Touch screen not responding or frozen

If the whole phone is frozen, force restart it. If only touch is wrong, look at the screen protector and moisture before blaming the phone.

What you seeThe screen shows a picture but ignores your finger, or taps land in the wrong place

1. Frozen completely: force restart

When nothing responds and the power menu will not appear, force a restart with the buttons.

• iPhone 8 and later: Volume Up, Volume Down, then hold Side until the Apple logo.
• Android: hold Power for up to 30 seconds, or Power + Volume Down for 10 to 20 seconds.

Other models: see restart and force restart. Nothing is erased.

2. Clean and dry the screen and your hands

Touch screens sense the tiny electrical charge of a fingertip. Water, sweat, oil and hand cream confuse them.

• Wipe the screen with a soft, slightly damp cloth, then dry it.
• Dry your hands. Very dry or calloused fingertips can also fail to register; try another finger.
• Gloves do not work unless made for touch screens. Some phones have a setting for them: Samsung Settings › Display › Touch sensitivity; Pixel Settings › Display › Screen protector mode.
• Raindrops cause "ghost" touches. Dry the phone.

3. Check the screen protector and case

• A thick, cheap or badly fitted tempered glass, or one with air bubbles or dust under it, blocks touch, especially at the edges and over an in-screen fingerprint reader. Remove it and test.
• A case that presses on the screen's edge or a cracked protector causes random touches.
• After fitting a protector, turn on the touch sensitivity setting above.

4. Unplug the charger

A faulty or uncertified charger or cable sends electrical noise into the phone and makes the screen jump or ignore touches only while charging. If touch is fine on battery, replace the charger and cable with good ones.

5. Is it one app?

If the screen misbehaves only in one app, close and reopen it, update it, or clear its cache. See apps keep crashing.

6. Test in Safe Mode (Android)

Start in Safe Mode. If touch works normally there, an installed app is interfering: often a screen-overlay app such as a floating bubble, a screen dimmer, a "cleaner" or a screen recorder. Uninstall recent apps one at a time. Also check Settings › Apps › Special app access › Display over other apps and turn off what you do not recognise.

7. Accessibility settings that change touch

A setting switched on by accident can make the phone seem broken.

• Android: Settings › Accessibility. TalkBack makes the phone speak and need double taps; turn it off by holding both volume keys for three seconds. Check "Touch and hold delay" and "Ignore repeated touches" too.
• iPhone: Settings › Accessibility › Touch › Touch Accommodations, and Accessibility › VoiceOver. With VoiceOver on, tap once to select and double-tap to activate; triple-click the Side button to switch it off, or ask Siri to "turn off VoiceOver".

8. Update, then reset settings

• Install the latest system update.
• iPhone: Settings › General › Transfer or Reset iPhone › Reset › Reset All Settings returns settings to default without erasing your data.
• As a final software step, back up and factory reset. If touch is still wrong on a freshly reset phone, it is hardware.

9. Signs of a hardware fault

• Touch fails in one strip or patch of the screen. Test by dragging an app icon slowly across every part of the screen: where it drops, the panel is dead.
• Ghost touches: the phone taps and types by itself, with a clean, dry, bare screen and off the charger.
• Lines, flicker, a green or pink tint, or a black blot spreading from a corner.
• The trouble began after a drop, pressure or water.

These need a new screen. Until then you can use the phone with a USB mouse through an OTG adapter (Android) or with voice control: iPhone Settings › Accessibility › Voice Control; Android's Voice Access app.

Backing up with a broken touch screen

On Android, a USB-C hub with a mouse lets you unlock the phone and run a backup. On iPhone, a computer that the phone already "trusts" can back it up through Finder or the Apple Devices app. See back up your phone.

For Android phones and iPhones. Written in November 2026 for Android 13 to 15 and iOS 17 and 18. Phone makers rename menus; use the search box in Settings if a name differs. Back up before any reset. This is an independent guide, not connected with Google, Apple, Samsung or any phone maker or operator.