the problem and will fix it with iOS 12. You have two work-arounds.

• First, you can always touch and slide to the right within a conversation to go back to the conversations list instead of using the <. You may need to touch to the extreme far left and slide to the right very fast.
• Or you can reduce the Larger Text setting in Accessibility settings until the < works properly. I would disable Large Accessibility Sizes and verify that < starts working again. Then re-enable it and increase the size one notch at a time and then, when < stops working, go back one notch.

My bad! I apologize for my presumptuousness. Then I'd try:

• clear the app from memory via app switcher and re-launch
• restart the iPhone
• update the iPhone to the latest iOS

Yes. It would seem that either the app is stalling completely or else maybe there is a screen touch digitization fault in the vicinity of the <.

• Does this happen no matter which conversation you select regardless of whether or how far back you scroll? Or does it only happen with specific conversations and then only after you scroll way back/up?
• When it happens, are you still able to actuate any other functions? Can you still scroll up and down? When you tap on the ℹ does it work? When you touch and hold on a message, does it present the requisite effects and functional options?
• Or does the app just seem to be completely frozen?
• Does the < still work in other apps? E.g. if you open Contacts and then tap on a contact, does < Contacts still work?

The back arrow still works. You just have a hung unread message count. Touch the back arrow and open the first conversation and scroll it. Then touch the back arrow and touch the second conversation and scroll it. Repeat until you've opened and scrolled every conversation. Then clear the Messages app from memory via app switcher and re-launch.

Thanks for the heads up. It's sounding like a digitization sensitivity issue in the far upper left and right corners of the display. Just curious about the other two corners. Rotate the iPhone plus 90 degrees so the home button is on the left instead of at the bottom and test the response of both the < as well as the ℹ. Then rotate it to minus 90 degrees so the home button is on the right and repeat that test and let me know what you find out.

Also just curious if you've got a super-hulking jacket and screen protector on the iPhone. These might be able to affect touch sensitivity if not actual physical touchability especially real close to the edges or corners. Which might be worth living with if, say, the iPhone experiences a direct asteroid strike or something like that and comes out relatively unscathed!

Thanks a million for the positive feedback! I owe you an update on the swipe-right technique. It turns out that I can swipe to the right as slowly as I want. I just have to touch on the left border and swipe right while being aware that it doesn't catch until the swipe has reached about one to two eighths of an inch to the right. Works in other apps too! Very handy.