Touch Not Working but Phone Is On: Causes and Fixes

When the touch is not working but the phone is on — the screen lights up, notifications arrive, maybe it even rings — the cause is either software that has stopped responding or a fault in the touch layer of the display. A force restart tells the two apart in a minute, because it uses only the buttons. If touch comes back, it was software. If it stays dead after a restart and after the simple checks Apple and Samsung recommend, the display or its connector has failed, and the fix is a display replacement. This guide covers the restart for your phone, the checks in the right order, the special cases (after an update, while charging, after a screen replacement) and what the repair involves.

How to restart a phone when the touch is not working

You cannot swipe a power-off slider on a screen that does not respond, so use the force restart. It does not delete anything.

• iPhone 8 and later (including every Face ID iPhone): press and quickly release volume up, press and quickly release volume down, then press and hold the side button until the Apple logo appears. This can take longer than 10 seconds — keep holding.
• Samsung Galaxy: press and hold the Side key and Volume down together for more than 7 seconds, until the phone restarts.
• Other Android phones: most restart if you keep holding the power button, or power and volume down together, until the screen goes off — check your maker's support page for the exact keys.

The checks Apple and Samsung recommend

Both makers list the same short sequence before suggesting service. Do them in this order:

1. 1Clean and dry the screen. Apple's advice is to make sure the screen is clean, with no debris or water on it. Water drops, sweat or a greasy film can make touch skip or register ghost taps.
2. 2Unplug anything in the charging port. If touch works once the cable is out, Apple says to try a different outlet, cable or charger.
3. 3Remove the case and screen protector. A thick or poorly fitted protector blocks touch, especially at the edges. On a Galaxy you can keep a protector and turn on Touch sensitivity in Settings > Display instead — but turn it off again without a protector, because it can make touch too sensitive.
4. 4Check accessibility settings on Android. If the phone speaks when you tap and normal gestures do nothing, TalkBack is on; it changes how touch works rather than breaking it.
5. 5Try Safe Mode on Android. Hold Side and Volume down until the power menu appears, then touch and hold Power off until Safe Mode appears. If touch works in Safe Mode, a recently installed app is to blame; if it fails there too, Samsung says it is likely hardware.

Touch not working after an update, while charging or after a screen replacement

After an update

Touch that stops after a big update — such as One UI 9 on a Galaxy or iOS 27 on an iPhone — is usually software: restart, update your apps, and install the next patch when it arrives. On a Galaxy, Safe Mode tells you whether an app is involved. If touch is dead in Safe Mode as well, the timing is a coincidence and the display is the cause, in the same way that a green line after an update is still a hardware fault.

While charging

Touch that goes erratic only while charging, and recovers on battery, is a classic sign of a poor charger or cable feeding electrical noise into the phone. Swap to a good-quality charger and cable first. If it happens with every charger, the charging port (often called the charging patta) or the board needs checking — see charging port repairs.

After a screen replacement

If touch stopped working after a recent screen replacement, the new display's connector may not be seated fully, or the panel itself may be faulty. Low-grade compatible panels are also more likely to have patchy touch near the edges. Go back to whoever fitted it first; our guide to genuine vs compatible displays explains what differs between panels.

Screen keeps freezing or touch is dead: how to tell

• Everything freezes — the clock stops, animations stop, nothing on screen changes — but a force restart fixes it for a while: software, storage or battery.
• The phone keeps working — notifications arrive, the clock moves, videos play — but taps do nothing: the touch layer or its connector.
• Touch works in one area and not another, or the phone taps by itself (ghost touch): a damaged or failing display, often after a drop, pressure or water.
• Lines, flicker or a dark patch as well: the display panel itself. The same goes for a cracked screen — our guide on using an iPhone with a cracked screen explains why touch often fails along a crack.

What the repair involves

On almost every modern phone the touch layer is bonded to the glass and the display panel as one assembly, so a dead touch screen is fixed by replacing the display, not a separate touch part. Before that, a technician reseats the display connector and checks for liquid on the board, because either can kill touch on a perfectly good panel. Your data is not touched by a display replacement. Book it for your model from the screen repair page, or go straight to a popular model such as the iPhone 15 screen, the iPhone 13 screen or the Galaxy S24 Ultra display. For Galaxy-specific faults, see our roundup of common Samsung Galaxy problems; for a watch, our Apple Watch screen guide covers touch there too.