- If your iPhone 16 touchscreen is not working, first try to force-restart the phone.
- Make sure your touchscreen is clean and dry so it can sense your fingertips.
- Remove screen protectors that may be interfering with the touchscreen.
Has your iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro or iPhone 16 Pro Max touchscreen stopped responding to touch? Everything from software to poorly installed screen protectors can interfere with normal touchscreen operation. Here are some simple solutions you can try to resolve the problem.
What to do if your iPhone 16 touchscreen isn’t working
If your iPhone 16 touchscreen is not working, try each of these troubleshooting tips. Hopefully, one of these will get you up and running. If not, it’s likely you have a hardware problem that may only be fixable by contacting Apple customer service to repair or replace your phone.
Force your iPhone to restart
Before investing time in fixing the issue, ensure a minor software glitch hasn’t rendered your iPhone 16 unresponsive. To check for a temporary problem, perform a quick force restart.
- Press and release the volume up button
- Press and release the volume down button
- Press and hold the side button until you see the Apple logo
Tip: Make sure to quickly release the button and move to the next button in the sequence. If you hold the button too long, you’ll have to start again.
If force restarting resolves the issue, it’s probably worth making sure your iPhone is up to date. If force restarting doesn’t fix the issue, keep on reading. Test your touchscreen after each fix to hopefully identify the root cause.
Thoroughly Clean Your iPhone’s Screen
When you touch your iPhone’s screen with your bare finger, you complete an electric circuit at the point of contact. This causes a change in electrical charge at this spot, which is how your phone registers touch.
Exposing your device to a dusty environment, using it after consuming oily food, or handling it with dirty hands can lead to a buildup of dirt on your iPhone screen. Without regular cleaning, this accumulation of dust, smudges, and debris can interfere with normal operation of your iPhone.
So, if your iPhone 16 screen doesn’t respond to touch in certain areas or completely, follow the steps below to clean it.
- Turn off the iPhone. Press and hold the Side button and either volume button.
- Dampen a soft, lint-free cloth to gently clean the screen. Remove any oil left by your hand touching the screen.
- Dry the screen thoroughly.
- Turn the iPhone back on.
It’s also worth noting that you can’t use the touchscreen if your fingers are covered with most kinds of gloves or mittens. If you’re wearing something, take it off.
Help Your iPhone Regulate Its Temperature
Apple recommends using an iPhone within the ambient temperature range of between 0º and 35º C (32º to 95º F). If the temperature falls below the minimum threshold or exceeds the maximum, your iPhone may exhibit unusual behavior as it attempts to regulate its temperature. Display issues, including touchscreen problems, can be caused by an overheating iPhone.
Exposing your device to direct sunlight for an extended period of time, placing it directly in front of an air cooler, or subjecting it to extreme weather conditions can cause your touchscreen to become unresponsive. If your iPhone 16 feels too hot, allow it to slowly cool down in a colder room, or slowly warm it up in a warmer place if it’s too cold. Your device may start responding once it returns to acceptable operating temperature.
Don’t use heat sources like refrigerators or hair dryers to cool down or warm up an iPhone. Sudden temperature changes can cause condensation to form inside your device, which can lead to permanent damage. Let your device naturally cool down or warm up.
Stop Your iPhone From Charging and Avoid Using It When It’s Plugged In
If your iPhone 16 becomes unresponsive to touch while charging, it could be due to using a non-certified, third-party charger. Such chargers might be incompatible with your phone or lack proper grounding, resulting in overheating that can cause touchscreen issues. If that’s the case, replace it with an original Apple or certified charger you can trust. Hopefully, this will resolve the problem.
If you’re already using a certified charger but experiencing this issue, it’s possible that the outlet may not be fully grounded. So, try charging your iPhone with a different outlet.
If your touchscreen becomes unresponsive with a warning message like “Charging On Hold. Charging will resume when the iPhone returns to normal temperature,” it’s advisable to temporarily stop using the iPhone, especially if it has been in use for an extended period. Put the device to sleep until the charging process is complete, and then resume regular use.
Also, if you notice this issue while charging in a location with limited airflow, consider relocating your device to a more spacious area with better airflow to prevent overheating problems.
Ensure the Screen Protector Is Installed Correctly
A low-quality screen protector can hinder your phone’s ability to detect and respond to screen touches. If you’ve recently installed a new screen protector on your iPhone 16 and are encountering problems with the touchscreen afterward, the protector is likely to blame.
To test the hypothesis, remove the screen protector and test the touch functionality without it. If it works after removing the screen protector, get a thinner screen protector.
Disconnect any accessories from the USB-C port
On rare occasions, an accessory plugged into the phone’s USB-C port could interfere with the touchscreen. So, if you have headphones, power bank, microphones, charger, or any other accessory connected to your phone, disconnect them and check if that resolves the problem.
If your touchscreen starts responding after disconnecting the accessory, it means that the accessory is likely faulty or incompatible with the iPhone 16. Therefore, stop using it and consider replacing it with an approved accessory instead.
Gently Press the Screen Where the Digitizer Resides
The digitizer, located beneath the top protective layer of glass, is a glass panel that converts your finger touches into signals. If your phone experiences a drop, impact, or pressure on the screen, the digitizer can temporarily malfunction. Payette Forward suggests gently pressing the screen in the digitizer’s location as a potential fix. It’s a simple step that might be worth trying.
Exercise caution and avoid applying excessive force to your screen, as this could lead to further damage.
Update your phone
Even if your screen still isn’t working, you can update your iPhone by connecting it to your computer and using Recovery Mode:
- Connect your iPhone 16 to your computer and start iTunes. If you’re on a Mac running MacOS 10.15 or higher, start Finder instead.
- Quickly press these buttons, one after the other: Volume Up, Volume Down, and the Side button.
- Once the Recovery Mode screen (which shows a cord and laptop on a black background) appears on your phone, release the button(s).
- Choose Update.
Factory reset your iPhone
If your iPhone 16 has recently stopped responding to your touch and nothing else so far has worked, it’s possible there’s a serious hardware issue and the phone needs to be repaired or replaced.
Before you investigate that drastic option, you might want to perform a factory reset. This will reset the phone back to the state it was in when you first took it out of the box — it’ll wipe out all software updates, installed apps, and your personal data. That’s not a problem if you have your phone set to perform regular cloud backups, but beware that this could result in the permanent loss of any data since the last backup.
Without the ability to use the iPhone’s touchscreen, you’ll need to start the factory reset on a computer:
- Connect your iPhone to your computer.
- Start iTunes (if you are on a Mac running MacOS 10.15 or higher, start Finder instead).
- Quickly press these buttons, one after the other: Volume Up, Volume Down, and the Side button.
- On a Mac, you should see the option to restore or update your iPhone. Click Restore and follow the directions to perform a factory reset. On a PC, click the Device button in the top left of iTunes. Then select Summary, then Restore, and follow the onscreen instructions.
Contact Apple customer support
If none of the previous solutions resolve the iPhone 16 touchscreen issue, your device may have a hardware problem. In such cases, your last option is to Contact Apple’s customer support for repair options.
Hopefully this has helped you fix your iPhone 16 touchscreen problem, or at least narrow down the issue.