iPhone Touchscreen Lag After iOS 13 Update? Here’s How to Fix It

Noticing delayed or sluggish touchscreen response on your iPhone after installing iOS 13? Whether it’s general sluggishness, random freezes, or unresponsive taps, it’s a common issue—especially after a big iOS update. The good news? It’s usually fixable with a few simple steps.

Here’s a complete guide to help you speed things up and get your iPhone’s touchscreen working normally again.

Close All Background Apps

Some apps left running during the update may have crashed or become unstable.

To close them:

On Face ID iPhones: Swipe up from the bottom and pause in the middle. Swipe up on each app to close it.
On Touch ID iPhones: Double-press the Home button, then swipe up on app previews to close them.

Clearing background apps helps free up system memory and can immediately improve performance.

Restart or Force Restart Your iPhone

A reboot flushes temporary bugs and system hiccups.

Soft Restart:

Press and hold Side + Volume buttons until the power slider appears.
Slide to power off. Wait 30 seconds.
Hold the Side button again until the Apple logo shows up.

Force Restart (for frozen or unresponsive screens):

iPhone 8 or newer: Press and release Volume Up, then Volume Down, then hold the Side button until you see the Apple logo.
iPhone 7 / 7 Plus: Hold Volume Down + Power until the Apple logo appears.
iPhone 6s or earlier: Hold Home + Power buttons together until you see the Apple logo.

Update All Your Apps

Some outdated apps may not be optimized for iOS 13, leading to lags.

To update:

Open the App Store.
Tap your profile icon in the top-right.
Scroll to see pending updates.
Tap Update All or update apps individually.

After updating, reboot your iPhone again to apply changes.

Free Up Storage Space

Low storage can drastically affect performance. Check how much free space you have:

Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage.

To free up space:

Delete unused apps: Tap and hold an app until it wiggles > Tap the “–” icon or go to iPhone Storage > select an app > Delete App.
Remove old photos, videos, and large files.
Offload unused apps automatically by enabling Settings > App Store > Offload Unused Apps.

Reset All Settings

If settings were messed up by the update, restoring them to default can help.

Here’s how:

Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset.
Tap Reset All Settings.
Enter your passcode and confirm.

This will not delete your data, but it will reset Wi-Fi passwords, wallpapers, and other custom settings.

Factory Reset (As a Last Resort)

If the lagging persists and nothing else works, a full reset might be needed.

⚠️ Backup your data first (via iCloud or iTunes).

To factory reset:

Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone.
Tap Erase All Content and Settings.
Enter your passcode and follow the prompts.

After resetting, set up your iPhone as new and monitor if the touchscreen is still laggy.

Use iTunes or Finder for a Full Restore

If your screen is barely responsive:

Connect your iPhone to your Mac/PC.
Launch iTunes (or Finder on macOS Catalina and later).
Put your iPhone into Recovery Mode and select Restore.

You can also use DFU mode if the issue is severe. This performs a deeper-level software reinstall.

Still Lagging? Try a Third-Party iOS Repair Tool

Tools like ReiBoot, Dr.Fone, or iMyFone Fixppo can fix system-level bugs without erasing data. These are useful if you don’t want to jump straight to a factory reset.