How to fix Note10 Unresponsive Touchscreen After Android 10 Update

The touchscreen of a Galaxy Note10 serves both as a display as well as a gateway to software. Even if the display functionality works normally okay, you may still find it extremely annoying if your taps or touches go unrecognized. A number of Note10 owners have recently shared to us their frustrations about their touchscreens appearing to have stopped working properly after updating Android. In this article, we’ll show you the solutions if your Note10 touchscreen is unresponsive after installing Android 10 update.

What is unresponsive touchscreen problem on the Galaxy Note10?

If nothing happens when you tap or touch the screen, or if it takes too long for your Note10 to go to the next page or load an app after tapping, you may have an unresponsive touchscreen issue. This type of problem of problem usually occurs if there’s hardware malfunction or if the phone is physically damaged.

In some rare cases, a new software update may also break the touchscreen.

What causes unresponsive touchscreen?

Below are the possible causes for Note10 unresponsive touchscreen issue:

Incorrect or corrupted software settings
Bad system cache
broken third party app
Poor coding issue (difficult to resolve and requires “patch”)
Unknown software bug
Touchscreen firmware issue
Hardware malfunction (broken sensor)

Solutions to Note10 unresponsive touchscreen issue after Android 10 update

These are the potential solutions that you can try to fix an unresponsive Note10 touchscreen after Android 10 update.

Know the history of your device

If you receive your Note10 as a gift or if you recently purchased a used device, it’s hard to notice at first this type of issue, especially if you don’t test it during the purchase. A lot of people who buy pre-owned electronics have encountered this problem only after unboxing their device after delivery. Though most people end up getting refunded, some may not get anything back at all.

As a smartphone owner, we assume that you keep track of what’s happening with your phone, including instances when it’s accidentally dropped or hit by something hard. If your Note10 has a history of any of such cases, you should factor it in your troubleshooting. In other words, you must consider the possibility that the unresponsive touchscreen issue on your Galaxy Note10 after an Android 10 update may just be a coincidence and the real reason may be bad hardware.

Check for broken hardware | cracked screen

The usual cause of touchscreen issues is damage to hardware. If a smartphone is dropped or hit by hard object, the resulting situation is the one we’re trying to address right now. If your Galaxy Note10 touchscreen is unresponsive due to bad hardware, there’s very little to nothing that you can do about it.

A permanent fix for a broken hardware is repair. Even if the motherboard is totally fine, a broken screen still requires repair. So, if the cause of your touchscreen problem is bad hardware, you should seriously consider visiting Samsung for repair or replacement.

Take off screen protector or protective case

If your Galaxy Note10 was never dropped or damaged in any way, the next thing that you can do is to see if a screen protector is affecting the sensitivity of the digitizer.

Try cleaning the screen with clean, soft cloth. If that won’t fix the problem, just remove the screen protector entirely (if you’re using one of course). Hopefully, that will bring the device to its working normal order and everything would be fine.

Refresh the system with a reboot

One of the effective means to fix unresponsive or frozen touchscreen is a restart. Many Android users don’t usually do this as it appears simple enough to be of help. In fact, your Note10 can benefit a lot from a restart, even if it doesn’t have any issues at all.

Try restarting your Note10 normally first by pressing the Power button to access the boot menu. Then, select Restart option and see if that works.

Another way to restart the device is by pressing and holding the Volume Down button and the Bixby/Power key at the same time for 10 seconds or until the device’s screen turns on. This simulates the effect of having disconnected the battery from the device. If this works, this may unlock the device.

If doing the regular restart won’t help, then try this:

Press and hold the Volume Down button first and don’t release it.
While holding it down, press and hold the Power key.
Keep both keys held down for 10 seconds or more.

The second restart procedure tries to simulate the effects of removing the battery pack. On older devices, disconnecting the battery is often an effective way in fixing unresponsive devices. If nothing changed though, proceed to the next suggestions.

Rebooting your device regularly at least once every week can be beneficial. If you tend to forget things, we suggest that you configure your phone to reboot on its own. You can schedule it to do this task by doing these steps:

Open Settings app.
Tap Device Care.
Tap the 3-dot at the top.
Select Auto restart.

Check for Black Screen problem

Having a touchscreen problem can sometimes have less savvy users confused as to what’s going on. They may not be able to tell if their Note10 is having a problem with the screen (Black Screen issue), or if the device has a Boot problem (No Power issue).

As the name suggests, a Black Screen issue’s main indicator is the fact that the screen remains black no matter what one does. In this situation, the rest of the phone’s functions are working except for the screen.

No Power issue on the hand has the device totally unresponsive and there’s total absence of signs that the Note10+ is still working.

If you have a Black screen problem, the best thing to proceed from here on is to have the phone examined by a professional, preferably someone from Samsung Service Center.

Make sure to update apps

Keeping apps up-to-date is just as important as any other suggestion in this guide. What many smartphone users don’t realize is the fact that updates not only bring cosmetic changes but also fix for known bugs or problems.

To check for app updates, all you need to do is to open the Play Store app.

Open Play Store app.
Tap More settings icon at the upper left (three-horizontal lines).
Tap My apps & games.
Tap Update or Update All.

If you want to keep your apps updated all the time, you want to enable auto-update in the Play Store. Here’s how that’s done:

Tap Auto-update apps.
Tap Over wifi only (select Over any network if you don’t have wifi).
Tap Done.

While you’re at it, it might also help if you ensure that there’s no pending software updates that you’ve missed at this time. In some rare cases, major software updates are followed up by smaller update to fix known bugs.

Reset all settings

This solution option is similar to factory reset minus the hassles of deleting user data, apps, and more. If Auto-rotate is still present at this juncture, then you should do this solution to see if you can fix the software bug this way.

To reset all settings on a Note10:

Open Settings app.
Tap General management.
Tap Reset.
Tap Reset all settings.
Tap RESET button.

Refresh the system cache

If your Note10 touchscreen became unresponsive after installing Android 10 update, another factor that you want to check is the possibility of a bad system cache.

Major software updates can sometimes unintentionally impact the system cache, which Android OS uses to load apps quickly, and this can lead to problems.

In many cases wherein a device appears stuck or frozen after a system update, a bad system cache is to blame. In this case, the update may have corrupted the system cache in your Note10 resulting to the issue we’re dealing with right now.

In order to refresh the system cache, you’ll want to clear the partition where it’s stored.

To clear the cache partition:

Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby / Power key.
When the green Android logo displays, release both keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
The Recovery screen menu will now appear. When you see this, release the buttons.
Use the Volume Down button until you are highlighting ‘Wipe cache partition.’
Press the Power button to select ‘Wipe cache partition.’
Use Volume Down to highlight Yes.
Press the Power button to confirm the action to clear the cache.
Wait for a second as the system wipes the cache.
Press the Power button again to reboot the device. This will return the device to the normal interface.
That’s it!

Restart to Safe Mode and check for rogue apps

Another possible reason for an unresponsive touchscreen issue can be a bad third party app. To check, you can run your Note10 to safe mode. If touchscreen works normally on safe mode only, that means one of your apps may be incompatible with the new Android OS version, or it may need an update.

By restarting your Note10 to safe mode, all third party apps will be blocked (greyed out).

To restart a Note10 to safe mode:

Press and hold the Power button until the Power off window appears then release.
Touch and hold Power off until the Safe mode prompt appears then release.
To confirm, tap Safe mode.
The process may take up to 30 seconds to complete.
Upon reboot, “Safe mode” appears in the lower-left of the home screen.

Remember that third-party applications are disabled in this mode so what you can use are pre-installed apps. If Galaxy Note10 wifi works normally on safe mode only, that means that the problem is due to a bad app. Uninstall the app you recently installed and see if that will fix it.

If the problem remains, use the process of elimination to identify the rogue app. Here’s how:

Boot to safe mode.
Check for the problem.
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.
After you uninstall an app, restart the phone to normal mode and check for the problem.
If your Galaxy Note10 still won’t turn on normally (but works on safe mode), repeat steps 1-4.

Restore the software settings to defaults (factory reset)

A more effective software solution to fixing Note10 unresponsive touchscreen issue after Android 10 update is factory reset. The new update may have messed up some low-level software called firmware that causes the screen to malfunction. In most cases, firmware issues are only fixed by updating the particular firmware but since there’s no way to be certain, all you can do is to factory reset the device.

This will erase the device and return all software settings to defaults. Make sure to create a backup of your personal data ahead of time.

Below are the two ways to factory reset your Note10:

Method 1: How to hard reset on Samsung Galaxy Note10 via Settings Menu

This is the easiest way to wipe your Galaxy Note10. all you have to do is to go under Settings menu and follow the steps below. We recommend this method if you have no trouble going under Settings.

Create a backup of your personal data and remove your Google account.
Open Settings app.
Scroll to and tap General management.
Tap Reset.
Select Factory data reset from the given options.
Read the information then tap Reset to continue.
Tap Delete All to confirm action.

Method 2: How to hard reset on Samsung Galaxy Note10 using hardware buttons

If your case is that the phone is not booting up, or it boots but Settings menu is inaccessible, this method can be helpful. First, you need to boot the device to Recovery Mode. Once you successfully access Recovery, that’s the time that you begin proper master reset procedure. It may take some tries for you before you can access Recovery so be patient and simply try again.

If possible, create a backup of your personal data ahead of time. If your problem prevents you from doing that, then simply skip this step.
Also, you want to make sure that you remove your Google account. If your problem prevents you from doing that, then simply skip this step.
Turn off the device. This is important. If you can’t turn it off, you’ll never be able to boot to Recovery Mode. If you are not able to shut the device off regularly via the Power button, wait until the phone’s battery is drained. Then, charge the phone for 30 minutes before booting to Recovery Mode.
Press and hold the Volume Up button and the Bixby button at the same time.
While still holding the Volume Up and Bixby keys, press and hold the Power button.
The Recovery screen menu will now appear. When you see this, release the buttons.
Use the Volume Down button until you are highlighting ‘Wipe data/factory reset.’
Press the Power button to select ‘Wipe data/factory reset.’
Use Volume Down to highlight Yes.
Press the Power button to confirm factory reset.

Visit your local Samsung

In some rare cases, touchscreen problems can become serious that nothing on a user’s level can be done to fix them. In such situations, only repair may be the way to go. If nothing changes after a factory reset, you can assume that there must be a deeper reason for your particular touchscreen problem. Get help from your nearest Samsung Store or Service Center.

Get help from us

Having Issues with your phone? Feel free to contact us using this form. We’ll try to help. We also create videos for those wanting to follow visual instructions. Visit our Youtube page for troubleshooting.