What to do if iPhone XR screen is slow or unresponsive

by Harvey updated   

From time to time, iPhones may suffer a hiccup causing the system to lag or become slow. In some cases, the screen may turn on but won’t accept any finger inputs. if you have any of such problems on your iPhone XR, then this post should help.

Before we proceed, we want to remind you that you can contact us by using the link provided at the bottom of this page.

When describing your issue, please be as detailed as possible so we can easily pinpoint a relevant solution. If you can, kindly include the exact error messages you are getting to give us an idea where to start. If you have already tried some troubleshooting steps before emailing us, make sure to mention them so we can skip them in our answers.

How to fix iPhone XR unresponsive screen issue

Fixing an unresponsive screen can be tricky but most of the time, it can be fixed provided that the screen is not totally dead. If your iPhone screen is slow or responds so slowly to your touches, iOS may have encountered a problem. Here’s how to tix it.

Try a soft reset

Soft reset, also known as restart, is a simple yet sometimes effective way to fix unexplained bugs that lead to iPhone crashes, random reboots, freezing, missing notifications, keypad freezes, and, in your case, unresponsive screen. Restart works by clearing the operating system and a device’s memory. It works similarly to a restart procedure in your computer after it has ran for a long time. If you haven’t tried doing it yet, here’s how to do it:

  1. Press and hold Power/Side button and one of the Volume buttons (either Volume Up or Volume Down).
  2. Release the buttons once Slide to power off screen appears.
  3. Slide the Power switch right.
  4. Wait for the device to reboot.
  5. Once your iPhone has powered off, press and hold the Power/Side button until the Apple logo appears then release.

NOTE: With iPhone XR, pressing and holding Power/Side button and Volume button for more than 5 seconds will activate Emergency SOS. This will automatically call emergency services set in your phone, like 911. Be sure to release the buttons before the 5 second mark to avoid calling emergency services by mistake.

Do an iPhone XR hard reset

In the event that your iPhone XR may have simply frozen or unresponsive, you should be able to bring it back to its normal working order with hard reset. iPhones have non-removable battery packs so in order to simulate the effects of disconnecting the battery (which is usually an effective step), you must try a hardware button combination instead. This troubleshooting step is usually effective in fixing iPhones that have stopped responding to touches, or has frozen due to app or system bugs. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Press and quickly release the Volume up button.
  2. Press and quickly release the Volume down button. NOTE:Make sure that steps 1 and 2 are done in quick succession.
  3. Then, press and hold the Side button until the Apple logo appears on the screen. Some devices may complete the process after 30 seconds.

Perform DFU Mode Restore

Performing a DFU Mode Restore may be necessary if nothing has changed at this point. This troubleshooting step will restore all firmware to their default state so if the problem is due to bad programming changes, this might help.

These are the steps to do a DFU Mode Restore:

  1. Connect your iPhone XR to your computer using the USB or Lightning cable that comes with it.
  2. Open iTunes on your computer.
  3. Turn off your iPhone XR as you normally do. In iOS 11, you can turn off your iPhone by going to Settings-> General-> Shut Down menu-> then toggle the slider to the right. Doing so turns off the iPhone.
  4. Press and hold the Side button (Power button) for 3 seconds. Then, press and hold the Volume Down button  while still holding down the Side button. Keep holding both buttons for 10 seconds.
    • If the Apple logo appears, it means that you have held the buttons for too long. If this happens, you need to go back from the very start. Otherwise, skip to the next step.
  5. Release the Side button but keep holding down the Volume Down button for about 5 seconds more.
    • If you are prompted with the Plug into iTunes screen, it means that you have entered Recovery Mode instead. So you’ll need to go back to the very first step and make sure you’re not holding the buttons for so long.
    • If your iPhone XR screen remains black, that means your device has successfully entered DFU mode. iTunes will then prompt you with an alert message saying that it has detected your iPhone and will allow it to be restored. Follow the onscreen instructions to restore your iPhone XR in iTunes.

Get Apple support

Remember, all the troubleshooting steps above only works if the cause of the problem is software-related. If your iPhone XR was physically damaged prior to noticing the screen unresponsive issue and you can’t do anything at all, send the phone in or visit your local Apple Service Center

 

Engage with us

If you happen to have a problem with your own iPhone, let us know about it and we will do our best to post them and their solutions  in our upcoming articles. You can use this link to contact us for assistance. We can’t guarantee an answer to every question but rest assured that we will exhaust everything on our end to help you.

Be as detailed as possible when describing your problem to help us diagnose your issue easily. If you can include error messages, popups, attempted troubleshooting steps, and circumstances leading to the problem, that would be very helpful.