Is your touchscreen device not responding to your touch commands? It’s frustrating when you power up a touchscreen device, only to discover that it’s unresponsive. Maybe you’re trying to access an app, or perhaps you’re trying to type an email. Regardless, the functionality of a touchscreen device relies on its ability to accurately register user commands. While an unresponsive touchscreen device may be attributed to one of many problems, here are five common reasons that touchscreen devices fail to register user commands.
#1) You’re Wearing Gloves
Wearing gloves may prevent certain types of touchscreen devices from registering your commands. If you have a capacitive touchscreen device, for example, you’ll have to operate it using a bare finger. Attempting to control a capacitive touchscreen device with a gloves finger won’t work because these device rely on the human body’s conductive properties to identify touch commands. This only applies for capacitive touchscreen devices, however. You can still control resistive touchscreen devices with a gloved finger.
#2) It’s Dirty
Over time, touchscreen devices will accumulate lots of dirt, oil and debris on the surface. Normally, this shouldn’t cause any reason for concern. If too much dirt, oil and debris forms on the surface, however, it may restrict the device’s ability to accurately read and register touch commands. Use a lint-free microfiber cloth to clean the surface of your touchscreen device on a regular basis.
#3) It’s Frozen
All touchscreen devices are powered by software, and if the software fails, the device may stop responding to your touch commands. Smartphones, for example, are prone to software-related freezing. Whether it’s an Android smartphone or an iPhone, software failure can cause the screen to freeze, in which case the handset may fail to register your commands. You can typically fix this issue by rebooting your smartphone or device.
#4) It’s Damaged
Hopefully this isn’t the case for your touchscreen device, but damaged hardware may prevent it from registering your touch commands. All touchscreen devices have sensors that identify touch commands. If one of these sensors or an associated component is damaged, convention wisdom should tell you that it won’t be able to register your commands.
#5) Lack of Resources
If your touchscreen device is consuming too many resources — CPU, memory, etc. — it may fail to register your touch commands. Depending on the specific type of touchscreen device, you can usually check to see how many resources are being consumed and which apps or processes are consuming those resources.
