Millions of people own iPhones and rely on them day to day. Whether it’s phone calls, emails, texts or entertaining the kids, you need your iPhone to work 100% of the time. If your iPhone has begun to freeze unexpectedly, you may need help unfreezing the phone and diagnosing the issue. This article will outline all the possible reasons for a frozen iPhone, as well as how you can fix it.
An iPhone may freeze due to low storage space, outdated software, bad apps, broken hardware or if it has not been restarted recently. To unfreeze an iPhone so that you can fix these issues, you can perform a hard reset, factory reset, restore a backup, enter recovery mode or repair the hardware.
You can read in more detail how these issues can affect your iPhone and what you can do to fix it. Even something as simple as typing can cause the phone to lag or freeze, but this is also an easy fix.
iPhone Freezes And Restarts
If your iPhone is freezing and restarting, there could be several reasons why. Some common causes include a software issue, a faulty app, or a hardware problem. Here are some troubleshooting steps you can try:
- Update your software: Make sure that your iPhone’s software is up to date. Check for any available updates through the Settings app.
- Force restart your iPhone: Press and hold the “Power” button and the “Volume Down” button at the same time until the Apple logo appears.
- Remove faulty apps: If the issue is caused by a specific app, try removing it from your iPhone.
- Reset your iPhone: Try resetting your iPhone to its factory settings. This can be done through the Settings app.
iPhone Keeps Freezing
There are a number of causes for a frozen iPhone, which have been listed below. These issues can cause the phone to freeze at different times, which I will explain further down.
· Low Storage Space
· iPhone has not been restarted in a while
· iPhone in not up to date
· Firmware bugs in an app
· Hardware malfunction
Regardless of the cause, you will need to unfreeze the phone so that you can use it again. Here are the ways you can unfreeze an iPhone.
Hard Reset
Restarting your iPhone can be different depending on which model you have. For the later models, including the iPhone 8 and above, you will need to follow the steps below.
Step 1: Press and release the ‘Volume Up’ button.
Step 2: Immediately press and release the ‘Volume Down’ button.
Step 3: Immediately press and hold the ‘Sleep/Wake’ button until the iPhone restarts. This should take approximately 20 seconds.
For the iPhone 7 models, you will only need to press and hold the ‘Volume Down’ and ‘Sleep/Wake’ buttons simultaneously until the phone resets. For any earlier models, this is the ‘Home’ and ‘Sleep/Wake’ buttons instead.
Enter Recovery Mode
Recovery mode allows you to update or reset your iPhone through your computer, in case you are not able to access these functions because it is frozen. Once in recovery mode, you might like to try the suggestions below or updating the iPhone to prevent it freezing again.
You can enter recovery mode via the steps mentioned above, under ‘Force Restart’. A force restart is performed using the same buttons, but they are held for a longer period of time compared to when you enter recovery mode. Once in recovery mode, follow the steps below.
Step 1: Plug your iPhone into your computer.
Step 2: Open Apple iTunes.
Step3: Manage your phone by restoring from a backup, resetting the iPhone, or updating the software.
Restore iOS From Backup
Restoring a backup for your iOS can be done using iCloud or iTunes. If your phone automatically backs itself up, this will be to the iCloud, whereas iTunes is used for manual backups. If you can still access your phone and have a backup on the iCloud, you should follow the steps below.
Step 1: Erase all data using the steps below, under ‘Reset to Factory Defaults’.
Step 2: Wait for the iPhone to restart.
Step 3: Run through the setup process, selecting ‘Set Up Manually’.
Step 4: Select ‘Restore from iCloud Backup’.
Step 5: Follow the remaining instructions to finish setting up the phone.
If you have a manual backup on iTunes or you cannot access the functions on your phone, you can both reset and restore your backup in iTunes. Follow the steps below to reset and restore your iPhone.
Step 1: Connect your iPhone to the computer.
Step 2: Select the device icon (phone image) towards the top left of the iTunes window.
Step 3: Under your device, navigate to ‘Summary > Restore’.
Step 4: Follow the instructions to erase the iPhone.
Step 5: Ensure the device window is still.
Step 6: Select ‘Restore from This Backup’.
Step 7: Highlight your backup and select ‘Continue’.
Reset to Factory Defaults
If you are happy to erase all personalised settings and downloaded content from your iPhone, you can restore it to its factory settings. This will provide a clean slate and will often remove any bugs from the system. This can be done following the steps below.
Step 1: Open ‘Settings’ from the phone’s main menu.
Step 2: Navigate to ‘General > Reset’.
Step 3: Select ‘Erase All Content and Settings’.
Step 4: Wait for the phone to restart.
Alternatively, if you cannot access the functions on your phone, you can reset the iPhone through iTunes. This has been detailed in steps 1-4, under ‘Restore iOS from Backup’ (iTunes) above.
Hardware Repair
Some issues could be related to malfunctioning hardware within the iPhone. Unfortunately, nothing can fix these issues except repairing or replacing the phone. If this is the case, you will need to contact Apple, keeping in mind when your warranty expires.
iPhone Keeps Freezing and Restarting
Your iPhone may keep restarting every time it freezes. This can be due to one particular function causing an error in the software on the phone, such as performing an update or changing the settings. Most commonly, this is a result of a firmware bug.
If it is one particular function causing the issue, you should be able to identify what you were doing or what you changed on the phone before it started having issues. You may have installed a new app or changed a notification setting, etc. To solve this, you should try performing a hard reset, mentioned above.
If you think it may be a firmware bug causing the issue, you should ensure your iPhone is up to date. You can do this using the method outlined below.
Step 1: Open ‘Settings’ from the main menu on your iPhone.
Step 2: Select ‘General’ and then ‘Software Update’.
Step 3: Select ‘Download and Install’ if an update is available.
Step 4: Follow the prompts to update the iPhone at a time convenient to you.
iPhone Keeps Freezing and Closing Apps
Your iPhone may be closing one or multiple apps when it freezes. This would appear that the apps are crashing. If this is the case, you should try the following fixes.
Update All Apps
Updating the apps on your iPhone will minimise any firmware bugs from the apps themselves. You can do this by following the methods below.
Step 1: Open the ‘App Store’ from the main menu of your iPhone.
Step 2: Select the profile icon in the top corner of the screen.
Step 3: Select ‘Update All’ under ‘Available Updates’ (if any).
Clear Space on Your Phone
You can clear space on your iPhone in many ways. First you will need to assess your storage space, which can be found using the pathway below.
Settings > General > iPhone Storage
Then you can choose from a variety of options to clear space. Downloaded apps and photos take up the most space on iPhones, but you can try the following methods to help clear some space.
· Delete unused apps or photos
Copyright protected content owner: ReadyToDIY.com and was initially posted on July 21, 2021.
· Offload unused apps
· Save photos to iCloud
· Review personal videos to delete
· Review large attachments in your messages
Reinstall the App
If you notice that the phone only freezes and crashes when using a particular app, you can try reinstalling the app. This will automatically download the latest firmware for the app and may also delete any cache data or firmware errors that are causing the app to malfunction. Follow the steps below to reinstall an app.
Copyright article owner is ReadyToDiy.com for this article. This post was first published on July 21, 2021.
Step 1: Press and hold the app you want to reinstall.
Step 2: On newer iPhones, select ‘Edit Home Screen’.
Step 3: Press the ‘x’ in the corner of the app to delete it.
Step 4: Press the ‘Home’ button, or select ‘Done’ to return the menu to normal functions.
Step 5: Open the ‘App store’.
Step 6: Find and reinstall the app in question.
iPhone Keeps Freezing when Typing
There are two main reasons your typing may cause the iPhone to freeze. Either there is an overload of temporary data in a particular app, causing it to malfunction, or you are experiencing keyboard lag across all functions.
Safari is a common app where users experience these issues. The main fix is to clear browsing history. This is one way of clearing unnecessary temporary files that could be causing the app to lag. Another way of doing this is to reinstall the app in question.
If you are experiencing keyboard lag on your phone across multiple apps and functions, you should try resetting the keyboard dictionary. This can be done using the steps below.
Step 1: Open ‘Settings’ from the main menu.
Step 2: Navigate to ‘General > Reset’.
Step 3: Select ‘Reset Keyboard Dictionary’.
Step 4: Enter your password when required.
iPhone Keeps Freezing on Lock Screen
There is not much you can do within your iPhone if it freezes on the lock screen. In this case, you should try turning the iPhone off and on again or performing a hard reset. If these do not work, you may need to reset to factory defaults, which you can find detailed at the beginning of this article.
iPhone Keeps Freezing After/During Update
If your iPhone freezes after you have performed an update, this is likely to be a firmware bug in the new update. In this case, you may need to restore to a previous iOS so you can use your phone again, and wait for a new update to be released.
You could also try resetting the phone to its factory settings. Both of these methods are detailed at the beginning of this article.
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ReadyToDIY is the owner of this article. This post was published on July 21, 2021.