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My iPhone Won’t Turn On! Here’s The Real Fix.

    David Payette
  • 6 years ago
    • Categories: Power

Your iPhone will not turn on and you’re looking for help. It’s a problem that can be easy or difficult to fix, depending on the cause. In this article, I’ll help you determine the reason why your iPhone won’t turn on and show you how to fix your iPhone when it isn’t turning on.

Be Careful Of Misinformation About Why iPhones Won’t Turn On

I wrote this article because I’ve seen a lot of other articles that claim to have a solution to the “iPhone won’t turn on” problem, but based on my experience as an Apple tech, the other articles have only one piece of the puzzle — or the information is just plain wrong.

Why Won’t My iPhone Turn On?

Your iPhone won’t turn on because either the software crashed and needs to be reset or restored, or a hardware problem is preventing your iPhone from turning on.

How To Fix An iPhone That Won’t Turn On

  1. Determine Whether Your iPhone Won’t Turn On Due To A Hardware Or Software Problem

    We need to determine is whether a software or hardware problem is preventing your iPhone from turning on. Your iPhone’s software is the easiest to troubleshoot, so that’s where we’ll start. If that doesn’t solve the problem, I’ll discuss the hardware issues that can cause the problem.

  2. Software Crash

    I saw this problem a lot at Apple. Someone would walk in and hand me an iPhone that wouldn’t turn on. I’d do a hard reset and their iPhone would immediately spring back to life. Astonished, they’d ask, “What did you do?”

    Cross your fingers and try a hard reset. To hard reset your iPhone on an iPhone 6S or older, press and hold down the Sleep / Wake button (the power button) and the Home button at the same time, for at least 20 seconds or until the Apple logo appears on the screen.

    On iPhone 7, simultaneously hold the power button and volume down button instead.

    To hard reset an iPhone 8 or newer, quickly press and release the volume up button, then press and release the volume down button, then press and hold the side button until the Apple logo appears.

    Sidenote: Why Can A Hard Reset Fix An iPhone That Won’t Turn On?

    If a hard reset fixed your iPhone, your problem was never that your iPhone wouldn’t turn on, because it was on the whole time.

    A lot of people think their iPhone won’t turn on when their iPhone is on, but the software has crashed so it’s displaying a black screen and not responding. It’s an easy mistake to make, because an iPhone in that condition is almost indistinguishable from an iPhone that’s turned off.

    Fixing A Software Crash

    If you’ve determined that your iPhone’s software is the reason your iPhone won’t turn on, I recommend you backup and restore your iPhone. When a software problem is that bad, it’s time to fix the software. You can learn about how to do the deepest type of iPhone restore in my article about how to DFU restore an iPhone.

  3. Check Your Lightning Cable And Your Charger (Don’t Skip This Step)

    If your iPhone won’t turn on, try charging your iPhone with another cable and another charger, or alternatively, try charging someone else’s iPhone with your cable and your charger. If their iPhone charges and yours doesn’t, don’t skip to the next step just yet.

    A common, less-documented issue is some iPhones will charge when connected to a laptop computer, but not with the wall charger. Even if your friend’s iPhone charges with the same cable and wall charger, it’s possible that your iPhone will not. Without going into a detailed discussion about why this happens, try charging your iPhone using a USB port on your computer if you usually use a wall outlet, and try a wall charger if you usually charge your iPhone with your laptop.

    To learn more about how to fix iPhone charging problems that can be related to this issue, I recommend you check out my article called My iPhone Won’t Charge.

  4. Make Sure It’s Not Just The Display

    If your iPhone still won’t turn on, plug your iPhone into your computer and open iTunes (PCs and Macs running macOS 10.14 or older) or Finder (Macs running macOS 10.15 or newer). Does iTunes recognize your iPhone? If it does, back up your iPhone right away. If there’s a serious hardware problem, this might be your last chance to back up your data.

    If your iPhone shows up in iTunes of Finder and you can successfully back it up, or if it’s making any noises at all, you may need to have your iPhone’s display repaired. My article about what to do if your iPhone screen turns black can help. Scroll to the Repair Options section at the bottom of this article to learn what to do next (and possibly save some money).

    If your iPhone doesn’t show up in iTunes or Finder, try doing a hard reset while your iPhone is connected to your computer. Do you see any error messages? If iTunes says you need to restore your iPhone, do it.

    If you’ve tried the previous steps and your iPhone still won’t turn on, there’s probably no way to recover the data that’s on your iPhone now unless you have an iTunes, Finder, or iCloud backup. The only other option for recovering data is to use one of the very expensive iPhone data recovery companies you can find with a Google search.

  5. Check For Physical Or Liquid Damage

    For those of us who’ve dropped our iPhones and got away with it, iPhones are tough. For people whose iPhones stopped working after they watched their daughter’s softball game in the rain, iPhones are fragile. Drops and spills can cause damage that stops iPhones from turning on.

    Water damage is insidious and unpredictable. A spill from a week ago can cause a problem to occur today for the very first time. A drop of water got in the charging port and your iPhone won’t charge, but your friend spilled a glass of water on his iPhone and it works just fine — we hear stories like this all the time.

    Do a visual inspection of the outside of your iPhone — is there any damage? If it’s minor, Apple may ignore it and replace your iPhone under warranty.

    Next, check for liquid damage. Your iPhone’s warranty doesn’t cover liquid damage unless your have AppleCare+, and even then, there’s still a deductible. To learn how to check if your iPhone has water damage, check out our comprehensive guide on iPhone liquid damage.

  6. Repair Options For When An iPhone Won’t Turn On

    If you’re under warranty and there’s no physical or liquid damage, Apple will probably cover the repair for no charge. If you’re not, Apple can be expensive—but there are good alternatives.

    Now might be a good time to get a new cell phone. iPhone repairs are expensive, and your device may have multiple hardware problems. Repair companies often need to replace every broken component. Those repairs will add up quickly, and your bill may be hundreds of dollars. It may be more economical to upgrade to a newer iPhone. Check out UpPhone’s tool to compare every cell phone on every wireless carrier.

Your iPhone Is Turning On Again: Time To Wrap It Up

By this point, you’ve determined why your iPhone won’t turn on and the next steps to take if your iPhone needs to be repaired. If it helped you, please share it with your friends, especially because so many other articles out there are filled with inaccurate information on this subject. I’m interested to hear about your experience with troubleshooting and how you fixed your iPhone in the comments section below.

View Comments (564)

  • My iPhone won’t switch on at air, if I hold the two buttons down after 20 seconds it makes a noise like a siren but stays off

  • my iphone 6s that was in the closet for a very long time, has a cracked display, took the case apart and nothing looked off. Also tried doing the button reset method. does not charge on my laptop and wall outlet. the charging port looks dirty so that might be the problem. but im pretty sure when an iphone does not have any charge, it supposed to display a red battery on the screen.

  • i spill some water on my iphone 12 after half hour my phone still working i can pick up calls listen the notficantion my screen is black when i tried to hard reset it with button i gt the apple logo but doenst open

  • My Iphone is just showing two white lines when I turn the phone one and thats it. It seems to be able to charge but that is all.

  • I tired everything on my iPhone 6 except for the computer one bc I don’t have a computer but none of it works, is there anything I can do?

  • Please how do I switch on my iphone 7 when it just keep showing the apple logo and not switching on

    • Try a hard reset by simultaneously pressing and hold the side and volume down button until the screen goes black and the Apple logo appears. If that doesn't work, check out our other article to learn what to do when your iPhone is stuck on the Apple logo.

  • Well my iPhone 8 had blacked out and wouldn't turn on so pressed the up then down then the power button and screen display thanks for the help truly appreciate

  • My microphone on my iphone 7 plus just started not to work. I cannot record, or do a facetime or a videocall or anything. I updated it to the last version and it still did not work. Then i read that i should "reset all" (which does not affect my media or data), but after this it is not working again, nor is it opening. It just shows the apple logo. What do i do?

  • Hey there! My iPhone 7 Plus is having some pretty bad issues. As of right now, it's completely dead. But usually, it'll have the normal low battery screen with the red battery icon. My iPhone is dead but completely pitch black, no low battery symbol or anything. It'll occasionally show up once I plug and unplug a million times. My charger is fine, I've tried different outlets like computers. I've even scrubbed the charging port out. What do I do? Please help.

  • My iPhone 6 fell into water. It worked for some hours and got low and charged it after some minutes it turned off. I had left it in rice for two days now but it won't turn on. I tried the reset and it doesn't even bring out the Apple Logo. Please I need help.

  • My iPhone 6s Plus isn't turning on. I switched it off and it hasn't turned back on yet. I tried the method but it doesn't work so can someone help me please?

    • Try a hard reset while plugged into your computer and connected to iTunes (PCs and Macs running macOS 10.14 or older) or Finder (Macs running macOS 10.15 or newer).

  • Thank you so much! I got really scared when my iPhone battery got drained and I plugged it in to a wall outlet. Still, it won't open even when charging for almost 1 hour. I followed step 3 — I changed the cord and used a power bank — and the phone restarted almost immediately.

  • My mom has an iPhone 6. I tried restoring it via iTunes and thought it would almost fix the problem until it didn't turn on when I tried to restart my phone. Any idea what might have happened?

  • My hand me down iPhone 6 display screen turned black. I followed your wakeup/home button method of restart and it worked. Thank you!

  • THANK YOU very much for the information in your articles. Because of you, I went from panic mode to fix it myself!!!

  • My iPhone 6s Plus wont turn on. It started while I was using my back camera, then the lens stopped working. It's just black, then I press lock button. Then the whole screen turns black then loading sign for a few minutes, then I started to press the home bottom but it didn't work. Again, I long pressed the home and lock bottom now my phone is completely blackout. I don't know what to do. HUHU

    • Hi Ivy, if the problem began while you were using your camera, that may be the cause of the problem. Were you using your iPhone's built-in camera app, or a third-party camera app when this issue occurred?

  • When my phone was at 3% I went to go plug it in, and since the previous owner broke it, now it won´t charge when I am on it. It has to be completely shut off. And for some unknown reason (this is the first time this has happened) it will not turn on. It would usually turn on when its at 3% and I have to shut it down again. How do I fix it?

  • Thank you so so much for this! This is the second time my phone shut off and wouldn't turn back on. The last time, it was out of commission for almost a week. I tried the hard reset and it worked! So grateful for your tips :)

  • my iphone 6 wont turn on and just shows the battery symbol with a bit of red and has been on charge for many hours and hasn't changed. how do i fix

    • Hi Thomas. I'd recommend trying to plug your iPhone into a different power source. If it's currently plugged into a wall charger, try plugging it into your computer or car charger. If that doesn't work, I suggest trying a different charger. Hope this helps!

  • Hi, please help me with my iphone 5s. My phone don't want to continue starting. It stops in the manual setting..already do the hard reset but still not working. It says, unable to activate, an update is required to activate your phone. This happens after upadating to ios 12.5.1. I connect my phone to itunes but it says the iphone could not be activated because the activation information could not be obtained from the device. What is the problem? What should i gonna do?

  • Hi,

    My Iphone is not turning on, not charging at all, screen completely blacked out. Its just 5 days since I started using the phone.
    Did hard reset, just about everything possible from my end, any other suggestions?

    Thank you

  • Tried all options my iphone restarts regularly by itself and sometimes doesn't restart. Hard reset sometimes works sometimes it doesn't. Ant ideas

  • hello my iphone 11 zoomed in then i was fixing it but it opened the guy that speak and he started speaking then it zoomed in more and the touch stopped then the screen turned black but the sound is still working what can i do to fix it?

  • My phone only gets to the apple logo and nothing else happens. I'm charging it with a wall outlet and laptop. when I use iTunes it states no space.

  • my phone will not charge or turn on at all i have to stand it up to charge it but it stops working now i dont know what to do

  • my phone is off but it still gets notification and I can still type in my password, go on apps but i cant see what im doing its just pitch black the screen. It was working perfectly fine couple days ago i let it charge overnight and it wont turn on. I did everything. what do i do?

  • You are an angel!
    The itunes trick worked, I persevered with some very long pressing of home and sleep buttons together, but eventually itunes recognised the phone and brought it back from the dead.
    Thank you so much!

  • I have an iPhone 6s that has been acting up for the past few months. Plugged uncharged to 100%. When I unplug it, it immediately drops to 10%. The battery was replaced 2 years ago. Today, after charging all night, it won't take a charge. I checked all of my cables, they work with other devices. I've plugged the iPhone into an outlet charger, my radio with a USB port and my laptop. Still no charge. I tried a hard reset, nothing. Cleaned the charging port, nothing. Any other suggestions?

  • My iphone died and now when i try to charge it it will say it's charging then not charging over and over again and there is no debris in the charging port and I can't even soft reset.

    • Have you tried using a different charging cable? You can also try a different adapter (charging brick) and a different outlet.

  • My iPhone turns off ok but when I try to turn it back on that’s the problem it doesn’t come back on I have to plug it up then it comes back on . I need help with this . Any suggestions thanks in advance

    • If your iPhone won't turn on without being plugged in, that sounds to me like there's an issue with your battery. It's probably time to upgrade to a new iPhone if you are running anything older than an iPhone 8. I recommend checking out our cell phone comparison tool to help you find a new device that won't burn a hole in your wallet in the process! You can sort for phones by price, manufacturer, screen size, internal storage, and more so that you can find exactly what you need without paying extra for bells and whistles you'll never use.

  • My Iphone 7 was dropped today and although I have seen no physical damage it has been unresponsive since. I have let it charge and have also tried many different ways to try and reset it or restart it. It does not show up in iTunes either. It doesnt respond to anything at all and doesnt make any indications of it still working.

  • my phone died and it just have a black screen some times it cut on but its just black screen i try every thing but it wont cut on so what do i need to do i have a iphone 6s+

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David Payette: I'm a former Apple employee and the founder of Payette Forward, and I'm here to help you with your iPhone.