A touchscreen that does not respond like it’s supposed to can be frustrating for phone owners. Touchscreen issues can range from input lag to total unresponsiveness. In this guide, we are going to assume that your issues are not due to physical screen damage, in which case you should carry your phone to a certified technician.
If your phone’s screen is undamaged and you encounter touchscreen issues, follow the steps below to troubleshoot and fix your touchscreen woes.
1. Clean your Screen
Your first option should be to ensure that your phone’s touchscreen problems are not caused by a dirty screen. Grease smudges, deep fingerprints, even water can impair your phone’s touchscreen performance.
Use a soft cloth (preferably a microfiber cloth), to ensure that your phone’s screen is free from dirt, grease, and moisture. Once your phone is clean, check to see if there is any improvement. If not, move on to the next step.
2. Force Reset your Device.
Hold the Volume Down key and Power key simultaneously (usually 7 second or so) until the phone reboots. An unresponsive touchscreen may be due to a minor software conflict which can be fixed by a simple reset. No data will be lost, however, any apps that were open will be closed. Touchscreen still unresponsive? Go to step 3.
3. Wipe System Cache
a. Ensure the device is turned off
b. Press and hold the Bixby key and the Volume up key, then press and hold the Power key.
c. When the Android mascot appears, release all keys. You should see “Installing system update” for approximately 30-60 seconds before the Android system recovery menu appears.
d. Use the Volume down key to navigate through the recovery menu and highlight “Wipe Cache Partition” and press the Power key to select.
e. Press the Volume down key until ‘yes’ is highlighted and press the Power key.
When the operation is complete, press the Power key to select “Reboot system now”. The phone will restart with the system cache deleted. Try the phone’s touchscreen now. If the problem still persists, try booting into safe mode as described in step 4.
4. Boot into Safe Mode
a. Ensure that your device off
b. Press and hold the Power button. The device will turn on and the model name (Galaxy Note8) will screen will appear.
c. When the SAMSUNG logo screen appears, release the Power button.
d. Immediately after releasing the power button, press and hold the Volume Down key.
e. When you see the word Safe Mode appear, release the Volume Down key.
Booting in safe mode allows you to turn on your phone with all third-party apps disabled. Improbable as it may seem, an unresponsive touchscreen can be caused by a misbehaving third-party app. If the touchscreen works fine in safe mode, then you have just confirmed that a third-party app is responsible. You can now begin uninstalling apps you think may be at the root of the problem.
5. Factory Reset your Phone
a. Firstly, before you proceed with the hard reset, it is highly recommended that you back up all of your important data on a computer, hard drive or external SD card.
b. Ensure the device is turned off
c. Press and hold the Bixby key and the Volume up key, then press and hold the Power key.
d. When the Android mascot appears, release all keys. You should see “Installing system update” for approximately 30-60 seconds before the Android system recovery menu appears.
e. Use the Volume down key to navigate through the recovery menu and highlight “Wipe Data/Factory Reset” and press the Power key to select.
f. Press the Volume down key until ‘yes’ is highlighted and press the Power key.
g. When the Factory reset is complete, press the Power key to select “Reboot system now”. The phone will restart with all data reset.
Warning, a Factory Reset or Hard Reset will restore your phone to the original factory settings and will erase all your data on the phone’s internal storage. If all previous troubleshooting steps have failed then this should be your last resort. If the touchscreen problem persists even after a factory reset, the problem is most likely due to faulty hardware. If this is the case, your next step is to return your phone to the store or carry it to the nearest certified technician.
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