How to deal with display issues on screen burn-in and green lines on Apple iPhone XS [Troubleshooting Guide]

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Screen burn-in is an unusual display symptom depicted by a static image shown on the left of the screen for a long time and then gets turned into the display permanently. Some iPhone XS owners perceived this occurrence when they left their phone’s idle or sitting on the Home screen for quite a while. This becomes even more disturbing when streaming videos on the phone. Screen burn-in and green line issues were first seen on the iphone x and surprisingly resurfaced on some iPhone XS variants. Pertinent reports recently emerged that some users of Apple’s new iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max purportedly bumped into the same faulty display.

Apparently, it’s an isolated issue and therefore no drastic conclusions can be drawn by far. And such symptoms could be due to software error if not, hardware damage. Availing for service or unit replacement warranty however isn’t the only option left for those who would encounter the same problem on their new iPhones. Should the the problem be attributed to software errors, then performing some tweaks will likely offer temporary remedy if not, permanent solutions.

Highlighted below are some applicable workarounds that are used to rule out software-related factors that might have inflicted display issues such as screen burn-in or green lines on the new iPhone XS. Feel free to refer to this walkthrough whenever you need some help dealing with the same display issue on the same iOS device.

If however, you are looking for a solution to a different problem, drop by our troubleshooting guide for we have already addressed the most common issues with this phone. Find problems that are similar with yours and use the solutions we suggested. If they don’t work for you or if you need more help, then feel free to contact us through our iPhone issues questionnaire.

First workaround: Adjust screen brightness.

Brightness level may also be a factor that could trigger screen discoloration and other relevant symptoms. That being said, try adjusting your iPhone screen brightness. If it’s set to a higher level, try lowering it down. If manually adjusting the screen’s brightness level doesn’t do any good, then try to enable Auto-Brightness instead. Here’s how to access and manage this display feature in iOS 12:

  1. Tap Settings from your Home screen.
  2. Next, tap on Display & Brightness.
  3. Drag the Brightness slider to the right to increase the screen brightness. Otherwise, drag the slider to the left.
  4. Tap the Arrow left on the top-left of the screen to go back to the Settings menu.
  5. Scroll down to and then tap General.
  6. Select Accessibility.
  7. Tap Display Accommodations.
  8. Toggle the Auto-Brightness switch to turn the feature ON or OFF. If it’s on, then turn it OFF, otherwise, turn it ON.
  9. Slide your finger upwards starting from the bottom of the screen to go back to the Home screen.

With Auto-Brightness enabled, your device will automatically adjust the brightness level of the display based on the surrounding light conditions.

Second workaround: Enable and manage Auto-lock feature on your iPhone XS.

Burn-in is thought to be triggered by static images, thus it may also help if you set your iPhone screen to turn off when you’re not using it. To make this happen, turn on screen-lock on your iPhone XS with these steps:

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Select Display & Brightness.
  3. Tap to enable Auto-Lock.

Then set the auto-lock timer to 30 seconds or 60 seconds to trigger the phone display to lock after 30 seconds or 60 seconds of inactivity (idleness).

Third workaround: Reboot the phone (soft reset/force restart).

Minor software errors can also trigger random display symptoms including screen burn-in and discoloration. The symptom may occur while using a certain application. The simple yet very effective solution to minor software errors would be a device restart or soft reset. To soft reset your iPhone XS, simply follow these steps:

  1. Press and hold the Side/Power button and either Volume buttons simultaneously for a few seconds.
  2. Release the buttons when the Slide to Power Off command appears and then drag the power off slider to the right.
  3. After 30 seconds, press and hold the Power/Side button again until the phone reboots.

Alternatively, you can force restart your iPhone XS if the symptom recur after performing a soft reset. A force restart works similar to that of a soft reset when it comes to clearing out minor software errors and glitches but carried out in a different way. Here’s how:

  1. Press and quickly release the Volume Up button.
  2. Press and quickly release the Volume Down button.
  3. Then, press and hold the Power button on the side of the phone and then release when the phone enters the boot-up sequence.

Performing a force restart also clears out any suspended apps or background apps that have been corrupted and caused the display system to glitch. Neither of these restarts affect any saved data on the phone memory, hence no saved files are deleted in the process.

Fourth workaround: Update iPhone software to the latest version available.

If what you’re experiencing is the screen burn-in bug, then installing the latest iOS update for your iPhone will likely fix it. Software updates do embed fix patches to address existing devices issues from random bugs, malware and system errors. You can install iOS updates wirelessly or over-the-air if your iPhone has fast and stable Wi-Fi Internet access.

  • To view and update iOS via over-the-air, go to Settings-> General-> Software Update menu. Then follow the onscreen instructions to download and install new updates.

Before installing new update, make sure your iPhone has ample of battery life and memory space.

Fifth solution: Reset and restore factory default settings on your iPhone XS.

Among the last options to consider if you wish to further troubleshoot a recurring screen burn-in or other display symptoms on your iPhone XS would be a factory reset. This clears everything from your iPhone system including downloaded apps, videos, photos, and other personalized information. Thus creating backups to iCloud or iTunes is recommended first-hand. Should you wish to try it, then back up all your important files then follow these steps to factory reset your iPhone XS through settings:

  1. From the Home screen, tap on Settings.
  2. Tap General.
  3. Scroll down to and tap Reset.
  4. Select the option to Erase all content and settings.
  5. If prompted, enter your device passcode.
  6. Then tap the option to confirm full system reset.

Allow your device to finish resetting and then restores the factory default settings. After the reset, your iPhone will restart by itself. As soon as it’s finished booting up, you can proceed with the initial setup process to set up features, and configure your phone to use it again.

Seek more help

Call your device carrier or Apple Support to report the problem if none of the above procedures is able to resolve the unusual display issue on your iPhone XS. Your device might have obtained some sort of physical or liquid damage that triggers screen burn-in and green lines as primary symptoms. In that case, your iPhone needs service.

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If you need more help with the use of certain functions and features of the Apple iPhone XS smartphone, feel free to visit our Tutorial Page. There you can find a list of how-to contents, step-by-step tutorials, as well as answers to FAQs regarding iPhone XS. If you have other concerns or encountered some troubles while using the phone, you can reach us through this form. Just be sure to tell us more details of the problem or device issue(s) you may have and we will be more than happy to assist you further.