iPhone 16 Pro owners reporting touchscreen freezing problem — and we've confirmed it

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Some iPhone 16 Pro owners have already started facing issues with their new phone’s touchscreen — and it’s only been three days since the phone was actually released.

Some users have been reporting unresponsiveness near the iPhone 16 Pro’s Camera Control button, with speculation that this is tied to the phone's accidental touch-detection system. With the problem occurring when users accidentally rest their skin on that part of the phone.

Recent updates

Update: We've been able to replicate the iPhone 16 Pro touchscreen issue. The display temporarily freezes when you press the right side of the phone near the Camera Control.

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Apparently contact with the area directly beside the new button is causing the screen to temporarily freeze. However 9to5Mac believes that it seems to be affecting all four edges of the screen, which actually seems significantly more annoying. Users claim that they’re stopped being able to swipe or tap, and only the home bar stays operational — making the phone unusable.

Some users claim that the problem is more apparent when the phone isn’t in a case, which could be another reason to pick up one of the best iPhone 16 Pro cases. However, this doesn’t seem to solve the problem, just makes the freezing issue happen less frequently.

iPhone 16 Pro touchscreen issue — (Image credit: @willrbishop via Mastadon)

Khaos Tian on Mastodon actually shows this issue happening, demonstrating that once the iPhone 16 Pro’s palm rejection kicks in the phone freezes up and doesn’t respond to any touch input. This suggests that the palm rejection algorithm may just be a little sensitive and overreacting.

Though that doesn’t explain why this problem isn’t affecting every iPhone 16 Pro user out there — with one Reddit user even failing to replicate the issue with a Pro running the iOS 18.1 beta.

If this problem has been happening for you, you’re just going to have to try and avoid touching the area directly beside the Camera Control button. Lest you want your phone to be temporarily out of action. It’s not ideal, but until Apple can organize a software update to fix the overzealous palm rejection that’s your best option.

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Tom is the Tom's Guide's UK Phones Editor, tackling the latest smartphone news and vocally expressing his opinions about upcoming features or changes. It's long way from his days as editor of Gizmodo UK, when pretty much everything was on the table. He’s usually found trying to squeeze another giant Lego set onto the shelf, draining very large cups of coffee, or complaining about how terrible his Smart TV is.