If your iPhone keeps freezing, you’re not going to be very happy about that. You want your device to be fully functional, and if your iPhone freezes often, that’s sure to upset you.
You don’t need to panic, though. Just read our article as we explain what to do about your frozen iPhone.
What Does It Mean if Your iPhone Keeps Freezing?
When we talk about your iPhone freezing, what we mean is that you’re using it, and the screen becomes stuck. Your device might get stuck on the Apple logo, the Home screen, or maybe there’s some other image on the screen when it happens.
Often, your iPhone will only freeze when you’re doing one particular thing with it. If you notice that the Apple logo appears when you’re trying to use a single app, for instance, or if you get a frozen or unresponsive iPhone when you try to download the latest version of iOS, that’s a clear indication of what’s going on.
Now, let’s talk about what you can do about if your iPhone keeps freezing.
Try a Force Restart
Attempting a force restart, also sometimes called a force reset, of your device is probably the first thing you should attempt if you have a problem with your iPhone freezing. This is not difficult to do, regardless of which model of iPhone you have.
If you have a generation of the iPhone that can support and has iOS version 15 or later downloaded to it, you will press and then quickly release the Volume Up button and then do the same thing with the Volume Down button. Then, you will press and hold your device’s Side button. Once you see the Apple logo on the screen, you can release the Side button.
If you have an iPhone SE or an iPhone 6, 7, or 7 Plus, then you must do a force restart a little differently. If you have an iPhone 7 or 7 Plus, you will press and hold the Sleep/Wake button and the Volume Down button simultaneously. When you see the Apple logo, you no longer have to press and hold the buttons down.
If you have an iPhone SE or a 6S, then you can press and hold the Home button and the Sleep/Wake button at the same time. Once again, you can let go of the buttons when the Apple logo appears, as that indicates you have done the force restart successfully.
You can also consider getting rid of your older-model iPhone and getting one that can support the latest operating system. That might help as well.
If you still have a problem with your iPhone freezing after that, then move on to the next fix.
Free Up Some of Your iPhone Storage
Sometimes, you might see an iPhone frozen because of a lack of storage space. That may sound a little strange, but the reason for it is actually simpler than you might think.
Some files that your iPhone requires for updates take up enormous chunks of your limited storage space. If you don’t have very much memory left on your smartphone, things like crashing and freezing can occur.
The solution to your frozen iPhone problem might be to free up some storage space on your iOS device. You can do so looking at your non-native apps and seeing whether you would be willing to delete any of them. You can also free up some storage by deleting some of your personal photos and videos, but that will not give you nearly as much space as getting rid of some apps.
If you get rid of some apps, you might be able to replace them with similar ones. Playing the role of app switcher on your device and clearing some space might get your frozen iPhone running again.
If that didn’t work, move on to the next fix.
Update All Your Remaining Apps
If you’ve gotten rid of any apps you don’t need, and your iPhone still keeps freezing, you can update all of your remaining apps at this point. Go to the App Store and check to see whether there are any updates for your applications. If there are any, tap the updates and wait for them to install.
If you’re still having the freezing issue with your device, try this next fix.
Get Rid of Any Faulty Apps
Maybe you noticed that your device started freezing or crashing after you downloaded a new app from the App Store. If the two things happened right after each other, it makes sense that one has to do with the other.
Try getting rid of the app by pressing down on its icon with your finger until it starts vibrating and a little “X” appears alongside it. Press the X to eliminate the app.
With some more recent version of your iPhone and iOS, the app icon will spring into focus when you press it, and the rest of the screen behind it will go blurry. You will see an option that says, “Remove App,” with a little minus sign next to it. Tap the minus sign to confirm you want to delete the app.
Now, see if the phone is performing any better. If it’s not, then keep reading.
Try Putting Your Phone in Recovery Mode
There’s a deeper restoration that you can do with the iPhone that you might try at this point. It’s called recovery mode, and it can fix deeper problems with your device if a forced restart wasn’t good enough to fix a software problem. This can often restore iPhone functionality if nothing you’ve tried yet has worked.
You will use an Apple-approved USB cord to attach the iPhone to your laptop or desktop that has the latest version of iTunes installed on it. Open iTunes, then you will wait until the recovery mode screen appears.
If you have an iPhone 8 or a more recent version than that, you will press and immediately let go of the Volume Up button. Then, you will do that with the Volume Down button. Press and keep holding down the Side button till you see the screen that says Recovery Mode.
If you’ve got an iPhone 7 or the 7 Plus, then you will press and hold down your Top or Side button along with the Volume Down button. You can keep holding them down till you see the Recovery Screen.
For those iPhone users with an iPhone 6, an iPhone SE, and anything older than that, you will hold down both the Home button and the Side or Top button. Release them when you see the Recovery Screen.
Occasionally, iTunes errors might force you to try putting the phone in recovery mode multiple times, but you should get it eventually. You can always watch videos of people doing it on YouTube if you’re having a hard time getting it to work. It takes a delicate touch.
You should see an option that says Restore, and another that says Update. Tap Update. The laptop or desktop you’re using will now attempt to reinstall your software while letting you retain all the saved data that you had. This should take a few minutes.
You can now try using your smartphone and see whether it keeps freezing. You should have the most recent version of its operating system that Apple provides, and hopefully, using recovery mode will have taken care of whatever the problem was.
If you’re still having issues with the device freezing, then it’s probably time to contact Apple Support.
Take Your Device to an Apple Store with a Genius Bar
You can always reach out to Apple via their website and do a Live Chat with them, and you can also call their help number and talk to someone. However, the problem with your smartphone that you’re still experiencing means taking the device to some Apple employees who can look at in person makes the most sense at this point.
What Can the Geniuses Do for You?
You can explain to the employee you talk to what you’ve already attempted in regard to fixing the phone. They might test all the apps you have on the device to see if one of them is causing the issue. They will probably focus on third-party apps, since the native ones don’t usually cause this kind of situation.
They might try a factory reset or something else. Whatever they do for you, they’ll be trying to ascertain whether what’s happening with your device is due to a hardware problem or a software one.
Is Your Device Still Under Warranty?
If you bought your device brand-new, then it should have come with a one-year standard warranty that covers hardware problems. You might have also bought an extended warranty or an AppleCare+ plan. Those ones cover hardware problems as well.
If what’s happening with your iPhone is hardware-related, and it’s still covered by a warranty or an AppleCare+ plan, then the Geniuses should not charge you anything to fix it. If there’s a software issue happening or the phone is no longer under warranty or an AppleCare+ plan, then you might have to pay to get it fixed.
How much it will cost depends on exactly what’s going on with it. Hopefully, Apple employees will not charge you very much for the fix.
Can You Ignore Your Problem?
It’s always your prerogative whether you want to ignore a problem that’s happening with your iPhone. If you think the cost of fixing it is too prohibitive, you can instruct the Geniuses not to do it.
However, your iPhone freezing will prevent you from doing very much with it, so you will probably have no choice but to pay for the fix. The other thing you can do is to trade in your device and put the money you get toward a brand-new one.
Sell to Us at Buyback Boss
If you decide to do that, then you can sell the phone to us right here at Buyback Boss. We can’t give you as much for the device because it keeps freezing, but we can still buy it for parts, and you can put the cash we give you toward your new phone.
