[13 Ways] How to Fix iPhone Swipe Up not Working

Why is swipe up not working on iPhone?

With the latest iPhone models, gestures have become the primary method of navigation. It involves swiping in various directions to get different functions and apps. However, several users are experiencing issues with iPhone 14 swipe up not working, like the iPhone won't swipe up to unlock.

Two primary factors can cause the issue in many cases: touch screen problems and iPhone software-related issues. If your touch screen hasn't been physically damaged or struck recently, then the problem may be attributed to an iOS system glitch.

And now we will give you detailed instructions to fix the issue, and it may lose some iPhone data in the process. So you’d better back up your iPhone before starting the fix.

Better to backup iPhone first to avoid data loss

To protect your iPhone data, the professional iOS data backup and transfer software - FoneTool is highly recommended. You can choose to fully or selectively back up iPhone data with this useful tool.

Full Backup: You can back up your iPhone data completely, including photos, music, contacts, media files and app settings.

Selective Backup: This feature enables you to selectively back up photos, videos, music and contacts to a computer.

You can get the main advantages of FoneTool below:

• FoneTool can back up and transfer your iPhone/iPad data at a very fast speed.

• You can change the storage location to easily move iOS backup to external drive.

• It is a free iPhone backup application and there are 100% no advertisements or plug-ins.

• FoneTool supports a wide range of iPhones (from iPhone 4 to iPhone 14 series), iPad, and iPod Touch and would be perfectly compatible with the latest iOS 16/15.

Now you can download the software on your Windows PC and learn how to create a full iPhone backup.

Step 1. Install and open FoneTool on your computer > Connect your iPhone to the PC using a USB cable > If asks, tap Trust to let the computer access your data.

Step 2. Click Phone Backup > Choose Full Backup, then click Get Started.

Step 3. You could enable backup encryption to back up the private data. Select a storage path to save the backup and tap Start Backup.

When the backup is finished, you can go to Backup History and click Restore to restore your data.

Now you can fix your iPhone swipe up issue without worrying about data loss.

How to fix iPhone swipe up not working

In this part, we will give you 13 methods to tackle the problem, hope you can get the most useful way to make it.

Method 1. Restart or force restart iPhone

When you encounter the error, you can simply restart your iPhone: Launch Settings app and go to General followed by Shut Down, then swipe right on the Slide to power off to turn off your device. Wait a moment and start it again.

If it doesn’t work, you can perform a force restart:

For iPhone 8 or earlier: Press and hold the Top (or Side) button until the slider appears.

For iPhone X and later: Press and hold the Side button and either volume button simultaneously until the slider appears.

Method 2. Remove cover or case

If there are any cases or covers on your iPhone, when they don’t fit and that may result in iPhone swipe up menu not working. So, try removing the case and checking if you can use the swipe gesture.

Method 3. Activate Control Center on the lock screen

If you find that the swipe function on your locked iPhone is not working, the likely reason is that you have disabled the Control Centre to function on the lock screen. You can follow the steps below to enable it.

Open the Settings app on your iPhone > Select Control Centre to access the swipe up menu settings > Switch the toggle Access on Lock Screen to on. This action will grant you access to the Control Centre feature even when your iPhone is locked.

Method 4. Reset Control Center items

If the methods above fail to resolve the issue, consider resetting your Control Center items to their default settings.

Certain enabled or disabled some items can hinder the swipe-up functionality. To reset them, follow these steps: Launch the Settings app > Navigate to Control Center > Under the "Include" section, find the unresponsive control > Choose to remove it by tapping the corresponding option.

Method 5. Configure Control Center to allow access within apps

When using a specific iPhone app, you may encounter iPhone swipe up not working. To address this, follow these steps:

Open the Settings app > Tap on Control Center > Enable the Access Within Apps option.

Method 6. Remove Problematic Options from the Control Centre

The Control Centre offers a variety of options that allow you to execute specific tasks directly from the swipe up menu. However, if one or more of these options are not functioning correctly, it can disrupt the entire menu's functionality on your iPhone.

To resolve this, you can remove the problematic options from the Control Centre: Open Settings app > Scroll down and locate Control Centre > Choose Customize Controls and remove the ones you think are the cause of the problem.

Method 7. Reset all settings

Reset all settings can also work, to begin the task, you should: Open Settings app > General > Select Transfer or Reset iPhone > Click Reset > Choose Reset All Settings, enter your passcode if prompted > Proceed to tap on Reset All Settings to confirm your choice.

After that, allow your device to restart before attempting to swipe up again.

Note:✎...

Reset All Settings option lets you reset all your preference settings and configurations you’ve made on your iPhone. It doesn’t erase any of your data such as files, documents, photos, apps and so on.

Method 8. Turn off VoiceOver

To disable the VoiceOver feature on your iPhone: Access Settings app on your iPhone > Tap on Accessibility and then select VoiceOver.

Method 9. Customize Touch Accommodations

To troubleshoot the iPhone swipe up not working issue, it's advisable to enable and disable the options available in the Touch Accommodations setting.

Open Settings app > Navigate to Accessibility > Tap on Touch and select Touch Accommodations > Experiment by enabling or disabling the different options in this setting to check if the swipe gesture starts working properly on your iPhone.

You can try to enable Touch Accommodation and set Tap Assistance to “Use Initial Touch Location”.

Method 10. Disable Reduce Motion

You can also turn off Reduce Motion to tackle the problem: Go to Settings app followed by Accessibility and then Motion > Turn off the toggle next to Reduce Motion.

Method 11. Update to the latest iOS version

If there exists a bug in your iPhone software, you should update the iOS version to the latest: Launch Settings app > General > Choose Software update to check if an update is available > Choose Download & Install if it is.

Method 12. Remove the screen protector

When Apple iPhone swipe up not working, screen protector may also cause the issue. You can remove it from your iPhone to check if the swipe up gesture works.

Method 13. Restore iPhone via iTunes

If the previously mentioned methods fail to resolve the issue on your device, attempt to reset your iPhone to factory settings. This operation will erase all data on your device and install the latest iOS on your iPhone. So it's crucial to back up your important files before proceeding.

Only try this way if nothing else has worked. And here’s how:

Step 1. Connect your iPhone to the PC. Typically, iTunes will launch automatically when the connection is made. If not, you can manually open iTunes.

Step 2. Click on the device icon in iTunes, and then select Restore iPhone.

Conclusion

Hope you can fix iPhone swipe up not working issue according to the 13 solutions above. Please keep in mind that you’d better back up your iPhone before the process.

If you consider FoneTool as a powerful app, you can also explore other functions such as iPhone transfer and eraser. And you can use it to transfer photos from iPhone to iPhone.