Disable scrolling when touch moving certain element

javascript jquery-mobile touch

136,720

Solution 1

Set the touch-action CSS property to none, which works even with passive event listeners:

touch-action: none;

Applying this property to an element will not trigger the default (scroll) behavior when the event is originating from that element.

Solution 2

Note: As pointed out in the comments by @nevf, this solution may no longer work (at least in Chrome) due to performance changes. The recommendation is to use touch-action which is also suggested by @JohnWeisz's answer.

Similar to the answer given by @Llepwryd, I used a combination of ontouchstart and ontouchmove to prevent scrolling when it is on a certain element.

Taken as-is from a project of mine:

window.blockMenuHeaderScroll = false;
$(window).on('touchstart', function(e)
{
    if ($(e.target).closest('#mobileMenuHeader').length == 1)
    {
        blockMenuHeaderScroll = true;
    }
});
$(window).on('touchend', function()
{
    blockMenuHeaderScroll = false;
});
$(window).on('touchmove', function(e)
{
    if (blockMenuHeaderScroll)
    {
        e.preventDefault();
    }
});

Essentially, what I am doing is listening on the touch start to see whether it begins on an element that is a child of another using jQuery .closest and allowing that to turn on/off the touch movement doing scrolling. The e.target refers to the element that the touch start begins with.

You want to prevent the default on the touch move event however you also need to clear your flag for this at the end of the touch event otherwise no touch scroll events will work.

This can be accomplished without jQuery however for my usage, I already had jQuery and didn't need to code something up to find whether the element has a particular parent.

Tested in Chrome on Android and an iPod Touch as of 2013-06-18

Solution 3

There is a little "hack" on CSS that also allows you to disable scrolling:

.lock-screen {
    height: 100%;
    overflow: hidden;
    width: 100%;
    position: fixed;
}

Adding that class to the body will prevent scrolling.

Solution 4

The ultimate solution would be setting overflow: hidden; on document.documentElement like so:

/* element is an HTML element You want catch the touch */
element.addEventListener('touchstart', function(e) {
    document.documentElement.style.overflow = 'hidden';
});

document.addEventListener('touchend', function(e) {
    document.documentElement.style.overflow = 'auto';
});

By setting overflow: hidden on start of touch it makes everything exceeding window hidden thus removing availability to scroll anything (no content to scroll).

After touchend the lock can be freed by setting overflow to auto (the default value).

It is better to append this to <html> because <body> may be used to do some styling, plus it can make children behave unexpectedly.

EDIT: About touch-action: none; - Safari doesn't support it according to MDN.

Solution 5

To my surprise, the "preventDefault()" method is working for me on latest Google Chrome (version 85) on iOS 13.7. It also works on Safari on the same device and also working on my Android 8.0 tablet. I am currently implemented it for 2D view on my site here: https://papercraft-maker.com

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136,720

Author by

Scott Hunter

Developer for over 3/4 of my life(!)

Updated on September 28, 2020

Comments

Scott Hunter almost 4 years

I have a page with a section to sketch a drawing in. But the touchmove events, at least the vertical ones, are also scrolling the page (which degrades the sketching experience) when using it on a mobile browser. Is there a way to either a) disable & re-enable the scrolling of the page (so I can turn it off when each line is started, but turn it back on after each is done), or b) disable the default handling of touchmove events (and presumably the scrolling) that go to the canvas the sketch is drawn in (I can't just disable them completely, as the sketching uses them)?

I've used jquery-mobile vmouse handlers for the sketch, if that makes a difference.

Update: On an iPhone, if I select the canvas to be sketched in, or just hold my finger for a bit before drawing, the page doesn't scroll, and not because of anything I coded in the page.
Scott Hunter about 11 years

I'm not clear on how to use this; where/when do these calls get made? How does normal scrolling get restored once the "touch" is done (touchmove doesn't designate the END of the touch, just a movement WITHIN a touch, as I understand it).
Woody about 11 years

normal scrolling would be restored by setting overflow back to auto. In effect you are removing the scrollbars and thus the scrollability of the body in this case. So you would need to reenable it when you are done with the gesture that the unwanted scrolling is affecting. Would that be ontouchend ?
Admin over 7 years

This worked for me perfectly on iphone / ipad. Thanks!
Murtaza Munshi almost 7 years

This solution is the best. I tried both the accepted one and the most voted one. Both didn't worked. This one is clean and lightweight.
Badrush over 6 years

That seems to also kill touchstart events so not useful if you want to recognize touch events but not allow scrolling.
John Weisz over 6 years

@Badrush -- Are you sure? I'm using this on my own "draggable" components, and touchstart fires just fine.
Gjermund Dahl over 6 years

This one is brilliant!
chris c almost 6 years

I found this worked for my needs $(".carousel").on('touchstart', function (e) { e.preventDefault(); }); which prevents up and down scroll on my carousel :)
Yury over 5 years

Works great for a canvas element (just put style="touch-action: none" right in the html). What could be simpler! Other solutions from this page failed for me. Thanks!
nevf about 5 years

Chrome now ignore event.preventDefault() for touch events, so this won't work. See: developers.google.com/web/updates/2017/01/…
Turnerj about 5 years

Thank @nevf, I've added a note to my answer pointing that out and referring to JohnWeisz's answer for what seems to be the recommended approach. Glad to know my approach at least lasted a few years. 🙂
JScarry about 4 years

This worked for me on iPad (iOS 13) where I only want one item at a time to be moveable. e.preventDefault(); doesn’t seem to prevent the srceen from moving.
Eurobertics over 3 years

Agree, this solution is also best for me as well.
oldboy over 3 years

this was my initial thought but it is not working on mobile
Amir2mi about 3 years

that works when we do not need scroll but touch-action: none; allows having a scroll that cannot be scrolled in touch devices; it is practical when scrollbar-width is none.