Galaxy s21 middle of screen freezes then works again after restarting

[kwlaznkid]

I have the weirdest problem with my s21, in the past couple of months during normal use the middle of the screen (as in the section between the top notification bar area and the bottom 3 buttons will freeze, the top bar still works (if i drag down I can still see the the notifications and it looks normal) and the bottom 3 buttons still work but the section in between is non-responsive at all.

I can restart the phone because weirdly enough when i get to the power options page I can tap on the restart button and it works and after restarting the phone functions normally until it happens again a few days later. I thought it was a software issues since clearly the touchscreen works fine after restarting so I did a factory reset and it still didn't fix it, this is seriously the weirdest issue ever!

anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[belodion]

It sounds to me like impending hardware failure, but test whether it happens in Safe Mode.

 

[B. Diddy]

That may be tough to narrow down if it only happens infrequently. I would guess that some app you installed is causing instability and occasionally causing the launcher to freeze. Are you using a 3rd party launcher or the stock One UI launcher?

If it never happens in Safe Mode, then that would support it being a 3rd party app as the problem. But as I mentioned, if it doesn't happen frequently, it can be unfeasible to keep the phone in Safe Mode for an extended time seeing if the problem happens again.

It's also worth wiping the cache partition: https://www.sammobile.com/samsung/galaxy-s21/wipe-cache-partition/

 

[mustang7757]

Do you use a screen protector?

 

[kwlaznkid]

It sounds to me like impending hardware failure, but test whether it happens in Safe Mode.

yikes...will give that a shot thanks

 

[kwlaznkid]

That may be tough to narrow down if it only happens infrequently. I would guess that some app you installed is causing instability and occasionally causing the launcher to freeze. Are you using a 3rd party launcher or the stock One UI launcher?

If it never happens in Safe Mode, then that would support it being a 3rd party app as the problem. But as I mentioned, if it doesn't happen frequently, it can be unfeasible to keep the phone in Safe Mode for an extended time seeing if the problem happens again.

It's also worth wiping the cache partition: https://www.sammobile.com/samsung/galaxy-s21/wipe-cache-partition/

i use the stock UI launcher, and you're exactly right, how infrequent it happens is what is making this quite difficult to diagnose lol. I'll give the cache wiping a shot, thanks

 

[kwlaznkid]

Do you use a screen protector?

nope!

 

[mustang7757]

nope!

Go to device care and run a diagnostic for the screen