Fix iPhone XS Max touchscreen that's responding very slowly

Performance issues in mobile devices that are depicted by symptoms of sluggishness, frequent lags, frozen displays, and app crashes or touchscreen that’s responding very slowly are often due to memory problems, particularly insufficient storage. These symptoms are usually seen on early devices but can also occur on new devices when triggered by some factors. In most cases, new devices succumb into performance issues due to data corruption, rogue apps, bad updates, or system crashes.

Hardware damage is also a factor to consider but that seldom happens unless you’ve accidentally dropped your phone or got it wet. But for as long as hardware damage doesn’t exist, performing some workarounds should grant quick and permanent fixes. Outlined in this context are possible solutions to a relevant issue on the recently released iPhone XS Max handset. It turns out that even new devices with decent hardware can also give into these troubles. In case this happens to you as well, work on the following methods to try fixing delayed touchscreen response on your new iPhone XS Max. Read on to learn more.

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.

How to troubleshoot iPhone XS Max with delayed touchscreen response?

Before you start troubleshooting, view your iPhone’s current memory status just to ensure that the problem isn’t attributed to insufficient memory. Although this is very unlikely to happen given that the iPhone XS Max sports huge storage capacity, there are some factors that can mess up the phone’s internal memory. If the memory status is okay but your iPhone is still responding very slowly, then try to identify the culprit and fix the problem for good.

First solution: Soft reset or Force restart your iPhone XS Max.

For first occurrences, performing a soft reset usually solves the problem. The symptoms you see on your iPhone may be just due to some errant apps or random firmware crashes that caused minor system issues. So here’s the first possible solution for you to try:

Press and hold the Side/Power button and either Volume buttons simultaneously for a few seconds.
Release the buttons when the Slide to Power Off command appears.
Drag the power off slider to the right.
After 30 seconds, press and hold the Power button or Side button again until the Apple logo appears.

Alternatively, you can do a force restart. This would be necessary if your iPhone XS Max touchscreen is very sluggish to the extent of not being able to respond at all. Here’s how to force restart an iPhone XS Max:

Quickly press and release the Volume Up button.
Quickly press and release the Volume Down button.
Then press and hold the Side/Power button until the phone restarts.

Both these methods are safe to perform as they don’t affect any saved information on the phone memory. All they do is clear out minor software errors that caused unusual symptoms.

Second solution: Manage and update your apps to fix touchscreen that’s responding very slowly.

As mentioned earlier, rogue apps may also be the underlying cause of the problem. Note that your iPhone is comprised of multiple systems that are interrelated. So if something goes wrong with an application, there’s a higher chance for other functions and system services to suffer the same symptoms. This is when app management is needed. So you can try updating your apps manually first with these steps:

Open the App Store.
Navigate to and then tap the Updates section. A list of apps with pending updates will then pop up.
To update individual app, tap the Update button next to the name of the app.
If multiple app updates are available, tap the Update All button on the upper right side of the screen to update all apps simultaneously.

Restart your iPhone when all your apps are finished updating, then see if the problem is fixed. In the case where delayed touchscreen response occurs to your iPhone after installing a new app, disabling or deleting the faulty app can be considered possible solutions.

Third solution: Install the latest iOS version available.

The previous method may not suffice if built-in apps are at fault. In this case, installing the latest software update on your iPhone XS Max is recommended. Apple rolls out periodic system updates for better performance and security enhancements. Some iOS updates are also pushed to offer bug fixes. This would be necessary if the existing symptoms are inflicted by some malware or software bugs. To manually check for new iOS updates on your iPhone XS Max, do these:

Navigate to your iPhone Settings-> General-> Software Update menu.

If a new iOS version is available, the update information should show up on the screen. Read the update details and system requirements, then follow the onscreen instructions to download and install iOS update on your phone. Perform a soft reset once the update is completely installed to ensure that all new system changes are applied and likewise to prevent apps from acting up.

Fourth solution: Reset all settings on your iPhone XS Max.

If you’re fond of customizing your iPhone settings, then you’re prone to experiencing consequences of invalid settings configuration. Your iPhone’s touchscreen that’s responding very slowly might be due to some erratic customizations. To rule this out, follow these steps to reset all settings on your device:

Open the Settings app from Home.
Tap General.
Scroll down to and tap Reset.
Select the option to Reset all settings.
If prompted, enter your device passcode.
Then tap the option to confirm all settings reset.

All customized settings on the phone will then be deleted and the original values and options are restored.

Fifth solution: Perform a factory reset/master reset on your iPhone XS Max.

Symptoms inflicted by fatal system errors are more likely to persist. Hence if you’re still troubled with the same symptom after exhausting all prior methods, you’re most likely dealing with a complicated issue. In that case, your next options would be a master reset or iOS restore. You can first try performing a factory reset on your iPhone XS Max via settings menu. Here’s how it’s done:

Tap to open the Settings app from Home.
Tap on General.
Scroll down to and then tap on Reset.
Select the option to Erase all content and settings. Downloaded apps, customized settings, saved contacts, personal information and other contents will be deleted.
If prompted, enter your device passcode to continue.
Then tap the option to confirm factory reset.

If the above steps couldn’t be carried out due to touchscreen response delay or unresponsive iPhone display, then you can factory reset and restore iOS through iTunes instead. To get this done, you will need to secure either a Windows or Mac computer that runs on a later or latest operating system and has the latest iTunes version installed. To start the process, connect your iPhone XS Max to the computer using the Apple-supplied USB cable or Lightning cable. Once connected, launch iTunes on your computer then follow the instructions to manually reset your iPhone XS Max to its factory settings.

Service options

You can take your iPhone XS Max to a nearby Apple service center and ask an authorized technician to check on it. There may be some sort of physical or liquid damage that needs to be taken care of. The fact that your iPhone XS Max touchscreen is still responding very slowly or the touchscreen that’s responding very slowly issue persists after exhausting all applicable solutions could denote that you’re dealing with some damaged touchscreen components. In that case, service/iPhone repair is needed. Contact your carrier or Apple Support for further assistance in availing for iPhone service warranty.

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If you need more help with the use of certain functions and features of the Apple iPhone XS Max 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 Max. 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. We also have some helpful videos through our Youtube channel. Feel free to visit it.