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Still having "Slide to Unlock" issues

L

Lerxst

Guest
Original poster
Sep 8, 2011
28
0
Hi Guys

I just received a brand new 6 days ago iPhone4 (not service replacement phone) from Apple corporate because I had gone through 4 replacements at the genius bar.

My iPhone 4 is a 16 gig not jail broken, I have no apps running in background, no music or videos or pics and 14 gigs free.

The problem I was having with the 4 previous phones and now today with my brand new iPhone is either "sliding to unlock" or "sliding to answer", on random attempts the screen does not respond to my finger swiping across the "slide to unlock".

On the flip side, "slide to power off" always works perfectly.

I have done ALL the obvious with all these phones, from hard resets to restore as new, restore from backup, you name it and either I or the genius bar have tried it.

Is it a rogue app giving me problems?...iTunes?...I'm at a loss.

Thanks a ton:(
 
Every once in awhile (and this has occurred across all of my iPhones) my phone's lock screen doesn't respond to touches; the screen turns on but the sensors don't capture movement. Turning the screen off and on fixes everything and it happens very rarely, so I don't think about it. Never occurred during a call but during text messages before.
 
This happens to me at random times as well. Sometimes, the screen is dirty and not registering my touch and I just wipe and it works. Also, sometimes if I press too hard to slide, it won't do it, but if I do a light touch, it works. This has happened to me in all my iPhones since the original. I've used my family's too and the issue is the same. I don't think its a software or hardware defect.
 
I've had the same problem before. It happens rarely, but it has happened more often ever since I installed iOS 5 Beta and so I figured that may have been the problem.

But like someone else mentioned, just turn off the screen and turn it back on and it reacts immediately. I also believe it could happen because your finger is dirty. Who knows really, haven't looked it up that much to be honest with you.
 
fullojellybeans said:
Can I ask what you had the phone replaced for those 4 times?
Click to expand...

They were all replaced due to this slide to unlock issue. Apple genius and corporate has replaced the phones with no argument. It really is a serious problem that I believe Apple has no clue how to address. Hopefully...and I really hope iOS5 takes care of this because today alone I have missed 3 calls that I had to call back because "slide to answer" failed.

----------
LapsangSouchong said:
Ditto. Turning the screen off and back on works to fix it.
Click to expand...

Very very temporary bypass, not a fix.

Slide to unlock / slide to answer seem to mostly fail when the iPhone has sat idle for a period of time, like 20-30 min. or so. This is purely speculation on my part and not scientific but that's what it seems like.
 
This "problem" isn't just on iPhones. I get it on my Galaxy S 2 as well, and turning off the screen and back on works every time. So I don't think you can blame Apple entirely for it...it might just be a fault with capacitive touch screens in general.
 
Lerxst said:
They were all replaced due to this slide to unlock issue. Apple genius and corporate has replaced the phones with no argument. It really is a serious problem that I believe Apple has no clue how to address. Hopefully...and I really hope iOS5 takes care of this because today alone I have missed 3 calls that I had to call back because "slide to answer" failed.

Were they all restored from back up after they were replaced?
Click to expand...
 
DeusInvictus7 said:
This "problem" isn't just on iPhones. I get it on my Galaxy S 2 as well, and turning off the screen and back on works every time. So I don't think you can blame Apple entirely for it...it might just be a fault with capacitive touch screens in general.
Click to expand...

I was gonna say this about my HD2 as well. Either I just wait a second and try again, or I turn off the screen and turn it on again.

fullojellybeans said:
Were they all restored from back up after they were replaced?
Click to expand...

This is the question I was gonna ask, as well. If you have been restoring from backup, then try setting up as new. It's strange that this happened on four iPhones in a row.
 
If it was a really serious problem then it would affect more people and would have been fixed long ago. That's pretty obvious.

Most people have never had this problem. I would look more to my fingers and my technique.
 
If you performed a DFU Restore as New without Restore from Backup then I am clueless. Mine locks every once in a while.

TIP: Hold the home button for 5 seconds next time and it will allow Slide to Unlock.
 
This used to happen very seldom on my iPhone 4 but I've found it's been happening a LOT more recently. Sliding to unlock always works, but it's during receiving a call that it won't let me slide to answer. It's not every time but it has been happening a lot lately.

If anyone does know how to fix this, please share!
 
Lerxst said:
Hi Guys

I just received a brand new 6 days ago iPhone4 (not service replacement phone) from Apple corporate because I had gone through 4 replacements at the genius bar.

My iPhone 4 is a 16 gig not jail broken, I have no apps running in background, no music or videos or pics and 14 gigs free.

The problem I was having with the 4 previous phones and now today with my brand new iPhone is either "sliding to unlock" or "sliding to answer", on random attempts the screen does not respond to my finger swiping across the "slide to unlock".

On the flip side, "slide to power off" always works perfectly.

I have done ALL the obvious with all these phones, from hard resets to restore as new, restore from backup, you name it and either I or the genius bar have tried it.

Is it a rogue app giving me problems?...iTunes?...I'm at a loss.

Thanks a ton:(
Click to expand...

Restore the phone and set it up as new, not from a backup. Watch your "problem" fix it's self.
 
macingman said:
Restore the phone and set it up as new, not from a backup. Watch your "problem" fix it's self.
Click to expand...

To answer those of you who asked if my iPhones were restored from backup or as new, I've lost track of which ones were restored how but I know for a fact 1 or 2 of them were restored as new.

On I think the 2nd one I received I did nothing at all to the phone when the genius bar handed it to me and used it like that for about 3-4 days, it started failing to "slide to unlock" or answer.

So my uneducated guess is that it doesn't matter how it's set up??

Thx
 
every now and again if i touch the screen too quickly to slide to unlock after the screen lights up, it doesn't respond, but if i give it a second and and then slide to unlock, it works fine.
 
I just did an "Erase all content and settings" and I am doing a "set up as new" right now. I really have had it with being unable to answer calls or unlock this POS.

I'll let you know...:mad::mad::mad::mad:
 
Lerxst said:
I just did an "Erase all content and settings" and I am doing a "set up as new" right now. I really have had it with being unable to answer calls or unlock this POS.

I'll let you know...:mad::mad::mad::mad:
Click to expand...

OK...Just did a full resore to factory settings on this one week old iPhone4. Not from any backup and made sure in pref>devices to delete my backed up setting. Did NOT sync apps, mail, settings etc... Phone is at factory default settings.

Immediately upon finshing the slide to unlock was frozen, took 5 attempts to slide to unlock.

Back it goes, hello old Nokia 6555.
 
I have the same problems with the "Slide to Answer". Never with the "Slide to Unlock". So my guess is it is a software bug.

Many people I know with an iPhone had told me they also have this problem from time to time.I've had two iPhone 4's and both have the problem.

It's really frustrating being unable to take a call. And I do believe it is a serious bug/problem, since it is related to a very basic function of a cellphone, which is calling and receiving calls.
 
I really feel this is an issue with RAM allocation. Mine has done it when I have about 20+ apps open. If there's 4-5 open I don't see the issue. Free Memory was a great app for checking how much RAM was available majority of the time it was running on 9mb or less when this was occurring.

I still think it's a software bug above all else because if it was multitouch with the screen it would never unlock and the lower section of the keyboard would not respond when typing.
 
Lerxst said:
OK...Just did a full resore to factory settings on this one week old iPhone4. Not from any backup and made sure in pref>devices to delete my backed up setting. Did NOT sync apps, mail, settings etc... Phone is at factory default settings.

Immediately upon finshing the slide to unlock was frozen, took 5 attempts to slide to unlock.

Back it goes, hello old Nokia 6555.
Click to expand...

Your probably swiping wrongly. It's impossible to have this issue so often, never heard of it. Did you happen to be wearing gloves or have a screen protecter or have anything in between your finger and the glass of the iphone at all?
 
macingman said:
Your probably swiping wrongly. It's impossible to have this issue so often, never heard of it. Did you happen to be wearing gloves or have a screen protecter or have anything in between your finger and the glass of the iphone at all?
Click to expand...

Stupid me....I've been wearing my snowmobiling mittens all this time. Uh, I do appreciate the time you took to reply but I have had an iPhone since day one, an iPad2, a MBP, and I am 100% certain I haven't suffered any amnesiatic blows to the head where I might have forgotten how to swipe the "Slide to Unlock"

:rolleyes:
 
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