If you’ve ever stood at a trade show watching a large touchscreen demo get splashed with a drink, or wondered if that big interactive display in a gym lobby will hold up during a rainstorm, you’ve probably asked the same question I get all the time as a large screen touch screen supplier: Are these things actually waterproof? Large Screen Touch Screen
It’s a fair question. We live in a world where these displays are showing up everywhere—retail storefronts, outdoor event stages, poolside fitness centers, even busy restaurant dining areas where spills are inevitable. For years, I’ve had customers hesitate to pull the trigger on a big touchscreen investment because they’re worried water will turn it into a paperweight. Let me break this down, not with some generic tech jargon, but with what I’ve learned from 12 years of building, testing, and supporting these screens for hundreds of businesses.
First, let’s get one thing straight: there’s a huge difference between “water-resistant” and “waterproof.” A lot of suppliers will throw those terms around interchangeably, and that’s where a lot of confusion starts. When I talk to clients, I always make that distinction clear right away because it changes everything about what they can expect from their screen.
Most standard large touchscreens—think the 55-inch, 65-inch models we sell for indoor use like office meeting rooms or retail kiosks—are not waterproof at all. Wait, let me rephrase that: they’re barely water-resistant, if at all. We had a customer a few years back who installed a 75-inch standard touchscreen in a coffee shop, and within three months, a barista spilled a full latte on the edge. The screen died within 48 hours because moisture seeped through the seam between the glass front and the frame, right into the internal components. That’s not a failure of quality—that’s exactly what standard indoor screens are designed to handle, which is zero direct contact with water. Their only protection against moisture is a thin layer of sealant around the edges, enough to block accidental minor splashes, like a drop from a water glass knocked over on a counter, not full-on spills or rain.
Now, if your use case is outdoor or high-moisture environments, you need an IP-rated screen. IP stands for Ingress Protection, and it’s an international rating system that tells you exactly how well a device is sealed against solids (like dust) and liquids (like water). The rating has two numbers: the first is for solids, the second for water. For example, an IP65 rated screen has a 6 (completely dust-tight) and a 5 (protected against low-pressure jets of water from any direction). That’s the sweet spot for most outdoor large touch screens. We installed a set of 86-inch IP65 screens last year at a concert venue for their festival wayfinding stations, and they got sprayed with rain, hosed down after shows, even splashed with beer from rowdy crowds—no issues, not a single glitch all season.
But here’s the part most people don’t realize: even IP65 isn’t “waterproof” in the way you might think. Let’s clarify that rating. The 5 for liquid means it can withstand water jets at 6.3 liters per minute, at a pressure of 30 kPa, for three minutes, from any direction. That’s enough to handle rain, splashes, even being sprayed with a hose at low pressure. But it’s not designed to be submerged. If you dropped an IP65 screen in a pool, it would die immediately. We’ve tested that, by the way—once, a client tested a prototype by accident when it tipped over into a water trough at a trade show. It worked for 10 seconds, then the water seeped through the frame and shorted out the motherboard. So that’s another key distinction: waterproof for large touch screens, for all practical purposes, means protected against water exposure without failure under specified conditions, not submersible.
The technology that makes these large screens water-resistant or waterproof isn’t magic—it’s all about the seal. Standard touchscreens use a thin glass front bonded to the display panel, with a rubber or silicone gasket around the edge that creates a barrier. For IP-rated waterproof models, that gasket is reinforced, and every seam between the frame, the glass, and the back panel is sealed with industrial-grade epoxy that can’t break down from moisture or UV exposure (super important for outdoor screens, since sunlight breaks down regular sealant over time). We also use edge-to-edge glass on all our waterproof models—no exposed seams along the front, which eliminates a huge entry point for water. That’s a design choice we made after a bad experience early on: a client had a screen with a small gap between the glass and frame, and dust and moisture built up over time, blurring the touch response. So edge-to-edge glass isn’t just for looks—it’s a critical part of the waterproof design.
Another common question I get: can I make my standard touchscreen waterproof? Can I just buy a waterproof case? The short answer is no, not really. We’ve had customers ask for this, and we tried testing a few third-party cases a couple years back, and the results were terrible. The cases add bulk, which makes large touchscreens hard to mount on walls or kiosks, and most of them interfere with the touch sensitivity. When you press a touchscreen, you need the glass to register the exact pressure, and a thick rubber case changes that. Also, the cases rarely seal all the openings for ports, like HDMI or power cables. You can get waterproof enclosures for outdoor use, but those are bulky, expensive, and not ideal for touch—most require you to press through a thick plastic layer, which makes the touch feel unresponsive. For our customers, it’s almost always better to just invest in a purpose-built waterproof large touchscreen than to hack a standard one with a case.
Let me give you a few real-world examples of where our waterproof screens are working right now, to make this concrete. A hotel in Florida installed 65-inch IP65 touchscreens by their pool deck, so guests can check their bills, order food, or reserve cabanas without going inside. During hurricanes last year, the pool area got hit with heavy rain and wind-driven water, and those screens stayed up and running the entire time. Another client is a stadium in Texas that uses 75-inch IP67 screens (that’s a higher rating—7 means dust-tight, 7 means protected against immersion in up to 1 meter of water for 30 minutes) at their outdoor concession stands. When they wash down the stands every night, they spray the screens directly with a high-pressure hose, no covers, no removal, and they never have to turn them off. That’s the level of protection most businesses actually need.
Of course, there are limits, and I always make sure my customers understand those. Waterproof doesn’t mean indestructible. We had a client that tried to submerge an IP65 screen in a hot tub for a photo op, and it didn’t survive. The 30-minute immersion rule for IP67 is for room-temperature water, not hot tub water, which has chlorine and chemicals that can break down the seal over time. Also, even the best waterproof screens can get damaged if water seeps in through a cut or a scratch in the glass. We always recommend a protective screen cover for any outdoor screen, because a small chip in the edge can create a gap where water can get in.
Another point that’s often overlooked: touch sensitivity in waterproof screens. Early on, a lot of waterproof large touchscreens had terrible touch response—they’d register a press only after you applied a lot of pressure, or they’d miss taps altogether. That’s a problem no one wants, especially if you’re using a touchscreen for wayfinding or ordering. We solved that by using projected capacitive touch technology, which is the same kind of touch you find on your phone. That technology works even when the glass is wet, because it detects the electrical charge from your finger, not just the pressure. So even if water is dripping down the front of the screen, it still registers every tap, swipe, and pinch perfectly. That was a game-changer for us—before that, our waterproof screens were seen as niche, now they work just as well as standard indoor screens for touch responsiveness.
So, to circle back to the original question: Are large screen touch screens waterproof? The answer is: It depends. If you’re talking about a standard indoor screen, no, it’s not waterproof, it’s barely water-resistant to minor splashes. If you need a screen that can handle rain, spills, high-pressure washing, or accidental submersion, then yes—there are purpose-built waterproof large touchscreens, rated to international standards, that are designed to handle exactly that. But you can’t just take any touchscreen and call it waterproof, and you can’t expect a waterproof screen to survive being submerged for hours or exposed to extreme chemicals without maintenance.
As someone who’s been in this business for over a decade, my biggest piece of advice for anyone looking to invest in a large touch screen is to be honest about how it will be used. If it’s going in an office, meeting room, or retail store with controlled indoor conditions, a standard screen is fine and affordable. If it’s going outside, near a pool, in a restaurant where spills are frequent, or in any space where direct water exposure is a possibility, you need an IP-rated waterproof screen. Don’t cut corners on this—we’ve had too many customers buy a cheap “waterproof” screen from a supplier that didn’t actually test it, only to have it die after a month of rain or a spill.
At the end of the day, large touch screens are an investment, and you want one that will last as long as possible. The last thing any business wants is to have to replace a $10,000 screen because they got the wrong one for their environment. If you’re not sure what kind of screen you need, or you want to ask more about our waterproof models, our team is here to help. We can walk you through the different IP ratings, the use cases that work best, and even connect you with references from other clients who are using these screens in similar spaces. Don’t hesitate to reach out to discuss your project and find the right solution for your needs.
AR Coated Glass References:
- International Electrotechnical Commission. (2017). IEC 60529: Degrees of protection provided by enclosures (IP Code).
- Industrial Technology Research Institute. (2020). Projected Capacitive Touch Technology for Water-Resistant Display Applications.
- Display Supply Chain Consultants. (2022). Global Large Format Display Market: Outdoor Segment Analysis.
- National Institute of Standards and Technology. (2019). Testing Water Resistance of Consumer Electronic Displays.
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