How to Troubleshoot a Selection Screen in FMX for iPad

Updated Yesterday · 3 min readBeginner

Selection screens built with FMX on iPad are often used to merge different workflows or choose the prompt they want to run. When the screen does not behave as expected—such as taps not registering, selections appearing in the wrong place, or the layout looking distorted—there are several key areas to review before concluding that something is wrong with the system.

This guide walks through the most important troubleshooting steps to help you quickly identify and fix the problem.

1. Verify the iOS Version

A typical cause of malfunction is running the app on an unsupported iOS version.

What to Check

FMX selection features for iPad require:

✅ iOS 18 or higher

If the device is running iOS 16 or 17, the interface may:

Fail to register touch input correctly
Render background media design incorrectly
Misalign selection zones
Crash or freeze during interaction

How to Confirm

On the iPad:

Open Settings
Tap General
Select About
Check the iOS Version

If it is below 18, update the device before continuing troubleshooting.

2. Confirm the Clickable Areas Are Positioned Correctly

If users can see the screen but cannot tap or select the correct areas, the problem is often related to how the clickable areas were placed during setup.

Possible Symptoms

Tapping a box selects the wrong option
Nothing happens when an area is pressed
Touch works only in unexpected parts of the screen
Selections appear offset from the visuals

What to Review

In FMX:

Re-open the multi-selection screen editor
Inspect each clickable area
Make sure every clickable area lines up visually with the buttons or images shown on the screen
Confirm the area was not accidentally resized or shifted

If the design was copied from another workflow, the coordinates may no longer match the iPad display.

3. Check the Aspect Ratio: iPad is 3:4, not 9:16

Another frequent cause of selection issues is an incorrect screen ratio.

Our Selection Screen Editor default is 9:16, which is typical for phones or vertical displays. However, iPads use a 3:4 aspect ratio. If the Selection Screen was created for 9:16 and then deployed to an iPad, the visual layout may scale—but the touch zones may not.

Why This Matters

When the ratio is wrong:

Background media stretch or shrink
Buttons move visually
Touch areas stay in their original positions
Selections no longer line up

This creates the illusion that the screen is broken, when in reality the coordinates are simply mismatched.

What to Do

Edit the Selection Screen in the Workflow you are using
Change the Expected Aspect Ratio to 3:4
Save and re-sync the workflow to the FMX iPad

Always design and test multi-selection screens specifically for the device type that will be used at the event.

4. Best Practices to Avoid Issues at Events

To prevent failures during live events:

✅ Test the workflow
✅ Confirm the iOS version before deployment
✅ Avoid reusing phone-ratio layouts on tablets
✅ Double-check selection zones after any design change
✅ Perform a full sync after updating your workflow
✅ Run multiple tap tests in every corner of the screen

Spending a few minutes validating these details ahead of time can save hours of troubleshooting on-site.

Final Checklist

Before an event, confirm:

✔ iPad is running iOS 18 or higher
✔ Multi-selection areas align with visuals
✔ Selection Screen Editor uses a 3:4 aspect ratio
✔ Layout was tested directly on the device
✔ Latest workflow version is synced on your FMX iPad

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