Confirm touch detection with the Touch Support Test
Open the Touch Support Test and check Max touch points:
- If Max touch points is 0, the browser is not receiving touch capability from the OS.
- If it is 1+, touch is detected. If the site still ignores taps, focus on site-specific blockers.
Use the tap area on the test page. The counter should increase when you tap or click. Keep the tab open and rerun the test after each change.
Common symptoms:
- You tap buttons and nothing happens
- Dragging on a canvas does not draw
- The page scrolls, but app gestures do not work
- Touch works in one browser, but not another
- A 2-in-1 laptop acts like a desktop even in tablet mode
Fix 1: Confirm the device is meant to have touch
This sounds obvious, but it prevents chasing the wrong problem.
- MacBooks do not have touchscreens. Seeing Max touch points: 0 is normal.
- External touch monitors only work if the touch USB cable is connected and the OS has a driver.
- If you are in a remote desktop session, touch may not pass through (see Fix 3).
If your device is a known touchscreen and the test still shows 0, continue.
Fix 2: Fix OS-level touch drivers (Windows is the common culprit)
When maxTouchPoints is 0, browsers are reporting what the OS exposes. Repair the OS input stack first.
Windows 10/11:
- Install pending updates under Settings > Windows Update, then restart.
- Open Device Manager.
- Expand Human Interface Devices.
- Find HID-compliant touch screen:
- If it is disabled, enable it.
- If it exists but touch still fails, use Update driver, then restart.
- If it is missing, Windows is not detecting the digitizer. This points to firmware, hardware, or a vendor driver issue.
After reboot, rerun the Touch Support Test and check Max touch points again.
Chromebooks:
- Update ChromeOS, reboot, then rerun the test. Touch support is tied to OS updates on many models.
Fix 3: Rule out remote desktop and virtual machines
Remote sessions often translate touch into mouse events or block it entirely.
- Test on the device locally (not through RDP, VNC, Citrix, VMware, or Parallels).
- If you must use a remote session, check the client settings for touch / pen / gesture redirection and enable them.
Rerun the Touch Support Test on the local machine to confirm whether the issue is the remote layer.
Fix 4: Update the browser and remove compatibility modes
Touch support improves across browser versions, especially on hybrid devices.
- Update Chrome/Edge/Firefox via Menu > Help > About, then relaunch.
- If you are using Edge, ensure the site is not forced into Internet Explorer mode. If the UI looks like a legacy site, disable IE mode for that domain and retest.
Then rerun the Touch Support Test and the broken site.
Fix 5: Disable extensions that intercept clicks and gestures
Extensions can capture pointer events before the page receives them.
- Turn off extensions that add gesture navigation, ad blockers in aggressive modes, custom CSS tools, and accessibility click helpers.
- Test in a fresh browser profile or an Incognito/InPrivate window (with extensions off).
If touch works without extensions, add the site to the extension allowlist or keep the conflicting extension disabled.
Fix 6: If only one site ignores touch, clear site data and retry
If Max touch points is 1+ but a single web app does not respond to taps, treat it as a site-level issue.
- Hard reload the page (Windows/Linux: Ctrl+Shift+R; macOS: Cmd+Shift+R).
- Clear the site’s stored data in browser settings (cookies, local storage), then sign back in.
- Disable content blockers for the domain and retry.
If the app has a "desktop site" toggle, turn it off. Some apps bind touch behaviors only in mobile layouts.
Verify the fix
Return to the Touch Support Test:
- Max touch points should be 1+ on a touchscreen device.
- Your tap interactions should register.
If Max touch points stays at 0 after OS updates and driver checks, test in another browser and another OS user account. If all browsers report 0, it is not a browser bug; the OS is not exposing touch.