Foto Master

Selection Screen Not Working on iOS 18+

Updated 2 weeks ago · 4 min read

If you have updated your iPad to iOS 18 (or later) and your guests are tapping the selection screen but the wrong option is being selected -- or nothing happens at all -- you are hitting a known aspect-ratio mismatch. This article explains the cause and how to fix it before your event.

Important: FMX for iPadOS 1.1.8 and later requires iPadOS 18 or higher. See iPad System Requirements. If your selection screens worked perfectly until your last update, the problem is almost always the screen layout, not the iPad itself.

Quick Diagnostics

Before you dig in, run these three checks. They resolve the issue most of the time.

  1. Check the iPad orientation. The iPad must be in vertical (portrait) orientation. Touch coordinates are calibrated to portrait mode -- a horizontal iPad will register taps in the wrong place.
  2. Check the workflow's selection-screen ratio. In the Cloud, open your workflow and find the selection-screen settings. The ratio must be set to 3:4 for iPad. Workflows imported from a phone or mirror booth often default to 9:16.
  3. Test on the actual iPad you will use at the event. A workflow that looks fine in the Cloud preview may behave differently on the device. Always do a full dry run.

Common Issues

Taps Land on the Wrong Option

Problem: A guest taps the "Caricature" thumbnail and the "Portrait" workflow runs instead. Or the guest taps a button and the screen does nothing.

Cause: The selection screen was designed for a 9:16 phone-style aspect ratio. When that layout is rendered on an iPad's 3:4 screen, the visible thumbnails are rescaled, but the underlying touch targets are still positioned for 9:16 -- so the click area is offset from where the image appears.

This is the exact issue Kim Mitchell hit in March 2026: the iPad would draw a "conference background" that her guest had not selected, because the touch zones did not line up with what was on screen.

Solution:

  1. Open cloud.fotomaster.com > Presets > FMX (iPadOS) > Workflows.
  2. Open the affected workflow and click the selection-screen step.
  3. Change the aspect ratio from 9:16 to 3:4.
  4. Re-position your thumbnails or buttons so they fit cleanly within the new ratio.
  5. Save the workflow and resync the event on the iPad.
  6. Run through every selection on the iPad before the event starts.

Tip: If you need a single workflow that runs on both phones (9:16) and iPads (3:4), build two versions of the selection screen rather than relying on automatic scaling. Auto-scaling does not adjust touch areas.

Selection Screen Freezes After 1-2 Seconds

Problem: The selection screen loads, animations play for one or two seconds, then the screen freezes. Swiping does nothing, and tapping a thumbnail does nothing.

Cause: This was reported by Viktor Koval in January 2026 on FMX 1.1.8 (build 4) using a downloaded "DMBot v2" template that was originally built for a different screen size. The freeze happens when the selection layout cannot resolve its target dimensions on the iPad.

Solution:

  1. Confirm you are running the App Store version of FMX (not TestFlight).
  2. In the Cloud, open the workflow and re-save it after confirming the ratio is 3:4.
  3. Re-sync the event on the iPad.
  4. If the freeze persists, delete and reinstall FMX, then re-sync the event.
  5. Try loading a fresh template -- some library presets were built before iPad-specific ratios were introduced.

Touch Areas Are Too Small for Guests' Fingers

Problem: Guests struggle to tap the right option because thumbnails are too small or too close together.

Cause: Phone-designed layouts pack more content into a narrower space than an iPad needs.

Solution:

  1. In the workflow, open the selection-screen step and increase the size of each thumbnail or button.
  2. Add padding between options so a fingertip cannot accidentally cover two at once.
  3. As a fallback, replace the visual selection screen with a buttons workflow step -- buttons can be sized large enough to leave no ambiguity.

Best Practices

  • Design for the iPad ratio from day one. Build separate workflows for FMX iPadOS rather than reusing phone or mirror booth layouts.
  • Do a full event walkthrough on the actual iPad the day before your event. Tap every option, every page, every button.
  • Lock iPad orientation to portrait in iOS Control Center before handing it to guests.
  • Update FMX through the App Store rather than TestFlight when running paid events.

Related Articles

Was this helpful?

Related articles