Why does my iPhone keep restarting, and what do I do about it? We trust our iPhones and they need to work all the time. It would be great if there was a single reason why iPhones restart over and over again, but there isn’t a magic bullet for this problem. In this article, I’ll explain what causes iPhones to keep restarting and I’ll show you how to fix the restarting iPhone problem.
Attention iPhone X owners: If you have an iPhone X or iPhone XS that keeps restarting, please read my new article to find out how to stop your iPhone X from restarting over and over again. If those fixes don’t work, come back and follow this guide.
Why Does My iPhone Keep Restarting?
iPhones that keep restarting generally fall into two categories:
- iPhones that restart intermittently: You can use your iPhone for a while with no problem at all, and then your iPhone suddenly restarts.
- iPhone restart loop: Your iPhone continuously restarts and it’s totally unusable. The Apple logo appears and disappears on the screen, over and over again.
If your iPhone falls into the second category, skip ahead to step 5. It’s impossible to do the first few steps if you’re unable to use the software on your iPhone. Let’s dive in, so you can stop shouting “My iPhone keeps restarting!” at the cat.
1. Back Up Your iPhone
Before we do any troubleshooting at all, make sure your iPhone is backed up. If your iPhone has a hardware problem, this could be your last chance to back up your data. If we need to, we’ll restore your iPhone in a later step, and you need a backup before you restore.
Check out our other article if you need help backing up your iPhone. Once you’re backed up, you’ll be ready to get started fixing the problem if your iPhone keeps restarting or if your iPhone keeps turning on and off.
2. Update Your iPhone’s Software (iOS)
Like Windows on a PC or macOS on a Mac, iOS is your iPhone’s operating system. iOS updates always contain lots of fixes for software bugs and other problems. Sometimes, a software update fixes the problem that’s causing your iPhone to keep restarting or enter a restart loop.
To check if any software updates are available, go to Settings -> General -> Software Update. If an update is available, install it.
You can also connect your iPhone to your computer and use iTunes (PCs and Macs running macOS 10.14 or older) or Finder (Macs running macOS 10.15 or newer) to update your iPhone’s software. If your iPhone is continually restarting, iTunes or Finder might be your best bet.
3. Determine If An App Is Causing Your iPhone To Restart
It’s very rare for an app to cause an iPhone to restart or turn on and off repeatedly. For the most part, the software on your iPhone is shielded from problem apps. That being said, there are over 1.5 million apps in the App Store and they’re not all perfect.
If you installed an app just before your iPhone entered a restart loop, uninstall that app and see if the problem resolves itself.
Settings -> Privacy -> Analytics & Improvements -> Analytics Data is another place to check for problem apps. It’s normal to see several entries in this list. Quickly scroll through the list and look for any apps that are listed over and over again. If you find one, uninstalling that app may fix your iPhone.
4. Reset All Settings
Reset All Settings isn’t a magic bullet, but it can resolve certain software issues. Go to Settings -> General -> Transfer Or Reset iPhone -> Reset -> Reset All Settings to restore your iPhone’s settings to factory defaults. You won’t lose any of your apps or data, but you will have to enter your Wi-Fi password again.
5. Remove Your SIM Card
iPhone restart loops can be caused by issues with your iPhone’s connection to your wireless carrier. Your SIM card connects your iPhone to your wireless carrier, so removing it is best way to troubleshoot issues where your iPhone keeps restarting.
Don’t worry: Nothing can go wrong when you remove your SIM card. Your iPhone will immediately reconnect to your carrier as soon as you put it back in.
Apple’s support article about how to remove the SIM card from your iPhone will show you exactly where the SIM card is located on your iPhone. You’ll use a paper clip to eject the SIM tray from your iPhone.
If removing your SIM card fixes the problem, put the SIM card back in your iPhone. If the problem comes back after you put your SIM card back in, you’ll need to restore your iPhone (step 7) or replace the SIM card with your carrier.
If removing the SIM card doesn’t fix the problem, don’t put your SIM card back in until you’ve completed the next step. If you’d like to learn more about your iPhone’s SIM card, check out my article called “Why Does My iPhone Say No SIM Card?”.
6. Hard Reset
You shouldn’t do a hard reset on your iPhone unless it’s absolutely necessary. It’s kind of like turning off a desktop computer by unplugging it from the wall. That being said, an iPhone restart loop is one of those times where a hard reset is warranted.
To perform a hard reset, hold the power button and Home button (the circular button below the screen) at the same time until your iPhone screen goes blank and the Apple logo reappears.
On an iPhone 7 or 7 Plus, the buttons you need to press to execute a hard reset are slightly different. Simultaneously press and hold the power button and the volume down button.
If you have an iPhone 8 or newer, the process of hard resetting is also different. Press and release the volume up button, then the volume down button, then press and hold the side button.
Regardless of what model iPhone you have, make sure you hold both buttons down together for at least 20 seconds. People were amazed when they’d come into the Apple Store and I’d quickly fix their dead iPhone with a hard reset. They thought they did a hard reset at home, but they didn’t hold both buttons down for a long enough time.
If you removed the SIM card from your iPhone in the previous step, now’s a good time put it back in your iPhone. We’ve eliminated the possibility that your SIM card is causing your iPhone to restart. Hopefully the hard reset will fix the problem where your iPhone kept restarting, but if it continues, you’ll have to reset your device by following the instructions below.
7. Restore Your iPhone
Restoring your iPhone completely erases and reloads the iPhone’s software (iOS), and it can eliminate a slew of software issues at the same time. When we restore your iPhone, we’ll eliminate the possibility that a software issue may be causing your iPhone to restart — that’s why Apple techs do it so often.
Your iPhone needs to be connected to a computer to restore. I recommend doing a special type of restore that Apple techs do called a DFU Restore, which goes deeper than a regular restore and can solve more problems. You won’t find it anywhere on Apple’s website — read my article to learn how to DFU restore your iPhone.
After the restore finishes, you’ll be able to reload all your personal information from your iPhone backup in iTunes, Finder, or iCloud. If you still have a problem, come back here and keep reading.
8. Check For A Hardware Problem
Hardware problems are a common reason why iPhones get stuck in a restart loop. If you’re using a case on your iPhone, remove it before you continue.
Look closely at the charging port on the bottom of your iPhone. Check to see if any debris is stuck inside and for signs of corrosion.
If something doesn’t look right, grab a toothbrush you’ve never used and gently brush out the charging port. A short circuit or other problem inside the charging port can cause all sorts of problems with your iPhone.
9. You May Need To Repair Your iPhone
We’ve eliminated the possibility a software issue is causing your iPhone to keep restarting and we’ve checked for hardware issues on the outside of your iPhone. If your iPhone is in a restart loop, your iPhone probably needs to be repaired.
If you choose to get help at your local Apple Store, make sure you have an appointment with the Genius Bar so you don’t have to wait around.
Wrapping It Up
By this point, I hope we’ve fixed the problem that caused your iPhone to keep restarting. I’d like to hear your experience in the comments section below, and if you have any other questions, feel free to ask them in the Payette Forward Facebook Group.
Problem was not fixed 🙁
Did not work! Guess iPhone 8 in future!
If you haven’t updated to 11.2 yet, try deactivating notifications and running the update. Solved things for me
Someone please help when I removed my sim my phone worked fine but when I put it back in it rebooted again and I can’t restore my iPhone using itunes should I just change my SIM?
Resetting All Settings helped my iPhone 6 a lot!
Thank you so much for details!
Took my iPhone 8 Plus into Apple as the reset, the restore from backup and removal of SIM card didnt stop the problem. The said that today alone there have been so many people complaining about this problem and that its a glitch. To fix is to keep resetting back to factory settings until the wallpaper defaults back to factory and there should be a red exclamation mark above the messages. This may take one time to do (as with my iPad) but my phone took about 8 resets before it solved the problem. Hope this helps someone out there… Read more »
Big thanks to you! Resetting settings worked. Thanks again 🙂
Your article has been incredibly helpful, thank you. My phone has stopped restarting but I’m not sure how to restore my info from my icloud backup
I don’t really know what’s happening to my iphone 5s i just installed the beta for ios 11 it was fine after a few weeks it starts to boot on its own when I updated again it keeps on booting I dunno what to do anymore I am gonna try to do the steps here
My iPod 5 keeps on doing this but lines come up on the screen then it powers of this is also happening to my iPhone 5c and then I put it on charge then I have to wait about 3 hours for it to go start working but then the same thing happens I tried hard reset but it doesnt work can someone please help me
You’re Awesome!! THANKs For sharing ALL your knowledge!! Very very helpful!!!
I tried a DFU restore on my phone but it won’t finish restoring as it turns off before I am able to complete it. What can I do?
iphone and ios will be fauiler concept in future THE DAY IS NOT FAR WHEN IPHONE FOUND IN DUSTBIN ONLY
Anothers bulls*** articles..
my iphone 6 won’t charge and it keeps restarting
I took my iPhone 6 Plus to repaired just ata repair store. $150 bucks later still not fixed. So, I took the SIM card out like you suggested and it worked for 24 hours and now it’s started it again. Ugh. 🙁
SO I took the SIM card out again and I we’ll see how long it last. Sadly I guess I will end having to go to the Apple Store. 🙁
So I removed my sim card and then did a hard reset and held the buttons for a solid minute, then the screen goes black and i hit the power button and it goes back into a state of restarting forever. HELP PLS
My iPhone keeps trying to turn on but never fully comes on it just shows the apple logo and goes off again and then comes back. Over and over again
My iphone 6 is stuck in a restart loop
thank you very much
My Iphone 5s battery can’t drop orderly… when the baterry is on 80% it remains 80 for 15-20 minutes, may be less…. and after that it goes down to 50% (or less), and sometimes it goes up again…. And now, it restart itself and sometimes it can’t start and i have to wait for 5 monutes or so…. can you help please.? what can cause this? can it be repair by changing baterry?
Took the SIM card out. Did a hard reset….same thing. Restarting loop. I’ll be hitting the Verizon store tomorrow
I took my iphone 6 to apple, as it was covered in the limited warranty, and just because my phine was a little bent, they didn’t fix it. They told us that it was a hardware problem. What do I do now?
my friend will help me, restore my phone, and we’ll what’ll happen like tomorrow
thank u tho
By the way, this method also can fix this kind of problem.
My iphone 5s keeps restarting repeatedly. I need to be able to have this phone and I am miserable right now. It seems as though everything just isn’t turining out well in my life.
so i tried all of this, has anyone still had the issue after all this and the replaced the battery?
Iphone 5s …They forgot to say the most important step…. make sure the phone is plugged into a computer, hit the power button, and make sure the logo appears, and then hit/hold the power button / circle button for about 4 secounds for it to disappear, and reappear, and then hit/hold the power buttone/cicle button again for 20 secounds. this will cause the phone to display a message saying support.apple.com/iphone/restore . in itunes there should be an automatic popup saying download/install the update for the new IOS software or restore phone with backup. if it doesn’t pop then unplug the… Read more »
Wow, I’m a complete technophobe but your advice did the trick & my phone is now behaving itself! Many thanks :]
I reed your iphone restart article but my iphone 6 only restarts when i use data plz help
my iphone 5 shows the apple sign and fades away but it connects to itunes and is downloading an update…….removing the sim card did’nt help
Thanks for this article!!! It really helped !!!
I dont have a sim card at all
I suddenly got a message on my macbook pro 13″ that the USB was disabled for using too much power [checked cable with other divice on same macbook and didn’t get the message]. my home button stopped working so I set up assistive touch. The iphone then switched off and looped with the apple logo, it then looped with a charge logo, then went dead. Now I can’t hard reset because the home button isn’t working and itunes doesn’t recognise it as it has no charge and disables the USB ports everytime I plug it into my mac. Any way… Read more »
Mine is always rebooting whenever it was used for about 30 mins (straight)
Mine is still rebooting after i took the sim card out
Same, and I don’t want to pay for Apple to fix it.
Just had this issue was a faulty battery. Fine with my old battery in. Rebooting every 5 min with faulty battery.
Glad you mentioned this. I just had the same thing happen with a “new” battery from ebay. Will put the old battery back in.
How to backup my iphone 5 when it only ok for 5 minutes 🙁
dropped it again
Thanks ! Even my 4S had lint in charging port. Cleaning with toothbrush helped my phone to normal.
Earlier in every 2-3 minutes , phone used to black out with split second appearance of white horizontal lines and restart again.
Thanks! My iPhone 5 kept rebooting when I plugged in my headphones. Checked the headphone port and found a lot of lint in there. Cleaned it out and all good now!
Hi
My iphone 6 plus and my ipad air 2 keep restarting frequently but the iphone’s is more frequent than the ipad. Both are useable. I followed your instruction step by step but i am stock at ” determine if an app is causing the restart”. Have been there but i cant understand a thing of the lists in the diagnostic data area. There are many repeated lists but u fortunately i dont know what they refer to …can you possibly help me pls?
no
Hey ~ My IPHONE5 just keeps re-stetting over and over.. It might be a battery issue but it’s only staying on the Apple or a black screen. So im unable to wipe it or update it. Any tips?
Mine was fixed by turning off mobile data. iPhone 5
mine’s an iphone 4 so it’s probably just time for a new one but i couldn’t do the hard reset because it doesnt stay on long enough and also my powerbutton is broken so it’s kind of hard to get it to restart usually anyway even before it got stuck in a loop.
i cant restore it either because it doesnt stay on long enough for that, there’s about 5-10 seconds between each time it restarts. im pretty sure my phone is unreparable but this was a really helpful article though, so thanks 🙂
iPhone5 kept restarting, even plugged in. Battery showed OK. Tried everything on the page above, to no avail. Over 3 years old and out of warrantee. Bought and replaced battery. VICTORY!!! It works. Prior to that, I couldn’t restore as it would always restart before restore was complete.
and to David Payette, thank you for the forum and help.
Hi, my iPhone 6 Plus 128gb is slightly bend. After it was bend the apple logo was restarting. After ahwile I had to put pressure on the top n bottom screen with with my fingers until it came to the part where I had to type in my password. Sometimes it will work and sometimes it will hang and I had to do a hard reeboot and the apple logo will restart over again. Found out that if my phone is working ok again I cannot leave my phone in lock mode as it will restart again. I have to… Read more »
i read your instructions and they worked flawlessly..thank you for saving me a boatload of cash and time.
i have tried removing the sim card and hard resetting but its still restarting…..help out am losing it
Pls i got a new iphone 5c and jus 3days after i got it, wen u put it on charge it keeps on restartin at first n now wen it charges up to 10% den it stop charging. Wen u remove it from charge it keeps on goin off evry minute so i cant use please help me out.