iPad Pro screen unresponsive

I’ve had this issue twice. With my refurb 12.9 2nd gen and the refurbished 12.9 they replaced it with. It has occurred to me that this problem may be more prevalent in refurbished models than new ones since Apple is probably reconditioning iPads with this problem and sending them out again (since the issue doesn’t show up on diagnostics). So there are a greater percentage of ‘bad’ 12.9’’ Pro iPads in the reconditioned market.

The third iPad doesn’t appear to have the issue and for that I am grateful. I’ve found no rhyme or reason to this either, except it seems to get worse after I’ve installed the yearly iOS beta. The first one didn’t show any issues until I installed the iOS 12 beta and while I did see problems before installing the iOS 13 beta, they got worse afterwards. I will resist the urge to install iOS 14’s beta next summer.

Also of note, they didn’t charge me a deductible on the first one (I think it was outside the year warranty and instead covered under AppleCare+) and no one mentioned a $50 deductible on this one, although I haven’t received my charge back from the express return yet. If I don’t get charged $50 then Apple is definitely aware of a problem and doing a very quiet recall.

12.2 Seems to have solved the issue. Been using it since last night. Also noticed that screen is more sensitive too, less pressure applied and more reactive too.

I’m not calling it fixed yet... but it’s been 4 hours after upgrading to 12.3 and no freezes yet. Anyone else?

Mine had touch issues even when it was not connected to the pencil. The pencil was closely kept on the same case where I kept my iPad so maybe it was causing the interference?

Same here, so frustrating for an issue that has been reported this much.

iPad pro 12.9 3rd gen here.

Intermitent unresponsiveness whitin all kinds of apps, even while typing this post. While scrolling in safari, playing games so forth and so on.

It doesn’t matter how many apps are open in the background. It has become more present in the past week and a half.

It doesn't last. A lot of things seem to fix the problem, but that's because the problem resolves itself in a few seconds.

My theory is that people who use their iPads a lot (like several hours every day) have this problem, which is why it brings me back to the idea that it is a display problem. Turning something on and off isn't going to fix it if completely wiping and manually replacing the IOS and all software doesn't do it. I have found that my display is more responsive first thing in the morning and at its worst by night (and no, cleaning the screen doesn't help either). Does anyone else track it closely? I'd like to hear what you've found.

Ironically, the brand new iPad Pro they just swapped me for my defective one (a couple of weeks ago) came with iOS 12.2 already installed. If the problem doesn't recur (and I will have to wait 2 to 3 months to find out), then I guess it will have been fixed. I would think this is one Apple would have made a fuss about because it's got to be costing them a fortune in replacement iPads (especially if they had no idea how to fix them). The dude at the genius bar didn't say a word, although he didn't fight me on it. Turns out my iPad also had a backlighting defect, so we were cleared for replacement regardless.

Again, we shall see in a couple of months.

I'm starting to be encouraged by the responses to 12.2. The new iPad they just swapped for my defective one has 12.2. on it already, but in each case, it took at least 2 months before I started to have trouble with the touch screen. However, hearing that you guys are getting better results just from installing the upgrade is encouraging. I don't know whether or not it was installed on the device I turned in -- I have auto updates on, but didn't check to see. So fingers totally crossed that this is a done deal. I really like this iPad, but typing was impossible and even using the pencil would result in stops and skips. Hoping all that's behind me now!

It’s great to hear that iOS 12.2 might have finally addressed this issue. That said, given the nature of the problem - symptoms manifesting on a seemingly random basis, often appearing after many days or weeks - we should be both cautious and patient in pronouncing a long overdue fix. Apple have still not acknowledged existence of the fault, or disclosed a fix.

Hopefully, previously afflicted owners who have persevered with the 10.5” iPad Pro (and not returned them to Apple) will increasingly report back within the Community over the coming weeks - hopefully with positive news of restored stability and unimpeded touch-screen response.

Now, if only Apple were to fix Split Keyboard and Password Autofill... 🙂

As an owner of multiple iPad Pro 10.5 devices with Apple Pencil, having completely removed every trace of the Pencil from the system configuration, I can confirm that the issue continues to affect these iPad devices.

For me, the issue of the screen periodically freezing and ignoring all touch input has affected late versions of iOS 11 - and every public release of iOS 12 - up to the latest 12.3.

Whilst some may suspect otherwise, the only common factor appears to be that the issue affects iPad Pro models of every generation - independent of the presence of any other hardware (such as Apple Pencil).

Amazingly this seemed to work, but only temporarily on my iPad pro 11”. Problem did not change with IOS-versions.

Now I see clearly that one halve of the screen is affected, therefore finally I tend to think it is a HW issue.

Unless this issue affects more than a couple thousand users or more, Apple in any form may indeed, deny this as an issue.

Hence YOU need to send DIRECT feedback to Apple per my previous postings here ( start with page 1 of this post thread ) and make use of the contact link I also supplied in said postings here to actually call and talk about this issue directly to Apple customer support employees at their main headquarters, located in Cupertino, CA.

I’m facing the same issue and this is very infuriating. Especially being told by one Apple employee here that this is not effecting many people so it doesn’t matter. Sheesh

lets see if Apple store can replace this thing otherwise the last option will be iOS 13.

My experience and my working assumption is that when it is really, really odd then it is at the boundary between HW and SW.

A well trained gut feeling.

Either they have some learning algorithm there that they do not really understand (common nowadays) or it is an aging and wear-out thing.

It could be a loose connection that causes strange data which the SW does not know how to interprete properly.

Even line breaks can continue to work partly due to capacitive effects.

Did anyone observe that it is correlated with a temperature change? (I have had all those things.)

If it is SW only, why does it affect only some devices?

How do we explain the time delay till onset? That is not typical for SW IMHO.

A manufacturing quality issue on an aggressively designed detail together with a SW that tries to recover is a plausible picture for me.

OSs are full with workarounds for HW weaknesses, ask Intel.

We do not see the problem, we see the remainder of the problem.

The poor SW guy cannot reproduce the error without a faulty HW and guesses, tries to be robust etc.

As said my intention is to come up with a reproducible situation.

Because then the issue will be solved and quickly I guess.

I don't know if this adds anything to the discussion, but I have had situations, while this was occurring, where I put my finger on the ipad to hold something in place (like an aiming mechanism in the game), and while holding still, the screen would respond as though I had lifted my finger.

So, basically, it's not just a matter of the screen "freezing" and not moving when I swipe a finger, it actually stops responding to my finger sitting still in contact with the screen as well.