Do you have an iPhone to hand? Try fingering the screen near the top or the bottom of the device; is it responding as it should? If not, you might be one of a seemingly growing number of owners having issues with MultiTouch; a band of touchscreen inactivity, half an inch from either the top or bottom of the panel, which renders some controls inaccessible and can even grow to further encompass on-screen buttons.
“The bottom of my screen lost sensitivity after only about 20 days of use, first the very bottom of the screen went out so I could not hit the space-bar on the keyboard, or change to the number/character screen. Then it got worse a few days later, now I cannot hit any of the main function buttons.” iPhone owner
So far Apple Support seems to be quickly moving to address concerns with those individuals voicing their problems in the forums, but there’s no telling how many other people might be facing this hardware issue, an issue that some have found to be frustratingly intermittent.
[via The Arcelay's]
no more than 10 days after i got my iphone the entire bottom half of the screen stopped responding leaving the phone unable to even be unlocked or able to answer calls. the genius bar at my apple store replaced it immediately. the iphone i have now occasionally has sensitivity issues but turning it off and then back on will resolve it. it seems that the iphone is like a computer, it needs to be restarted from time to time.
my phone is def one of those phones. i cant slide my finger over to unlock it if i go to apple would they replace it? my phone is useless at the moment
Happened to me too. I returned it 3 weeks after I bought it. 10 days? No prob: immediate replacement. but make sure you completely back up EVERYTHING. I lost my notes because I forgot to back them up.
Oh, but the replacement phone isn’t nearly as good as the one I bought on iDay. 7 series screen (it seems blurry), the bezel is loose, and it just doesn’t feel as good as my original.
OMG. this is scary. i’ve had my phone for over a month now, if the screen goes dead will apple still replace months after purchase? what about apple care?
The bottom of my screen stopped responding. I took it to the apple store and got a replacement in the mail in 2 days. Sounds like a common problem. What worries me is that it can quit responding months after it has been working fine. When the warranty runs out, then we will all have to buy new phones if this problem occurs, that sux! I wonder if there is something that triggers this problem….
I am having a problem with the touch screen not working half an inch form the bottum….
problem… i am not an AT&T customer.. the phone was purchased a couple months ago….
so if i go into Apple for a replacement.. do i need to show them proof of being an AT&T customer?
the phone is at the activation screen… NOT UNLOCKED
as if it just came out of the box
i don’t have the reciept :S or box with matching IMEI and S/N
I have the same problem with my iPhone, the lower side seems to be dead, cannot use the on screen keyboard. As Ive got my phone from US, is that possible to get Apple support in Germany for that? Does somebody knows the Support Lines in Germany?
Sincerely, Khan
Well A friend of mine had a similar problem. Lower half of the screen was not working. I tried to open the iphone and check for any damages since iphone was dropped over a couple on inches.
To my friend luck was perfectly fine once I assembled it back. I have another iphone coming in. If by just deassembling and assembling the iphone works. I will post another msg to help all of you out.
best regards
nismogtr34, any luck with the 2nd phone …??? I have a friend’s phone in hand with the same issues. Please also let me know how to open the iPhone …
Thanks in advance.
Surya
I had the same issue. From what I have discovered, what ever is on the screen is exposed to the elements. And because of this, what ever is on the screen to handle touch can be removed. In my case it was removed by using WINDEX. I had the phone for 15 days and I cleaned it with WINDEX and it turned into a TV screen, no touch.
I did not tell apple I cleaned it with Ph cleaner. So here is what I have discovered, the screen can fail if what ever is on the screen is removed, this can be done, by using a house glass cleaner, rubbing your finger across the screen a lot, Having something on you finger when you rub the screen (as in a Unlocking action)
The solution is to apply a screen protector. I did this my using a razor blade to cut an ear hold for the speaker at the top of the phone and a circle at the bottom of the screen for the home bottom
I believe Apple should have added a top layer or Shield to the screen to prevent this, this top layer could have been something as simple as the same plastic used as a screen protector.
From what I know about Apple, there not all that smart, but they make great looking and functioning toys, that go to the shop a lot to be fixed. Oh, but they have great service, they replaced my phone.
i got 3 iphones all with the same problem of touch screen not working at the bottom, ifeel as if i am the cursed one or wat sort of the problem is that, i keep travelling around the world and this has really put me in lot of trouble and my family a all being loyal apple fans seem as apple has betrayed me this time,
I found a solution for my LG KU990 Viewty which may work for the iPhone:
I found a solution for the LG KU990 Viewty touchscreen not responding problem. After thinking about twisting my phone, I came up with another solution which actually works every time. The touchscreen works via layers of plastic that when contact is made, a signal is triggered from the coordinates of the contact. However, when the phone has pressure, these layers of plastic stick together somehow. So, to fix it…. Get a small strip of adhesive tape that will not leave a sticky residue on your screen. Apply that tape in several spots on the surface of the screen, and lift it away from the phone with light pressure. Repeat this in several areas of the screen. That’s it. You’re done. Your screen should function properly. Simply recalibrate the touchscreen at this point in your settings menu. I hope it helps everyone with any type of touchscreen. I know it helped me. The touchscreen phones are totally useless using only the hard keys!
Kenny N
My bottom half of the screen quit working. Will apple give me a new one?
I WAS THE 7TH ONE IN HONG KONG TO GET A IPHONE 3G. AND THIS IS A REAL SHIT PHONE.
YES. THE SCREEN IS NOT WORKING OR RESPONDING. NEVER HAD SUCH ISSUES WITH NOKIA.
STEVE JOBBS HAS NO CLUE AS TO WHAT THIS IS AND THIS IS REALLY REALLY SHIT.
I AM FED UP WITH THIS IPHONE SHIT.
RAM.
I recived and iphone for my birthday from my mom. i got it on 6-20-2008 and it worked perfect and a few days ago it fell off my pants i had it in a leather case and stuff it didnt do anything to it looking at it or anything the screen still shows everything and stuff but now the top part of the screen does not work like u cant click on the top 2 rows of icons or anything elts u can get it to pull up if anyone can help me out plz email me [email protected] thanks
Well it happened to me within the first week after the one year warranty was up. Paying premium price last year I expected to keep it for a few years. I took it to the store and they told me to buy a new one, because it would cost to much to fix it. If this happened a week earlier they would have just given me a new one. Now on lovely, hard times at least I can put the SIM in my old motorola and not carry the feeling of a broken phone. Of course I could still carry the iphone around like a new puzzle trying to figure which way to turn it so I can find an area on the screen to push. I’ll miss buying the itunes for awhile and save money for gas. iphone is just a marketing tool for them in your pocket and now it’s not in mine. I’ll be giving my advertising on the iphone away for free.
Same story here. Two weeks after warranty expired and after installing 2.0 software, the very bottom of the touchscreen has stopped working rendering the keyboard unusable.
I posted before on July 22nd. I made an appointment over the web for the genius bar. The tech was young and wasn’t seeing it my way. However, the genius next to him did and they replaced it with a new first generation iphone. Before, I had just spoke with a customer service person. I basically told them it broke in the warranty timeframe, but I had updated it and none of the widget’s were working until I found out other’s were working and so I reset it. Then I noticed the problem. I’ve had my car fixed by honda after warranty and I didn’t ask for that. I told them I thought it had been poor customer service after they were so nice by giving us the rebate last year. Yes, it is a phone, but it is really an apple store in my pocket (itunes). Apple has been known for stable equipment so I think they are now getting used to customer service. Look for an older genius. Good Luck!
i have a 8g iphone ive already had it 4 a couple of months and now my screen is not responding to any touch my phone works and everything. i can recieve calls but i cant slide to answer…i was thinking of calling apple but there’s just a problem, im not an at&t customer…i have my iphone jailbroken to t-mobile. will apple still exchange it it i unjailbreak it and call them
We bought 3 iphones in 2007 and 2 of them are useless now because dead areas on screen. It seems to me that 66% of fauilure is too much for such an expensive device.
My phone has a dead bottom, no more sliding to unlock lol
The fact that i clean tables with pledge and windex for 5 hours with my phone in my pocket doesnt lend a good chance to the fact that this happened by itself. The aforementioned agent of all of our phones’ demise’ was windex or anything ammonia. I problably wiped off the responsive material with windex on my fingers unintentionally. Just going to have to get a new one *sigh*
THIS PHONE SUCKS MY SPACE BAR AND NUMBER KEYS DONT WORK. WHAT THE HELL I CAN ONLY MAKE AND RECIEVE CALLS SO MUCH FOR TEXTING……. I WANT JUSTICE……..
We bought my son an i phone in October of 2007. The touchscreen began failing last month, June of 2009. The failure began on the bottom of the screen, then moved to the slide to unlock feature, and eventually, three days ago actually, the entire touchscreen failed.
We went to the i phone store at Southpoint Mall in Durham, North Carolina and were told we could repair the touchscreen for 200.00 or just buy a new i phone for 199.00. The “genuis” bar kept us there for 3.5 hours trying to sync the phone telling us that this may fix the problem-it did not.
In the end, we had to BUY a new phone. The 400.00 i phone only lasted 21 months. My son is addicted to the i phone but as for me I will wait for a better product from another company. This whole experience has completely turned me off from anything with an apple on it…
i have a touch screen failure complete on my H3G.
Okay I have an iPhone 3G Unlocked, Jailbroken, 3.12 FW. I had the same exact problem (bottom half of the touchscreen was unresponsive) and I, a 15 year old boy, just fixed it by myself!
What I used:
1. The suction cup from a GPS Navigator holder (Garmin Nuvi)
2. A Small screwdriver
3. My hands
What I did:
1. Take out the two bottom screws
2. put the suction cup right above the home button of the iPhone
3. pull the screen up GENTLY (I kinda pulled too hard and some wires got detached and I had to just plug them back in)
4. there are 3 wires plugged into the motherboard. Make sure all the wires are pluged in. Again, I just replugged in all the wires.
This process was somewhat difficult but now my iPhone touchscreen is 100% working and perfectly fixed. The cool part is before I did this my volume buttons were not functioning, they magically started working now.
Trust me when my screen stopped functioning I tried reseting it and even restoring it. Do my procedure only if reseting and restoring has no affect on the iPhone.
this has happened to me twice within the past month. ridiculous.
another victim here, i had my phone replaced after the screen cracked and now my new phone is suffering from the strip of death, starting to think that the hardware doesnt live up to the rest of the phone.
hi guys
here is the best solution and i will work for you all rather you have LG KU990 or iPhone i have applied on LG KU990 and it worked just buy a full screen transparent sticker which should cover to the size of your mobile screen touch area and then after sticking it on the phone restart your phone and colabrate the screen setting it will work actually the problem is that the touchable area screen circuts can be disturbe with the direct touch of your hand therefore you can touch and use your hand for touching after applying the sticker. you phone will be just like a new
it will work for all the phones speacially for LG and for the phone which has touch screen failier problem
thanks mail me if my idea works
Kenny N from July 11th: YOU ROCK!!!!
I used gaffers tape and my wife’s phone is now working perfectly.
Low Tech saves the day. Muchas Gracias!!!!
My boss had the problem of non responsive keys, he tried to re-sync his phone and kept getting errors. We took tape to the screen, and now it’s working properly and it synced.
Doesn’t sound logical but the phone seems to be working properly.
Otra victima mas. Tengo un iphone 3g de 8gb, un día estaba navegando por internet en mi cuarto, luego lo deje en mi velador, al rato agarre mi iphone para apagar el wifi y para sorpresa mia dejo de funcionar TODA la pantalla táctil, TODA, todo funciona bien creo pero la pantalla táctil NADA.
Solo lo tengo 1 mes
Porfaaaaaaaaaaa, se los ruegoooo, si alguien sabe como repararlo ayúdenme porque de verda esto me ha costado bastante a mi.
Por se aca no tiene garantía porque no lo compré a la misma Apple
Saludos porfaaaaaa ayudenmeeee
[email protected]
i have the same problem via my i phone..1 inch touch screen from the button not working..is this possible to happen to i phone..so i spent my money for something that might work like rubbish..i wont use it anymore since it will complicated all my work
I had given up looking for a solution on Google. Tried restarts, restores, custom firmeware, Gaffa Tape and verbally abusing it.
I ended up Purchasing a new Digitizer Glass Screen for $9 Free P/H form ebay. Came with opening tools and instructions on youtube. Very easy job, just take your time.
After 15 minutes installing new screen you quessed it works like new:)
Hope this works for others.
is http://remembersteve.org where apple are giving out the discounts?
No, RememberSteve.org is a link to the ElectronicsForFree website, which is garbage offers and never-ending spam loops.
If you knew that and still posted that, go swim in an acid ditch.
I admire the post created by you and would look for similar posts by you which would surely help us in one or the other ways.