How to fix delayed touchscreen response issue or touch screen is responding slowly on the iPhone 7 after iOS 11.3.1 update [Troubleshooting Guide]

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Delayed touchscreen response or touch screen is responding slowly on the iPhone 7 Plus can be attributed to a software glitch or faulty hardware. It can also transpire among other post-update issues as what happened to some after updating to the iOS 11.3.1 platform. This post will walk you through the entire process of troubleshooting a post-update issue on delayed touchscreen response affecting the iPhone 7 handset. Read on for more details.

Before anything else, if you have other issues with your device, try to browse through our troubleshooting page as we’ve already addressed several issues with this device. Odds are that we’ve already published a post that tackles similar problems. Try finding issues that have similar symptoms with what you currently have and feel free to use the solutions we’ve suggested. If they don’t work for you or if you still need our help, then fill up our questionnaire and hit submit to contact us.

First solution: Perform a soft reset/reboot your iPhone.

A soft reset clears any minor glitches caused by the new system implementation including the one that causes touch screen is responding slowly. It also refreshes the internal memory and device system to resume proper functions.

  • To reboot/soft reset your iPhone 7, press and hold the Power button until the Slide to Power off prompt appears on the screen. Drag the slider to power off your device completely. After 30 seconds, press and hold the Power button until the Apple logo shows up.

This won’t affect any data stored on the internal memory of your device, so it won’t result to data loss.

Second solution: Quit all background apps.

Background apps can become rogue after a new firmware update implementation. When this happens, some functions, if not the entire system operation would become affected. To rule this out, quit all background apps on your iPhone 7. Here’s how:

  1. Press the Home button twice quickly. Doing so will show up a list of recently used apps on the screen.
  2. Swipe up on each of the app previews to quit them individually.

Restart your iPhone when you’re done clearing all background apps to refresh the internal memory and operating system.

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Third solution: Check and manage internal memory.

Software updates can come in huge file size. If the internal memory space on your iPhone is already low, then it’s possible that it completely ran out after installing the new update. And due to insufficient memory, your device touch screen is responding slowly or showing such unusual behavior. To make sure this isn’t causing you this trouble, check the available internal storage of your device and if necessary, manage apps and contents. Here’s what you should do then:

  1. Navigate to Settings-> General-> iPhone Storage.
  2. View the used and available memory details. Also check the graph to view what’s using the memory or scroll down to see how much memory each app is using.

To manage applications, especially those that are using large amounts of ROM, follow these steps:

  1. Tap Settings from the Home screen.
  2. Tap General.
  3. Tap Storage & iCloud Usage.
  4. Select the option to Manage Storage.
  5. Wait for the list of apps to show up under Storage section.

You can refer to the list to determine which apps are using the most space. Delete unwanted apps to free up some space.

Other ways to clear storage space are through deleting of unnecessary text and picture messages, clearing browser cache and cookies, and deleting call logs. You can also move other important files from your phone to a computer. You’ll need to use iTunes to get this done.

Fourth solution: Reset all settings on your iPhone 7.

Software updates can override your current settings, which therefore has only two possible outcomes — either good or bad. Apparently in this case, the outcome is not good so you need to do something to fix it. A recommended solution is to reset all settings on your iPhone 7. Doing so will restore the system settings to their original values and from there you can manually configure necessary options and features you want to use. Here’s how it’s done:

  1. Tap Settings.
  2. Tap General.
  3. Scroll to and tap Reset.
  4. Select the option to Reset All Settings. This resets system settings without affecting any data stored on the internal memory of your phone, hence does not result to data loss.
  5. If prompted, enter your device passcode to continue.
  6. Tap to confirm system settings reset.

Fifth solution: Restore your iPhone 7 in iTunes.

If the problem persists after exhausting all applicable solutions, then your last option to consider would be an iOS restore. That said, you may restore your iPhone 7 via Recovery Mode or DFU Mode. Either ways will require you to use iTunes. You can restore your iPhone to a previous backup or set it up as new. All data will be deleted in the process, so creating a backup is necessary. Once you have the backup ready, refer to the steps below.

Perform a recovery mode restore on your iPhone 7 using iTunes:

Connect your iPhone to your computer using the supplied USB cable or Lightning cable. Open iTunes on your computer and wait for it to recognize your iPhone. When your iPhone is connected and recognized, force it to restart but don’t release the buttons when the Apple logo appears instead, wait until the Connect to iTunes screen appears. Here’s how:

  1. Press and hold the Power button and Volume Down button simultaneously until the Connect to iTunes screen shows up.
  2. When prompted to Restore or Update, select Restore.
  3. Allow iTunes to try reinstalling iOS and download the software for your device.
  4. If the download takes more than 15 minutes and your device exits the Connect to iTunes screen, let the download finish and then go back to the previous steps to enter recovery mode again.
  5. Once the Restore is finished, set up your phone to use it again.

Perform a DFU mode restore on your iPhone 7 using iTunes:

DFU mode is different from the normal recovery mode as it allows your device to interact with iTunes without loading the operating system (iOS). Here’s how it’s done:

  1. Close any open apps from your computer.
  2. Open iTunes on your computer.
  3. With your iPhone turned off, connect it to your computer using the Lightning cable or USB cable provided.
  4. Press and hold the Power button for at least 3 seconds.
  5. Press and hold the Volume Down button while continuing to hold the Power button. Hold both buttons for 10 seconds. If you see the Apple logo, it means you’ve held the buttons for too long and that you’ll need to start all over. Otherwise, continue to the next step.
  6. Release the Power button while continuing to hold the Volume Down button for about 5 seconds. If you see the Plug into iTunes screen, try again from the start. Otherwise, continue to the next step.

Your iPhone is in DFU mode if the screen remains black after performing the previous step. At this point, you should see an alert on the computer telling that iTunes has detected your iPhone and follow the given prompts to complete recovery.

Seek more help

Contact Apple Support or your carrier to report the matter for other options and recommendations. Apparently, the touch screen is responding slowly problem is attributed to a faulty software, likely due to an update bug and therefore requires a fix patch. Otherwise, you may consider opting for service instead. To rule hardware damage out from the underlying cause, you can take your device to a nearby service center your place and have it checked by an Apple technician. While the delayed touchscreen response instigated after installing the latest iOS update, the occurrence of the symptom might be just a coincidence. Your device might have already obtained some sort of physical or liquid damage way before the new update was implemented.

Connect with us

If you need more help with the use of certain functions and features of the new Apple iPhone 7 smartphone, feel free to visit our Tutorial Page or our Youtube channel. There you can find a list of how-to contents, step-by-step tutorials, as well as answers to FAQs regarding iPhone 7. 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.

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