How to fix iPhone touchscreen lagging problem after updating to iOS 13

When your phone starts lagging, it could be an indication of a degrading performance. This is normal though especially for devices that have been used for several months or years now. But even new devices could also bump into touchscreen lagging issues when triggered by random software glitches including rogue apps, data corruption and update bugs. Tackled in this post is a similar issue on the iPhone touchscreen that’s suddenly lagging or if the touch screen responses are delayed after updating to iOS 13.

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Troubleshooting iPhone touchscreen lagging problem in iOS 13

Read on to find out what to do if you would encounter the same issue following the recent iOS 13 (beta) update implementation.

First solution: End all background apps.

As mentioned earlier, iPhone touchscreen lagging problem can be attributed to rogue apps. This is usually what happens if you’ve left some of your apps suspended or opened during the iOS 13 update implementation. It’s possible that any of those suspended apps had crashed or became corrupted after the new system changes implementation. To clear this out, end all background apps on your iPhone. Here’s how it’s done:

  1. Head on to the Home screen, to get started.
  2. Then, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and pause slightly in the middle of the screen.
  3. Swipe right or left to navigate through app previews.
  4. Then, swipe up on an app’s preview to close it.

Follow the same steps to clear all the rest of your background apps to prevent them from ruining normal system functions.

If you’re using an iPhone with a physical Home button, ending all background apps is carried out this way:

  1. Go to your Home screen and press the Home key twice to view recent applications.
  2. Swipe up on an app’s preview to close it.
  3. Do the same to close all other background apps.
  4. Then tap anywhere on the Home screen or press the Home key to go back to the Home screen.

Ending background apps is also a way of clearing system caches and refreshing memory of your device. You should then notice that your iPhone is performing a bit faster and smoother than when the apps were still running in the background.

Second solution: Reboot your iPhone that’s lagging.

Another simple yet very effective solution to minor post-update symptoms including iPhone touchscreen lagging issue in iOS 13 is a system reboot. This gives your apps and iOS itself a quick breather. Minor system inconsistencies from the recent iOS update that resulted in adverse system behaviour on your iPhone are likewise remedied in the process. Thus if you haven’t yet reboot your iPhone after installing iOS 13, then follow these subsequent soft reset procedures:

  1. Press and hold the Top button and either Volume button until the Power Off slider appears.
  2. Drag the slider to power off your device completely.
  3. After 30 seconds, press and hold the Top button again until the Apple logo appears

To restart/soft reset iPhones with physical Home buttons, follow these steps instead:

  1. Press and hold down the Power/Top button for a few seconds until the Power off slider appears.
  2. Drag the slider to power off your device.
  3. After a few seconds, press and hold the Power/Top button until the Apple logo appears.

In the case where your iPhone touchscreen gets stuck or frozen, performing a forced restart would be necessary. A forced restart is a simulated battery-removal procedure that’s carried out to forcibly shutdown and restarts a frozen iOS device. This won’t affect any saved information on the internal memory, so there’s no need to back up files beforehand.

To force restart new iPhones from iPhone 8 and later, simply follow these steps:

  1. Quickly press and release the Volume Up button.
  2. Quickly press and release the Volume Down button.
  3. Then, press and hold the Power button until the Apple logo appears.

To force restart earlier iPhones from iPhone 7 Plus, 7 and below, refer to these steps instead:

  1. Simultaneously press and hold the Power button and Home button until the device shuts down and reboots.
  2. When the Apple logo appears, release both the Power and Home buttons.

Allow your device to finish its bootup sequence then try using it as you normally do and see if the touchscreen lagging issue on your iPhone is resolved.

Third solution: Update all apps (with pending updates).

If the touchscreen lagging symptom is attributed to some out-dated apps on your iPhone, then installing pending app updates will most likely fix it. Like iOS updates, updates rolled out by app developers also offer fix patches and security enhancements to their respective apps. These updates are usually released soon before or after a new iOS version is released by Apple. That makes apps ready to adapt with the new changes from the new iOS update. If you haven’t configured your apps to auto-update, then you might have missed some critical app updates and that eventually resulted in certain out-dated apps acting up in iOS 13.

If your iPhone is still able to respond, sufficiently charged, has ample of storage space, and has a stable Internet connection, then you may refer to these steps to manually check for and install pending app updates via App Store:

  1. From the Home screen, tap App Store to open the Apple Store application.
  2. Next, scroll down to the bottom of the screen then tap Updates. A list of apps with pending updates will then show up on the next screen.
  3. Tap the Update button next to the name of an app to install individual app updates.
  4. Tap the Update All button on the upper-right side of the screen to update multiple apps at once. This option is only visible if multiple app updates are available.

After installing all pending app updates, reboot your iPhone and see if that rectifies the touchscreen lagging symptom in iOS 13.

Fourth solution: Free up memory space.

‘A very common reason why your iPhone gives into performance issues like touchscreen lagging problem after an iOS update is due to insufficient storage. Typically, your device will prompt you that the internal memory is running low or something similar. When this happens, your device slows down and starts to misbehave. To fix the problem, you need to free up some space by deleting old and unwanted contents from your iPhone. You can uninstall all unused apps, delete photos, videos, and other files that are no longer needed.

  1. Go to the Home screen to get started.
  2. Tap and hold on an app icon until the icons start wiggling.
  3. Tap the X on the upper left corner of the app that you want to delete.
  4. Tap Delete if prompted to confirm app deletion.
  5. Follow the same steps to delete other errant apps from your phone.
  6. When you’re done deleting rogue apps, tap anywhere on the Home screen or press the Home key to stop the apps from wiggling.

You can also head on to your iPhone storage folder to view the actual status of the internal memory and delete unwanted apps that are no longer useful to you. Just follow these steps:

  1. From the Home screen, tap Settings.
  2. Select General.
  3. Tap iPhone Storage.
  4. Scroll through the list of apps then select the app you’d want to delete.
  5. Tap the option to Delete App then confirm.
  6. Follow the same instructions to delete other apps.

Aside from uninstalling unnecessary apps, deleting unused photos, videos, messages and other old files from your iPhone can also help. Moving some of your important files to a secured drive like iCloud, iTunes or other external storage media also offer the same benefits.

Fifth solution: Reset all settings.

If the recent iOS update has automatically overridden your settings and those overrides resulted in errors and conflicts, then restoring the original values and options will most likely solve the problem. To get this done, reset all settings on your iPhone through these steps:

  1. Tap Settings you can from your Home screen.
  2. Tap General.
  3. Scroll down and tap on Reset.
  4. Choose Reset all settings from the given options.
  5. Enter your passcode when asked to proceed.
  6. Finally, tap the option to confirm all settings reset.

After the reset, your phone should restart automatically and then loads up the original values and options. To use iOS features that are disabled by default, you need to re-enable them on your iPhone one by one.

Last resort: Factory reset your iPhone.

Performing a master reset is usually deemed among the advanced solutions and last resorts when dealing with major system issues. The problem on iPhone touchscreen lagging in iOS 13 is more likely inflicted by complex iOS bug that could not be handled by the basic procedures. At this point, you may opt to proceed to erasing your iPhone and restoring its factory default settings so as to eliminate complex iOS bugs that caused the touchscreen lagging symptom to continue. Just don’t forget to back up your critical data beforehand so you’d still be able to recover them later. Once you’ve secured the backup, follow these steps to factory reset your iPhone:

  1. From the Home screen, tap on Settings.
  2. Tap General.
  3. Tap Reset.
  4. Select the option to Erase all content and settings.
  5. Enter your passcode to proceed.
  6. Tap the option to confirm full system reset or factory reset.

Follow the rest of the onscreen instructions to finish the factory reset. When the reset is finished, use the startup wizard to set up your iPhone as new and activate necessary features using automatic settings and configurations.

You can also use iTunes to manually erase and restore your iPhone to a previous iOS backup. This can be considered an option if your iPhone touchscreen is very sluggish or no longer able to respond. You can use a Mac or Windows PC that has the latest version of iTunes software in it. Once you have the equipment ready, use the Apple-supplied USB cable or Lightning cable to connect your iPhone to the computer’s USB port. Wait for iTunes to recognize and sync with your iPhone and then start erasing the device through iTunes commands and controls.

Is your iPhone touchscreen still lagging in iOS 13?

Performing the aforementioned solutions is usually enough to deal with minor post-update symptoms including the ones depicted by touchscreen lagging symptoms. If the problem continues, then there must be some more complex system errors that required more advanced solutions. At this point, your remaining options are a recovery mode restore and DFU mode restore via iTunes. If that still failed to fix the touchscreen lagging issue on your iPhone iOS 13, then you may resort to using third-party iOS repair and recovery tools. You can download and install your preferred tool on a compatible computer. Once you have it installed, you can connect your iPhone to the computer like what you did with iTunes and then launch the third-party software to start repairing your device.

Taking a trip to an Apple-authorized service center nearby is also another option to consider especially if you suspect that the touchscreen lagging symptom on your iPhone is attributed to hardware damage.

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