Your iPhone is on, but the screen is black. Your iPhone rings, but you can’t answer the call. You’ve tried resetting your iPhone, letting it run out of battery and plugging it back in, and your iPhone screen is still black. In this article, I’ll explain why your iPhone screen went black and what you can do to fix it.
Why Is My iPhone Screen Black?
A black screen is usually caused by a hardware problem with your iPhone, so there usually isn’t a quick fix. That being said, a software crash can cause your iPhone display to freeze and turn black, so let’s try a hard reset to see if that’s what’s going on.
To do a hard reset, press and hold the power button (also known as the Sleep / Wake button) and the Home button (the circular button below the display) together for at least 10 seconds.
On the iPhone 7 or 7 Plus, you perform a hard reset by pressing and holding the volume down button and the power button at the same time until the you see the Apple logo appear on the screen.
And if you have an iPhone 8 or newer, perform a hard reset by quickly pressing and releasing the volume up button, then quickly pressing and releasing the volume down button, and then pressing and holding the power button (iPhone 8) or the side button (iPhone X or newer) until that Apple logo appears.
If the Apple logo appears on the screen, there probably isn’t a problem with your iPhone’s hardware — it was a software crash. Check out my other article on frozen iPhones, which will tell you exactly what to do to fix your iPhone. If the Apple logo doesn’t appear on the screen, keep reading.
Let’s Take A Look Inside Your iPhone
iPhone Logic Board
A brief tour of the inside of your iPhone will help you understand why your screen is black. There are two pieces of hardware that we’ll talk about: Your iPhone’s display and the logic board.
The logic board is the brains behind the operation of your iPhone, and every part of your iPhone connects to it. The display shows you the images you see, but the logic board tells it what to display.
Removing iPhone Display
The entire display of your iPhone is removable, but it’s a lot more complicated than you might think! There are four major components built into your iPhone’s display:
- The LCD screen, which displays the images you see on your iPhone.
- The digitizer, which is the part of the display that processes touch. It digitizes your finger, which means it turns the touch of your finger into a digital language your iPhone can understand.
- The front-facing camera.
- The Home button.
Each component of your iPhone’s display has a separate connector that plugs into your iPhone’s logic board. That’s why you might be able to swipe across the screen with your finger, even though the screen is black. The digitizer is working, but the LCD is not.
The black stick is touching the display data connector
In many cases, your iPhone screen is black because the cable that connects the LCD to the logic board has become dislodged. This cable is called the display data connector. When the display data connector becomes dislodged from the logic board, your iPhone can be fixed by plugging it back in.
There are other cases where the fix isn’t so simple, and that’s when the LCD itself is damaged. When that happens, it doesn’t matter if the LCD is connected to the logic board or not — it’s broken and it needs to be replaced.
How Do I Know Whether My Display Is Dislodged Or Broken?
I’m hesitant to write this because it is by no means a hard and fast rule, but I have noticed a pattern in my experience working with iPhones. There are no guarantees, but my rule of thumb is this:
- If your iPhone display stopped working after you dropped it, your screen is probably black because the LCD cable (display data connector) has become dislodged from the logic board.
- If your iPhone display stopped working after it got wet, your screen is probably black because the LCD is broken and needs to be replaced.
How To Fix A Black iPhone Screen
The way you choose to proceed may depend on whether your iPhone LCD cable has become dislodged from the logic board or if the LCD is broken. You can use my rule from above to make an educated guess.
If the LCD cable has become dislodged, the Genius Bar at an Apple Store may repair it free of charge, even if your iPhone is out of warranty. That’s because the fix is relatively simple: They’ll open your iPhone and reconnect the digitizer cable to the logic board. If you decide to go this route, make an appointment with the Genius Bar before you arrive — otherwise, you could end up standing around for a while.
If the LCD is broken, that’s another story. It can be very expensive to repair your iPhone display, especially if you go through Apple. If you’re looking for a high-quality, less-expensive alternative, I recommend Puls, an in-person repair service that will come to you, fix your iPhone on the spot, and give you a lifetime warranty.
If you’d rather get a new iPhone than have your current one repaired, check out the UpPhone phone comparison tool. You can compare the prices of every smartphone on every wireless carrier. Carriers are eager to have you switch to their network, so you may find that you can get a new iPhone for roughly the same cost as repairing your current one.
Repairing Your iPhone Yourself Usually Isn’t A Good Idea
Star-shaped (pentalobe) screws keep your iPhone closed
iPhones aren’t meant to be opened by the user. Just take a look at the two screws next to the charging port of your iPhone — they’re star-shaped! That being said, there are excellent repair guides out there if you’re feeling adventurous. I took the images in this article from a repair guide on iFixit.com called iPhone 6 Front Panel Assembly Replacement. Here’s a brief excerpt of that article that may sound familiar:
“When reassembling your phone, the display data cable may pop off its connector. This can result in white lines or a blank screen when powering your phone back on. If that happens, simply reconnect the cable and power cycle your phone.” Source: iFixit.com
If you believe your iPhone LCD cable (display data cable) has simply become dislodged from the logic board, you’re very tech-savvy, and going to an Apple Store isn’t an option, reconnecting the display data cable to the logic board isn’t that difficult, if you have the right tools.
Replacing the display is very complex because of the number of components involved. Let me be clear: I do not recommend you try to fix this problem yourself, because it’s just too easy to break something and “brick” your iPhone.
You Know What You Have To Do
Most readers won’t be able to fix their iPhone screen just by reading this article, because a black iPhone screen usually isn’t caused by a software issue. Everything was working fine until your iPhone screen went black. Now you can’t use your iPhone at all, but you do know what to do next. I’m interested to hear how you fixed your iPhone in the comments section below, and any experience you can offer will undoubtedly help other readers with the same problem.
Thanks for reading and all the best,
David P.
All iPhone images in this article by Walter Galan and licensed under CC BY-NC-SA.
I have an iPhone 7 Plus, it’s about 2 years old. I never dropped it bad enough to make a cable inside phone disconnect and I didn’t get water into it, but my screen went black 2 days ago. I have an Apple Watch, and due to that I can still access text messages and make calls. This happened after I plugged in my charger and it started to go whacky and saying it was charging then not charging. What caused this issue? What can I do to fix it, if I can? Or, should I skip everything and make… Read more »
Hi. My iPhone 6 won’t turn on and I have charged it for a whole day! I’ve never dropped it or got it wet and I’ve done the hard reset multiple times but it still isn’t turning on.
Brilliant! Thanks David for your words of wisdom and sharing your very precious knowledge – stopped me throwing my iPhone at something hard with the frustration of another black screen episode! Greatly appreciated!
Hi David
My iPhone 8 has a problem whereby the screen goes blank then i have to lock it and unlock it. This happens very often, especially when I try to scroll through photos.
The phone fell and the back cover had a serious crack.
PLEASE HELP!
Hi. My iPhone 8 isn’t really stuck on the black screen. It just goes black randomly, then I have to lock it and unlock it. This happens every single time I try to scroll through my photos. Please help!
My 2nd Gen SE is suffering from the black screen issue although I can tap the screen and hear clicks and or vibrations. Luckily I was able to unlock it and update to 15.1 and the screen did come back after rebooting then went black as soon as I went to make a call. I went through the various reset methods to no avail. Since I was able to get the screen to light up I feel the connections are ok and perhaps there’s a hardware issue.
I have this problem too but I got a new screen and it won’t turn on. I can tap the screen and hear clicks but nothing shows and it’s a brand new screen I ordered.
This just happened to my iPhone 6s. Strange, a lot of people are having the exact same problem all at the same time.
Hard reset fixed my black screen. Thank you!!
Hello David,
My screen was blacked out. I pressed and held the power button and the Home button ) together for at least 10 seconds. but it is not working. The apple logo is not displaying. Need your kind assistance please.
Hello David, a few months ago my iPhone 7 battery started going down very fast. One day it went flat but it never turned on again. I have tried absolutely EVERYTHING! And I still have an unresponsive black screen. This iPhone 7 was a refurbished model and only lasted me 3 months! I am in desperate need of help!
Hello David, I just wanted to let you know, I have an iPhone 6 SE and my screen came off easily without removing those torxhead screws for the charger port.
Hello. My iPhone XS Max dropped a while ago and everything was fine until today when I woke up and I was on my phone completely normal. Then it went black. It won’t charge, and it won’t reboot with these techniques
Hi David,
I have the iPhone 6s Plus and my stuff isn’t working. I wanted to know why so I left my phone in my room on the charger and I came back and my screen was blacked out. So, I performed the hard reset and it worked. The thing is that when I unlock my phone, go into any app, or just go to the Home page, it glitches like how a phone would if you dropped it or had water damage. Then it slowly starts to fade black and it goes right back to being blacked out.
My iPhone slowly faded into black 🙁
hello DAVID
now my iPhone it have this problem 4 time in this month.
it still working but iPhone screen is black. Usally I just wait 3-4 hour then it still working normal .
but I wanna know that when another on call on telegram app to me my iPhone screen is black..
Have you tried doing a DFU restore?
My charging port wasn’t working and I had it replaced by a technician for my iPhone 7. The brightness is gone & the display is dark. I could only see the Apple logo when I turn my phone on.
Any fix suggestions for my screen?
Hi. Randomly, my phone has started to go black. Meaning i have to keep pressing the power button for it to come back on again. Sometimes it takes a while to come back on. However, sometimes — once turned on — it will take a few minutes for it to turn off again. I tried putting my phone down and waiting to see if it went black on its own, but it stays on just fine until I start using it again. It also turns off when I try to use the volume.
Hi there. I have an iPhone 7 that is stuck on a black screen. I tried to restart it and plug it in. Any help would be great, thanks!
Hello David, my iPhone SE (2016) screen is black. I have tried multiple different hard resets, and even tried to put it on a charger for an hour and repair it.
The Apple logo doesn’t even show up. If you’d like to know of any prior events I can tell you it’s never gotten wet. It’s not refurbished and it wasn’t used when I bought it back in may of 2020. I’ve only dropped it four times. What could be the issue and how can I solve it?
Hi David. I dropped my iPhone 7+ and the battery was dead at the time. I plugged it in to charge and now it has a black screen with vertical colored bars on the right side of the screen. I can hear texts and it buzzes when I get a call. Does this sound like an LCD cable getting disconnected from the logic board?
Hi David,
My iPhone screen is black. I do a hard reset by quickly pressing and releasing the volume up button, then quickly pressing and releasing the volume down button, and then pressing and holding the power button (iPhone 8) or the side button (iPhone X or newer) until the Apple logo appears. But it’s still not working — just vibrates. What can i do next?
Hi Vi, unfortunately, it sounds like you might need a repair. Make an appointment at the Genius Bar and take your phone into a local Apple Store. If there isn’t an Apple Store near you, check out a local repair shop. Best of luck!
Thank you, David — from Cambodia!
My iPhone developed this black screen problem maybe 4 days ago. I can’t do anything. I just waited 5 hours then it started working normally again. Now I still problems like this. I want to know why this problem always happens when someone tries to call me on the Telegram app.
Hi Zequasia, check out our article about what to do when an https://www.payetteforward.com/iphone-stuck-on-apple-logo-real-fix/ for more help with this problem! Thanks for reading, and best of luck!
Do you think I have to have my phone repaired? I did the restarting thing you told us to do several times, but my phone still won’t turn on. Please reply and tell me how much it costs.
Hi Byan, it sounds like you may need to have your iPhone repaired by a technician. Unfortunately, repair costs vary a lot depending on the iPhone model and what kind of repair it needs. If you do decide to get your phone repaired, I highly recommend reaching out to Apple Support directly. Having your iPhone repaired by anyone who is not a certified Apple Technician can void your warranty. If you visit your local Apple Store, an Apple Tech will gladly diagnose your phone and give you a quote for repair costs. I’m sorry we couldn’t be of more help,… Read more »
my phone has taken on some water in the shower and it didn’t warn me about anything and randomly my screen went black and wouldn’t turn on I can feel all notifications though I don’t know what the problem is could someone please help me with it because I’m not near a repair store for days and I’m scared to plug it in if it is water damage and might damage my phone even more.
Hi Jackson, that sounds like a stressful situation, I’m sorry to hear you’re having trouble! We actually have an entire article all about iPhone water damage. Here’s a link: https://www.payetteforward.com/iphone-water-damage-ultimate-guide-how-to-fix-liquid-damage/
I hope this helps!
HI. My phone was dropped outside and there are no broken pieces. At the time it was dropped it was very low battery. As I picked up the phone and there was no visible damage, and a few minutes later the battery seemed to die because it had been very low battery for quite a while. When I went to go charge the phone, the screen goes from a black like it is off to a light black like the light is on but I can not get it to reset. When the phone is called it still vibrates and… Read more »
Hi Ashley, its sounds like your iPhone has retained some damage from the impact of the drop. I’d recommend reaching out to Apple Support for a free diagnosis and repair quote. Hope this helps!
My iPhone sent black screen today and I googled that apparently I should wait until it’s completely dead before charging it? Is that correct?
No. When an iPhone won’t charge when the screen is black, what actually is happening is that the software crashed on a black screen — but the phone is still on. The solution is to hard reset your iPhone. It’s likely that anyone who recommends waiting until the phone dies to charge it don’t understand the source of the problem.
Hola tengo un iphone xs max que cuando voy a poner los datos móviles en 3,4 o 5 G la pantalla se congela se olle funcionando pero congelada entonces lo cambio para 2 g y ya no lo hace que pudiera ser ?
My daughters iPhone 7 plus just went dead and will not power on. The screen is black and does not show its charging when I plug it in. I have tried a hard reset and nothing is working. Please help
Hi Brandi, it’s possible that your daughter’s iPhone’s screen is black because of a hardware malfunction. If that’s the case, we don’t recommend trying to repair the phone yourself. Reaching out to Apple Support about repair options is really your safest repair option. If you have an Apple Store nearby, an Apple Tech should diagnose the issue for free, and give you a repair quote. Sorry we couldn’t be of more help, best of luck@
Hi! I’ve been struggling with my 8 plus since I had the front & back glass changed and a battery replacement last week. The phone may refuse to start charging, or it starts charging, but when the phone locks itself and turns the screen off, it’ll freeze and needs to be rebooted. Another thing is, the volume and wake button (also home button) are sometimes slow to react and if the phone’s just auto-locked the screen, it remains black and needs to be rebooted. Apple logo shows, and after the reboot the phone works wonderful again, sometimes for half an… Read more »
Hi Elli. Did you go to a third-party technician to have your screen and battery replaced? If that’s the case, I’m afraid that might be the cause of your problem. We strongly recommend having your iPhone repaired by Apple-certified technicians only.
If you did go to Apple for a repair and you’re still having trouble, I’d recommend reaching back out to Apple Support as soon as possible. It’s not normal to have so many issues after repair servicing from Apple.
Will my iPhone lose all its files when the cable is dislodged? I have my iCloud backed up but I have some passwords that I forgot now and didn’t save and I also have some drafts which I don’t want to lose…
Hey David,So my phone fell and the screen cracked a little. When I pressed the power button nthn comes up. Then I plugged it in the apple sign came up then disappear to a black light screen. Now it’s just the black light screen when it’s plugged in n nothing more. Any idea of what the problem is or could be?
Hi Catholya. Unfortunately, it sounds like your iPhone has retained some hardware damage. Your safest bet would be to go directly to Apple to get the problem diagnosed by a technician. If you have an Apple Store nearby, make an appointment with your local Genius Bar. You can also reach out to Apple’s support team through the mail or online. Check out Apple’s Support page for more details!
Thank you, I have no Apple store near by perhaps in my country. So I am going to go with the support page. Thank you very much Colin.
Glad I could help!
Hello, I changed the battery of my iPhone 5s yesterday but it doesn’t respond to anything. pwr+home buttons aren’t working. When I plug it to the wall charger i doesn’t show anything on screen. I tried mute switch to see if it’s on but it doesn’t vibrate. It’s just like a brick with buttons. I measured the battery voltage and it was 3.7 volts. What can i do ?
Unfortunately your safest bet might be to upgrade to a new iPhone at this point. If you’re sure you want to hang on to your iPhone 5s, it might be worth reaching out to Apple directly about repair options. However, they may not be able to work on it if you replaced the battery yourself or with a third party.
I was making my exam on google forms when suddenly my iPhone 6 screen went black
I tried hard to press on the sleep button and home button but to no avail
I am a teenager so I don’t have enough money to fix it plus I don’t want to open the logic board and
make it miserable
I pressed the hard reset buttons because my phone was lagging. Now it won’t turn on.
Hi Paula, have you tried plugging your iPhone into a charger?
I recently got my iphone 7 screen fixed however the next day while i was using it the screen suddenly went. I also cant reveive calls or messages. The phone was not dropped or anything befotre it went black it just happened suddenly please can you help
Hi Benji, did you have your screen replaced by Apple or a third-party repair service?
I went to turn my phone on and I got no response the screen turns dark blue when I turn it on and I asked my friend to call my phone I could hear it vibrating but it wouldn’t turn on. I have tried a hard reset and I have searched so much and I have found nothing and nothing is working.
It sounds like this may be a hardware issue. I’d recommend contacting Apple support directly to see what your repair options might be.
iPhone 7 … your tip worked a treat! Thanks!!
Its iphone 6s plus btw
So I just charged my phone and then I leave for a while and then when I came back to look, it started showing some vertical lines and slowly dimming until it all turned to black. I can’t touch the screen anymore but I can still feel the home button recognizing my fingerprint it vibrates. I think my father shut it down so now I can’t feel it vibrate. I tried to open it but it won’t. I don’t know what to do I got no money to repair it. I’m still a teenager and I don’t want to make… Read more »
Hi Nicole, the first thing I’d recommend trying is a Hard Reset. To do this, press and hold the Sleep / Wake button and the Home button at the same time. Keep holding both buttons until the Apple logo shows up on your screen. Once the Apple logo shows up, you can let go of both buttons. From there, your iPhone should hopefully turn back on on its own, good as new. I hope this helps!
my iphone 6s+ will not turn on when i press the home button and the turn on button im scared my phone is broken and i won’t be able to use it again
Have you tried a hard reset? To do this, press and hold your iPhone’s Home button and power button simultaneously. Keep holding both of these buttons until the Apple logo appears on your screen. Once you see the Apple logo, you can let go of both buttons and your iPhone will hopefully turn back on on its own.
How long do you have to hold these buttons for the apple logo to appear?
It can take up to several minutes sometimes. Keep holding them, even if it feels like the Apple logo should have shown up by now!
Hello so I just got my iPhone 12 and I use it for a day and it went off and it won’t turn on even when I connect to charger it won’t show on the screen . Nothing shows on my phone and not even on my MacBook . My phone dead what do I do ?
hi. well, I have an iPhone xs, everything works fine other than the display which turns off the screen black and comes on again literally after 3 seconds, its like shutting the whatever application I’m using and its takes me back to home page of the phone. I’m sure its hardware but I don’t know from where I to have start.
If the steps in this article didn’t help, try a DFU restore. If that doesn’t work, then you can rule out software issues and you’ll know it’s caused by a hardware problem.
i just fell down iphone x in water for just 20 second, then i try to dry very well for 3 to 5 day in shutdown condition. After some days i power on my phone and it go verywell for 3 days but after then its screen go black out. i try all method shutdown and all but it can’t working. So, what i should do for it?
So I was about to plug my phone (iphone 7) in and fell down (maybe 2 feet at most) when i looked at my phone the background was black with no screensaver but the time and “slide to unlock” were still lit up. It wouldn’t respond, lock, turn off, so I did a hard reset. The screen went blank but the light was still on like it was trying to turn off. It stayed like that for about 5 minutes so I did another hard reset and it shut off. It never turned back on after that. I plugged it… Read more »
i was scrolling through instagram and my phone just crashes and the screen goes black , after a friend texts me it returns back to normal and all is fine but the same thing has happened again and now the screen is completly black and wont return to normal , i’ve tried a hard reset and nothing worked and i don’t think it’ll be its insides because i haven’t dropped it. its still responding because i can feel it vibrate when i put my thumb on the button ,so im very confused , some advice would be great
thanks sean
This is exactly the same thing that happened to me! if you get an answer i’d love to hear it.
This has just happened to me also. I had it on charge in the car and the screen just went black all of a sudden. Would also love an answer please.
Same here. Whats up with our phones?
I had my phone plugged in to the computer, and all of a sudden when i picked it up it didn’t turn on. How that work???
Mine also have that problem and I fixed it by my self it take only 20 minutes and now it works well. make sure your iPhone has charge and if u use iPhone 7 or 7 plus u have to press and hold the volume down button with the power button together the apple logo will appear and disappear don’t release just continue to do so and will appear again. after that it will show the image that tell u to connect ur iPhone with MacBook, once u connect it there will be a message in MacBook that tells u… Read more »
same happend to me!
my iphone 7 screen went blank it usally will come back on with a reset but its till blank i can feel my phone turing on and vibrating buy rhe hard reset isnt working
Mine also has this problem. I was charging my phone and all of a sudden it want blank I tried the hard reset but still no avail but I could still feel my phone vibrate. I hope someone has a solution to this…
Any update? 🙁 I have this problem right now.
So my phones fully dead and when i put it on charge it charges for a little while then the apple logo shows up for around 3 secs then goes black and keeps repeating itself
Hey So i dropped my phone day before yesterday and the back of my Iphone Xsmax is pretty bad. It was working all fine after that but suddenly from yesterday the screen issues has been started. Yesterday at the night time the screen just automatically starting flashing and it was continue than i turned off my phone. Than in the morning i turned on the phone and increase the brightness and it was working good but the flashing on the screen was still there at time to time. Than suddenly now the screen goes all back. I tried turned off… Read more »
Try contacting Apple to see if you are still under warranty. If that doesn’t work, you may need to get a replacement or go for an upgrade.
Hi there, my iPhone 8 sat outside in the cold all night and I left it to warm up to room temperature for the day and plugged it in after it was warm. The phone vibrated when I plugged it in but the screen is black. I tried to the the rest with the volume button and power button but the apple sign did not appear, any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
same issue with mine, what did you do?
Hi, my ihpone 6 had sand in the port and speaker, I tried getting them out using an unused toothbrush and it did. I did not droped my phone on sand but after that my phone won’t vibrate nor make audio when I play music, I checked on settings and everything needed to be done was already turned on. I tried restarting and it worked! it was on 14%. The first try when I charged it, it turned on and working but no vibration or audio.. 12% and my phone was not charging… I tried again but the second time… Read more »
The iPhone 6 is pretty old, and with the condition it’s in, it’s not worth repairing. Apple will soon discontinue support for the iPhone 6. It’s time to upgrade. The iPhone 12 is a solid option and will get you running with the latest hardware and software support available.
MANY THANKS REGARDING MY I PHONE WHEN IT WENT COMPLETY BLACK I DID FOLLOW YOUR INSTRUCTIONS AND WORK AGAIN KINDS REGARDS DANIEL