- If your iPhone is frozen or unresponsive, there are a few things you can try when troubleshooting the problem.
- First, try a force-restart. If that doesn’t work, you can update or reinstall the operating system.
- If you’re still having problems, you can always contact Apple support.
Dealing with an iPhone that is frozen or unresponsive? There are a few steps you can take to fix it without losing all your data.
If it’s gotten to a point where you can’t turn your iPhone on or off, your first option is a force-restart. In most scenarios, this method should get you unstuck.
Of course, it’s possible a hardware problem is causing your iPhone to freeze. If the troubleshooting steps below don’t work, you can always contact Apple support.
Why is my iPhone frozen?
Your iPhone is frozen because of a software or a hardware problem, but the most of the time, a serious software problem is what causes iPhones to freeze. Here are six reasons why your iPhone may be freezing or unresponsive:
- Your iPhone needs to be restarted.
- Your battery is low.
- Your iPhone is running out of storage space.
- Certain apps are incompatible with your software.
- Your operating system is outdated.
- Your iPhone is having a hardware problem.
How to fix a frozen or unresponsive iPhone
1. Force restart your frozen iPhone
It’s possible a software malfunction has caused your iPhone to freeze. Performing a force restart will help clear out errors that are causing your iPhone to freeze without erasing your apps or data.
Please note, when an iPhone freezes because of a deeper issue like a hardware problem, a force restart might not work at all. That being said, if we’re going to fix your frozen iPhone, a force restart is the first thing we’ll do.
To force restart a frozen iPhone 8 or newer, including iPhone SE (2nd and 3rd generation):
- Press and quickly release the volume up button.
- Press and quickly release the volume down button.
- Press and hold the side button until the Apple logo appears (this takes around 10 seconds).
To force restart a frozen iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus, press and hold both the side button and the volume down button until the Apple logo appears (this takes around 10 seconds).
To force restart a frozen iPhone 6s and older, including iPhone SE (1st generation), press and hold both the Home button and the side button or the top button until the Apple logo appears (this takes around 10 seconds).
2. Charge your iPhone
If your iPhone is frozen and you notice the battery is low, recharging the device for a short time can fix the problem. For the best results, plug your device directly into a power adapter – avoid charging it wirelessly or plug it into a computer’s USB port. Let it charge for at least one hour and then try to use it again.
3. Free up storage space
If you’ve been using your iPhone for a long time, chances are it’s pretty packed with apps, photos, videos, and other media. And like all devices with internal storage, those precious bytes are finite. As your iPhone starts to near its storage capacity, there’s a chance that some basic performance functions begin running slower, or stop working altogether.
Fortunately, your iPhone will send you automatic notifications when internal storage starts running thin. If you receive one of these messages, or notice your byte-count is on the low side, try deleting a handful of apps that get little to no use.
It also doesn’t hurt to remove some photos and videos from the device (and these files can be backed up to iCloud). Just a quick few deletes may be enough to take the strain off your iPhone, allowing it to perform reliably once again.
4. Make sure your apps are updated
Have you noticed your iPhone is only unresponsive when you’re using a certain app? It’s happened to us before, and sometimes the fix is as simple as ensuring you’re running the most up-to-date version of the app that’s causing trouble.
Open the App Store app and tap on the Account icon in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Scroll down to find a list of your apps with available updates.
Tap Update next to any apps you want to update. You can also update all of your apps at once by tapping Update All at the top of the list.
If you are running the latest firmware, you could also try deleting the problematic app. Find the app you want to delete and press and hold on its icon. Tap Remove App when the menu appears on the screen. Then, tap Delete App. Finally, tap Delete to confirm your decision and uninstall the app from our iPhone.
If your iPhone still freezes after this step though, it would be wise to reach out to the app developer (via the App Store) to let them know about the glitchy performance.
5. Update your operating system
If your iPhone is still frozen after trying the steps above, the next thing to do is update your iPhone to the latest version of iOS. If you can interact with your iPhone well enough to get into the Settings app, then tapping General > Software update is the fastest and easiest way to do this.
Otherwise, you’ll have to update using a computer.
How to update an iPhone on your computer:
On a Mac running macOS® Mojave 10.14 or earlier or a PC, you’ll use iTunes®. On a Mac running macOS Catalina 10.15 or later, you’ll use the Finder®. Follow these steps:
- Connect your iPhone to a computer using a USB cable.
- Select your iPhone on your computer.
- While your iPhone is connected, follow these steps:
- On your iPhone 8 or later, including iPhone SE (2nd and 3rd generation): Press and quickly release the volume up button. Press and quickly release the volume down button. Then press and hold the side button.
- On your iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus: Press and hold the side button and volume down button at the same time.
- On your iPhone 6s or earlier, including iPhone SE (1st generation): Press and hold both the Home button and the side button or the top button at the same time.
- Keep holding the buttons until you see the recovery mode screen.
- When you get the option to restore or update, choose Update.
- Your computer will download the software for your device. If it takes more than 15 minutes, your device will exit recovery mode. Repeat steps 2-4.
6. Factory reset your iPhone
If updating your iPhone doesn’t resolve any software-related issues that could be causing your iPhone to freeze, then the final option you can try is restoring your iPhone back to factory settings.
This will erase everything on your iPhone, returning it to its original out-of-the-box state. It’s the best way to confirm that the problem you’re encountering is actually hardware and not software, but of course, you’ll lose everything on your iPhone unless you already have a backup, or you’re able to make a new one.
If you’re using iCloud Backups, you should already have an automatic backup made sometime in the last 24 hours — as long as your iPhone was connected to Wi-Fi and plugged in at some point during that time. Otherwise, you’ll have to try making a new backup to your Mac or PC.
Unfortunately, if your iPhone is completely unresponsive, you’ll only be able to do this if you’ve previously connected your phone to your computer. Otherwise, your iPhone will prompt you to "Trust" what it sees as an unknown computer, and you won’t be able to confirm that security prompt to grant access to the data on your iPhone.
Nevertheless, even if you can’t get a recent backup, you may still want to go ahead and perform a factory reset anyway. Depending on the apps you use and the kind of data on your iPhone, a backup may not be as critical since your important data may already be stored in other cloud services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud Photo Library, or Google Photos. However, we don’t recommend assuming this is the case — make a backup if at all possible, and be prepared to lose at least some of your data if you choose to proceed with a factory reset without a backup.
How to factory reset an iPhone on your computer:
- Connect your iPhone to a computer using a USB cable.
- Select your iPhone on your computer.
- While your iPhone is connected, follow these steps:
- On your iPhone 8 or later, including iPhone SE (2nd and 3rd generation): Press and quickly release the volume up button. Press and quickly release the volume down button. Then press and hold the side button.
- On your iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus: Press and hold the side button and volume down button at the same time.
- On your iPhone 6s or earlier, including iPhone SE (1st generation): Press and hold both the Home button and the side button or the top button at the same time.
- Keep holding the buttons until you see the recovery mode screen.
- When you get the option to restore or update, choose Restore.
- Your computer will restore your iPhone to its factory settings..
When your iPhone finishes the restore process, go through the initial setup without restoring your data from a backup. By setting your device up as a new iPhone you’ll be able to confirm that the device is working properly. Once you’re satisfied, you can restore your backup by factoring resetting it again and choosing to restore your backup during the setup process.
7. Contact Apple support
If you still have had no luck reviving your frozen iPhone, your device may be having a hardware problem. Contact Apple support for further assistance.
Conclusion
We’ve fixed the reason why your iPhone is frozen and you’ve know what to do if your iPhone ever freezes again. Hopefully, you’ve discovered which app or service was causing the problem and you’re confident it’s fixed for good. I’m interested to hear what specifically caused your iPhone to freeze and how you fixed your iPhone in the comments section below. Your experience will help others fix their iPhones too.