Section 10: Basic Troubleshooting to Fix Most Common iPhone Problems

Simply put: sometimes your iPhone doesn’t work the way you expect it, or doesn’t work at all. Often there are simple little fixes you can do. Less often it will be a serious problem that will require professional fixing. If your iPhone isn’t working, here’s a roundup of the most basic steps you can take.

Restart a Problem App

Apps can get confused and not behave the way that they should. For example, on my iPad the Weather Channel app will sometimes fail to update, still showing the temperature and forecast from the last time I used it several hours earlier. The simple fix is to quit the app and start it again.

On an iPhone without a Home Button, swipe up from the bottom of your display. On an iPhone with a Home Button, double tap it to bring up the carousel of running apps.
Swipe left and right to navigate between apps.
One you have navigated to the app you wish to restart, slide up to quit it.
Then tap the app icon to restart it.

Restart Your iPhone

As with a desktop computer, sometime your iPhone can stop working correctly. And as with a desktop computer, the first thing you should try is restarting your iPhone. Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button until you get a message asking if you want to power off. Slide the button to confirm you want to do so. It will take a minute to power down. When it’s done, press and hold briefly the Sleep/Wake button as you ordinarily would to power on your iPhone.

Force Restart Your iPhone

The very first iPhone I had froze a few days after I got it. It didn’t respond to any touch or press. But having been a Mac user for years, I intuited it was simply a matter of forcing it to restart. If your iPhone freezes and doesn’t respond, press and hold both the Sleep/Wake and Home buttons until your iPhone shuts off then restarts. (Of course, the obvious first thing to do when your iPhone doesn’t respond is to make sure your battery is charged by plugging it in for a half hour and then trying again.)

Download the Latest Version of iOS

Another important basic step if your iPhone is misbehaving is to download the latest version of iOS. Sometimes the behavior you’re seeing is a known issue, and Apple will have released a fix.

Go to Settings and tap General.
Select Software Update.
If an update has been issued, you’ll see an indication that it’s available.

Reset All Settings

If your iPhone is slow and/or seems to have various issues, another option is to Reset All Settings. This clears all the settings, thereby getting rid of anything that might be problematic — but it retains your data.

Go to Settings and tap General.
Scroll down adn tap Transfer or Reset iPhone.
Select Reset and follow any on-screen instructions.

Reset and Restore from a Backup

In a worst-case scenario, if nothing else is working and your iPhone isn’t useable, you may need to reset your iPhone to its factory settings (which erases all your date) and then restore from a backup.

First determine whether you have a current backup by going to Settings and tapping on your name at the top.
Next, tap iCloud.
Tap Manage Account Storage.
Tap Backups.
Here, tap a device listed to see the date of your latest backup. Hopefully it will be fairly current so that you can proceed. Keep in mind that your photos and videos are not backed up here, you'll have to check to see if they are backed up in iCloud.
Next, return to Settings and tap General.
Scroll down and tap Transfer or Reset iPhone.
Before you tap “Erase all content and settings” please triple-check that all your data, photos, messages, contacts, etc. is backed up or you will lose it for good. This should be your last resort!

Once you confirm that you want to proceed, you'll be able to follow the on-screen instructions to erase everything, then pick a backup to reset your phone and get the content back from your iPhone.

Toggle Airplane Mode on When Getting a Connection Failure

Sometimes your iPhone will fail to connect to your cellular data service or to a Wi-Fi router. Often the fix simply entails turning on Airplane Mode for 30 seconds to disconnect from wireless services and then turning it off. This will cause your iPhone to forget the previous connection and make a fresh one. To turn on Airplane Mode, slide up the Control Panel from the bottom of the home screen and tap the airplane icon. You can also try removing and then reinserting your iPhone’s SIM card.

Try “Forget This Network” for Wi-Fi Issues

If you’re having Wi-Fi issues and toggling Airplane Mode doesn’t work, then go to:

Open Settings and tap Wi-Fi.
Select the particular network.
Tap Forget This Network.

Now try reconnecting to it and signing in again.

Check Battery Usage if You're Having Excessive Battery Drain

If your battery drains faster than is typical, there are a couple things to try. A simple first step is to restart your iPhone, which can often fix the problem. The next step would be to go to Settings and tap Battery to see the details of which apps are using your battery. It not only shows the apps you’ve been actively using, but also how much energy is being drained by apps using your battery in the background.

If an app is taking a lot of energy in the background, you might want to turn off "background app refresh" by going back to General in Settings and selecting Background App Refresh. Here you can toggle it on or off for specific apps.

If you check on your Battery in Settings and tap Battery Health & Charging, you will see if your battery is still working as it should. You should contact Apple Support if your battery is at 80% or higher after being charged approximately 500 times and used normally.

iPhone Photos Blurry? Here’s the Quick Fix

The iPhone 14 and 13 Pro Models have a fantastic new macro mode feature. Macro photography is close-up photography of small things such as plants or insects. To take these, your iPhone will automatically shift from the primary wide lens to the ultra-wide lens, which brings the subject closer and changes the focus. If the camera detects something within 5.5 inches of the lens, this will happen automatically.

The automatic mode change can happen if something passes near the lens or in low light. Sometimes this happens even if there isn't anything close to the lens, and it can be frustrating. It can even cause you to miss a moment you are trying to capture because you need to take the time to refocus your camera. The two things that help are to turn on Macro Control.

How to Turn On Macro Control

Some iPhone users have noticed their iPhone camera zooming in too much, suddenly and unexpectedly. This may be due to the new auto macro mode feature rather than a camera malfunction or software glitch. While it is impossible to turn macro mode off, toggling on Macro Control makes it easier for you to understand it's on and manually turn it off.

Open Settings and tap on Camera.
Toggle on Macro Control.
With Macro Control toggled on, you’ll see the macro icon pop up any time it is activated automatically. Tap the icon to turn macro mode off.

How to Reach Out to Apple Support

If you’ve tried troubleshooting yourself and reaching out to Ask an Expert (should I explain this more or link to something?) you can reach out to Apple Support directly. If you want to contact Apple support, your options are:

Download the Apple Support app.
Visit Apple Support's website.
Visit your local Apple store.
Call 1-800-APLCARE (1-800-275-2273).
Tweet Apple.

How to Use the Apple Support App

The Apple Support app is by far the easiest and most comprehensive way to contact Apple. As soon as you download it from the App Store, it will be ready to go, knowing all your registered devices and Apple subscriptions, as well as listing devices and subscriptions that you aren't registered for, letting you search for a friend or something of yours that isn't showing up as a registered device, such as a smart keyboard, a Mac accessory, or any of the programs you aren't subscribed to. You can also look into the full gamut of Apple customer service offerings if you need more options.