How to fix Galaxy S9 touchscreen sensitivity problem: touchscreen has delayed response

Today’s #GalaxyS9 troubleshooting guide will provide answers for one of the common issues for this device — touchscreen sensitivity issue. Just days after the S9 was released, some users have began posting in third party forums about how their device’s touchscreen were not registering taps or touches so Samsung had to act fast by replacing the problematic issues as they come. However, it was then discovered that there was only a very few number of S9s that had the issue so it probably was just caused by quality control lapses in Samsung’s supply chain. If you recently acquired an S9 with touch sensitivity issue, we strongly recommend that you go straight to Samsung so they can take a look at it.

If your issue started a little while later, it’s probably due to a software bug so you can check our suggestions below.

Problem #1: How to fix Galaxy S9 touchscreen sensitivity problem: touchscreen has delayed response

My touch screen when i swipe will have a bit delay to respond. when i texting , the effect will press the word too hard until my my text will be like this éłû because of delay. the screen will become normal by itself after 2-7 days when the screen get too hot when i don’t lock the screen for a few hours in a day. Please help me. — Udeo

Solution: Hi Udeo. When the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus was initially released a few months ago,  some users have reported that their touchscreen had problems detecting touches sometimes. It was not a pervasive problem though and we believe Samsung had already replaced those units. We don’t know the history of your S9 but there’s a chance it’s may be one of the S9 and S9 Plus devices affected by that problem.

Galaxy S9 Touchscreen Sensitivity Problems

Keep in mind that those S9 and S9 Plus devices with the touchscreen sensitivity problems had inherent issue ever since they left the factory. In other words, they were already defective when they left the factory. While there’s not a lot of them, the problem was blown out of proportion (internet always does). There was probably a few bad batches from a certain supply point that caused the problem but we think Samsung had already addressed it. If your S9 touchscreen problem had been there ever since you first unboxed your phone, then you’re probably one of unlucky few who got a lemon.

Physical damage

Now, it may be an entirely different story if your S9’s touchscreen became problematic after dropping it, or after you got it wet (although a normally working S9 should be protected from water exposure to a certain degree). If you physically impacted your S9 or exposed it to elements prior to experiencing this touchscreen issue, you should treat the issue as being caused by bad hardware and you’ll need to send your phone in. If there’s obvious physical damage to the screen, you should let a professional check the device so you’ll know the extent of the problem. If you’re lucky and the issue is isolated to the screen assembly only, replacing this part may fix the problem for good. It sure will still cost you something for the repair but this is the only way to permanently resolve a broken screen.

Software issue

If your S9 was never physically impacted or damaged or exposed to water or elements and the issue only appear all of a sudden, the problem may be caused by an app or software bug. To see if you’ve installed a problematic app, try to boot it to safe mode. In this mode, no third party app will be allowed to run so it’s a perfect way to know if an app is behind the trouble. Once you’ve set your S9 to safe mode, check how your touchscreen works.

To restart your S9 to safe mode:

  1. With your S9 off, press and hold the Power key past the model name screen.
  2. When “SAMSUNG” appears on the screen, release the Power key.
  3. Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
  4. Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
  5. Safe mode will display in the bottom left corner of the screen.
  6. Release the Volume down key when you see Safe Mode.

If your touchscreen works normally on safe mode, you can bet there’s an bad app causing the problem. To know which app it is, follow these steps:

  1. Boot to safe mode.
  2. Check for the problem.
  3. Once you’ve confirmed that a third party app is to blame, you can start uninstalling apps individually. We suggest that you begin with the most recent ones you added.
  4. After you uninstall an app, restart the phone to normal mode and check for the problem.
  5. If your S9 still refuses to power back on, repeat steps 1-4.

Wipe your phone

If there’s no change in touchscreen behavior when the phone is on safe mode at all, there may be an operating system problem behind it. To fix it, you want to wipe the phone and return all its software settings to their defaults by doing a factory reset. Here’s how:

  1. Create a backup of your personal data.
  2. Turn off the device.
  3. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
  4. When the green Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
  5. Press the Volume down key several times to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’.
  6. Press Power button to select.
  7. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
  8. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
  9. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
  10. Press the Power key to restart the device.
  11. Set the device up but do not install any app.
  12. Check for the problem.

Get professional help

If your S9’s touchscreen continues to behave erratically even when there are no apps added after a factory reset, there must be an internal issue that you can’t fix. Make sure that you let Samsung check it so they can advise you whether or not it can be repaired, or if device replacement is the only resolution.

Problem #2: How to recover contents from your Galaxy S9 if screen is damaged

Hi. I dropped my S9 from my lap as I was getting out of my car and busted my LCD, now it won’t work and screen is black. I can still charge it and hear notifications and the lights at bottom light up, but that’s it. I had turned my Bluetooth off earlier that day bc my battery was almost dead. I would love to be able to get my songs and pictures off the phone. I’ve read some folks say an MHL adapter will not work on a S9, so I haven’t tried to purchase one. Do you have any advice other than replacing screen that will allow me to access, wwven if a way to just mirror phone on the or computer screen so that I can get my stuff off the phone? — Sara

Solution: Hi Sara. Unfortunately, your S9’s screen is not just a way to see images and videos but also to interact with the operating system. In 99% of cases that’s similar to yours, physical damage usually affects both the digitizer and the LCD or monitor. The latter is the component that shows the things that you see such as images and videos while the digitizer is a thin layer on top of the monitor that translates your touches into signals. If both components are damaged, there’s no way you’ll be able to access contents in your storage device.

Try to connect your S9 to your computer

Noticed the notification that shows on the status bar when you connect your phone to a computer? It’s called USB notification options and its function is to give you options on what to do when your Android is linked to a second device via USB. When pulling down the status bar, Android service will usually ask you first what action to take for the USB connection. One of the options should be to allow transfer of media files. This option will usually be nominated as the default when you’ve already connected your S9 to your computer before. This means that if there were no system changes to both your S9 and computer between the time when they were last connected via USB and now, your S9 may automatically be detected by the computer to allow file transfer. This option will only be available though if you unlock the screen of your S9. If the screen is currently locked, your computer may still detect your S9 but it’ll be unable to access contents in the phone. For security reasons, access to your S9 files will only be permitted if the screen is unlocked. Since you’ll be unable to do that with a bad screen, you’re stuck.

How to mirror your S9 screen

Unfortunately, there’s no way to mirror your S9 screen to a TV or monitor, even if you have an adapter like a USB-C-to-HDMI adapter or wireless gadget that previously allowed you to. The reason for that is screen unlock security feature on your S9. Unless you never set a screen lock before the screen was damaged, your contents are good as gone. The best thing for you to do is to let an independent technician replace the screen assembly for you. If those contents are important for you, going the Samsung route is not ideal because the device will most likely be wiped out when it’s returned to you. Make sure that you explicitly tell an independent technician not to wipe your phone after screen replacement.


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