Device: iPhone 17 Pro 256GB
Affected builds: • iOS 27 RC — 24A435 • iOS 27 public release — 24A437
Known working version: • iOS 26.7
DESCRIPTION
I am seeing a reproducible total loss of touchscreen input on this specific iPhone 17 Pro when running iOS 27.
Before today's test, the device was running iOS 26.7 and the touchscreen was working normally.
On September 14, I updated through the official OTA Software Update to iOS 27.0 public release, build 24A437. Beta Updates were disabled.
After the update completed, the iPhone booted normally and reached the Hello screen.
The display renders normally. Physical buttons respond normally. However, all touchscreen input is completely unavailable.
No taps or swipes are recognized anywhere on the display, so it is not possible to proceed past the Hello screen.
REPRODUCIBLE ON IOS 27 RC
The exact same behavior previously occurred on iOS 27 RC build 24A435.
To eliminate backup corruption, user data, apps and settings as possible variables, I performed a complete clean restore of 24A435 using Apple Configurator.
No backup was restored. No apps were installed. No user data was restored. No previous settings were restored.
Immediately after the clean restore, at the initial Hello screen, touchscreen input was still completely unavailable.
Restoring the same device back to iOS 26 immediately restored touchscreen functionality.
REPRODUCTION HISTORY
iOS 26.7 → Touchscreen works normally
iOS 27 RC 24A435 → Touchscreen completely unresponsive after boot
Clean restore of 24A435 → Touchscreen still completely unresponsive at the initial Hello screen
Restore back to iOS 26 → Touchscreen functionality returns
iOS 27 public 24A437 → Touchscreen completely unresponsive again after boot
DIAGNOSTICS
Apple has already performed:
• Remote diagnostics — passed • MRI — passed • Multi-Touch diagnostic — passed
None of these diagnostics detected a hardware failure.
The issue was reported through Feedback Assistant before the public release:
Feedback ID: FB24728805
I also have an active Apple Support case, and the device is being evaluated by an Apple Authorized Service Provider.
QUESTION / TECHNICAL OBSERVATION
The particularly unusual aspect is the repeatability across OS versions on the same physical device:
iOS 26 → touch works iOS 27 → touch does not work iOS 26 → touch works again iOS 27 → touch does not work again
I am not assuming that the root cause is purely software or purely hardware.
I am interested in whether this could involve touchscreen/HID initialization, digitizer-related firmware, or an interaction between iOS 27 and a particular hardware/display/controller revision.
Has anyone observed a similar condition where:
• the display continues rendering normally; • physical buttons continue working; • all touchscreen input is lost immediately after booting iOS 27; • a clean restore of iOS 27 does not resolve it; and • restoring the same device to iOS 26 restores touchscreen functionality?
If anyone has reproduced this on another iPhone 17 Pro or 17 Pro Max, the exact model and iOS build would be particularly useful.
RELATED PUBLIC DISCUSSIONS
Apple Support Community: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/256356702
MacRumors: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/iphone-17-pro-touchscreen-completely-dead-on-ios-27-public-24a437-same-issue-on-rc-24a435.2489323/