General Troubleshooting Tips for iPhone and iOS

David W. Martin ()

General Troubleshooting Tips for iPhone and iOS

A number of Cult of Mac readers, and numerous more on Apple’s Discussion boards, have reported a bevy of problems–some large, some small–after upgrading to iOS 4 or the iPhone 4. I don’t plan on boring you with a list of what users were complaining about. Instead, I will give you four troubleshooting tips that generally fix most, but not necessarily all iPhone and iOS problems.

The following four procedures will work to solve a number of problems and it is recommended that you try them in the following order:

  • If you are experiencing any issues with your iPhone the first thing to try is to restart or reset your iPhone by holding down the sleep and home buttons until the Apple logo appears.
  • If you are experiencing network issues then open the Settings app, then go to General -> Reset, and choose “Reset Network Settings” this will reset all your network settings to the factory defaults. If you had any Wi-Fi network passwords saved you will lose these and have to re-enter them the next time you connect to a one of the previously saved networks. If you are not experiencing network issues go to the next tip below.
  • If you are still having problems then open the Settings App , then to go General -> Reset, and choose “Reset All Settings” (note: this will not erase your apps, media, or other data — that’ what the “Erase All Content and Settings just below this option will do). “Reset All Settings” just restores the factory default Settings preferences that you might have customized (i.e. your ringtone, etc.).
  • Finally if none of the first three troubleshooting tips work you can restore your iPhone by plugging it into a computer running iTunes. It is recommended that before proceeding that you allow your iPhone to sync and perform a backup in iTunes before continuing. Once you’ve confirmed that you have a good back up then in iTunes, locate and click the Restore button under the Summary tab for your iPhone. Restoring the phone will erase contacts, calendars, photos, and other data on the phone, but will restore automatically backed-up information including text messages, notes, call history, contact favorites, sound settings, widget settings, etc.

The first three troubleshooting options generally resolve most iPhone and iOS problems. The fourth option is fairly drastic and is therefore considered to be a catchall. These options have been used to resolve network connectivity issues, problems with bluetooth devices, proximity sensor issues, and a bevy of other reported problems with iPhones and iOS.

If none of these work for you then you might consider following the Apple iPhone Troubleshooting Assistant before calling AppleCare or visiting the local Genius Bar.

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9 comments »

About the author

dwmartin

David W. Martin has more than 20 years of experience in the industry as a programmer, systems and business analyst, author, and consultant. David has written for CNET's iPhoneatlas.com and MacLife.com he currently writes for CultofMac.com and BYTE.com. He comes to Cult of Mac's website with deep knowledge and passion for the all things Apple. Follow David on Twitter @david_w_martin.

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Posted in How-To, iOS, iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S, iPhone 4, Tips & Tricks | Tagged: , , , , , |

  • Amanda

    I was helping a new-iPhone-owner set up her accounts and such, and couldn’t for the life of me get gmail to work. It kept saying she had an incorrect username and/or password, which was completely untrue. I delete the account from settings and did a hard reset, twice, both attempts failing, the second time having closed all the apps running first…each time with the account REAPPEARING in the settings after deleting it. WTF, I’m thinking. So then I delete the account from the settings page again, then go back to the home screen, close all the apps running in the multitasking pane then just put the phone to sleep, then wake it up, THEN do the hard reset. FINALLY the account was actually gone from settings, so I enter it again, and it is authorized.

    That…was obnoxious.

  • Daytripp

    An app can also be killed/cleared when frozen by holding sleep till the power off screen comes up, release the sleep button then hold down the home button. It clears out that app and brings you back to the home screen.

    Since voice control was added this kill feature got buried.

  • http://www.howiesweb.com Howie Isaacks

    How refreshing to get a list of troubleshooting tips instead of another list of gripes.

  • d

    Very Useful info to have – thanks for posting this!

  • Dinesh

    I also found by hard resetting the iOS Device twice in a row (holding HOME and POWER at the same time till Apple Logo appears) fixed some of my battery percentage issues and various other problems.

  • David Voros

    I have the iPhone 3G and installed ios4 which has considerably slowed down my access to applications. I have also noticed that when I try to turn off the passcode to get to the phone menu, that it does not allow me to turn it off. Has anyone found a solution for these problems?

  • Dave Miller

    In my Contacts I have an untitled group under From My Mac with nothing in it.
    Also I have an untitled group under MobileMe with nothing in it.
    How do I get rid of these untitled groups?

  • http://www.cultofmac.com/general-troubleshooting-tips-for-iphone-and-ios/50001#singleAdsContainer GaryB

    i have some problem with my set time (like wake up time or schedules appoinment), they go on at add hours, like 3 to 4 hours ahead. can anybody help?

    please & thanks

  • Ken Vieira

    During a conversation I realize that the other person can’t hear me. When I look at the phone I realize the MUTE icon is on (blue). Once I touch it it’s fine but it happens often when I first make a call. I try not to get my ear next to the screen but it still goes mute early during the call.