How to fix a problem on the iPhone X swipe up that’s not working in iOS 13

Command execution and screen navigations on later iPhones is carried out through swipe gestures. This is when you move your finger(s) across the screen in a specific horizontal or vertical direction. Swipe gestures play a vital role in newer iPhones without the physical Home button. Thus, it’s definitely a downer not to be able to swipe up your iPhone for some reason. Tackled in this post is a pertinent issue on the iphone x that instigated from the recent iOS 13 implementation. Read on to learn what to do if you swipe up is not working on your iPhone X after the iOS 13 update.

Various types of problems including atypical display could emerge from a major system update installation. This is likely what has occurred to some iPhone X devices, following the iOS 13 update. Shortly after the official release of the iOS 13 update, many people were raising complaints on the swipe up command that’s not working on  their respective devices. If by any chance, you’re reading this post because you’re among these affected users, this post highlights a few potential solutions you could try on. 

Before moving on, feel free to browse through our troubleshooting pages to find potential solutions to other problems with your other Apple devices. If your iOS handset is in the list of our supported devices, then you can visit its exclusive troubleshooting page and find the problem that you need help dealing with. You can refer to or use our provided solutions and workarounds if needed. In the case where you’d prefer to get direct assistance from us, simply fill up our iOS issues questionnaire and hit submit to contact us.

Troubleshooting a problem on the iPhone X swipe up that’s not working in iOS 13

Given the onset of the problem, we could say that it’s software-related. Hence, it can possibly be resolved at home by carrying out some tweaks. Highlighted below are applicable workarounds and potential solutions that could help eradicate software-related factors that likely caused your iPhone X swipe up function to stop working in iOS 13. Try these solutions before opting for service.

 

First solution: Force restart to fix your iPhone X swipe up that’s not working in iOS 13.

Rogue apps usually trigger a device to act up or stop responding properly from a major update. Third-party apps that are not updated as well as those that are left open or running in the background during the update would usually end up misbehaving as they couldn’t easily adapt with the recent platform changes. When these apps misbehave, there’s a good chance that the entire system gets affected. Thus, random symptoms could likewise instigate. This is when performing a forced restart on your iPhone is needed. 

As the name implies, it forcibly ends all running apps and services including those that got stuck and eventually caused the phone’s display functions, particularly swipe up to stop responding.

To force restart an iPhone X, simply follow these steps:

1. Press and quickly release the Volume Up button.
2. Then press and quickly release the Volume Down button.
3. Finally, press and hold the Side/Power button and then release when the Apple logo appears.

Allow your device to finish its boot sequence and everything should be working properly by then. To check if your iPhone’s swipe up function has been restored, try to bring up the multitasking interface and fast app switcher again using this new iOS 13 gesture:

1. Touch your finger to the gesture area located at the very bottom of your iPhone display.
2. Swipe up slightly but don’t flick. Keep your finger on the screen until you get a short way up.

It could take a few tries for you to get it right. If necessary, you can also exaggerate the movements at the cost of speed on your first attempts until you get used to it.

AlSO READ: How to fix iOS 13 ghost touch bug on your iPhone, screen reacts even when untouched

 

Second solution: Restore your iPhone X to its factory default settings.

Your device may still end up not responding to swipe up input commands if some complex system errors exist. This therefore denotes the need for a more advanced solution to fix the problem. At this point, the next option you’ve got is a factory reset through iTunes. Given that your iPhone is not responding to swipe gesture, it’s better to use iTunes to manually erase and restore your iPhone X to its factory default settings. Doing so will erase everything from your iPhone including stubborn software bugs that ruined its swipe gesture, particularly swipe up. If you wish to proceed, you will need to secure a computer either a Windows PC or Mac that has the latest version of iTunes program in it. Once you’ve got everything ready, follow these steps:

1. Launch iTunes on your computer.
2. Then connect your iPhone to the computer using the USB cable or Lightning cable that came with it.
3. Wait shortly for your iPhone to show up in iTunes.
4. Then select your iPhone in iTunes.
5. Navigate to the Summary section then click the Restore button.
6. Click Restore [device name] again, if prompted to confirm. 

This should serve as a go signal for iTunes to erase your device and then install the latest iOS version available. When your iPhone is finished restoring to factory settings, it will restart on its own. Just wait until it’s finished rebooting and you can set it up as new by then.

ALSO READ: How to fix iPhone XR iOS 13 delayed touchscreen response issue

 

Is your iPhone X Swipe Up gesture still not working in iOS 13?

For major software issues including those inflicted by post-update bugs that could not be resolved by a factory reset, performing iOS restore via recovery mode or DFU (Device Firmware Update) mode is usually needed. These are advanced iOS repair methods that are used to deal with complex system errors in iOS devices. System repair and restoration via recovery or DFU is mainly done through iTunes. Various types of major system issues can be addressed by either method but the main downside is permanent data loss. Should you wish to troubleshoot further and resort to any of these methods, don’t forget to back up all your critical data from your iPhone, if you can. 

You can refer to a more detailed walkthrough on how to carry out a recovery mode restore or DFU mode restore on an iPhone X, found on this site’s tutorials section. If you need more help with the steps, just head on to the iPhone X troubleshooting page for more information.

For as long as hardware damage does not exist, the swipe up gesture on your iPhone should be working properly again after performing all these workarounds. But if all else failed to fix the problem, then you better have it escalated to Apple Support right away. This could be a prevalent software bug in iOS 13 that needs a dedicated fix patch.

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