The iPhone is arguably the most expensive product compared with any other brand/model you may find in the market of equivalent specifications.
But Apple has built a formidable reputation for itself in building superior products that deliver unmatched performance.
This is one reasons why the company is still able to price its products higher than competition and there are buyers ready to stand in a queue outside their stores to buy iPhones on the day they are released.
However, this prized possession can give you some problems at times and you may be aware that as much as the phone costs a bit more, if you took it to a service center, you could lose money.
The better way is to learn how to fix certain issues yourself. Here are some of them:
Fixing Issues Related to Startup
If you picked up your iPhone one morning and found it is not unlocking or the home screen does not come up, you can say it is a startup problem.
The fist remedy—as you would generally try with a PC or any other device—is to switch the iPhone off and do a restart.
If you are not familiar, you just need to long-press the power on/off button and the phone will ask you if you wish switch off; swipe yes and you will see the device closing down.
You have to repeat the process to have the phone restarted. This could solve the issue and you may find the iPhone functioning normally.
One has assumed here that your iPhone had some minimum charge available on the battery. You could charge the iPhone for a few minutes and then check.
There’s a way to force-start force-restart: hold down the Power and Home buttons together for a few seconds. The phone may crackle to life even if the battery had minimum power to it.
Using iTunes to Restore the Functioning of Your iPhone
One of the easy fixes for a startup issue with the iPhones is to connect the phone to a desktop computer. You should have iTunes installed on the desktop device.
With the phone and the desktop connected you can try the same way as above to restart: hold the Home and Power button pressed simultaneously for a while.
You will see the Recovery Mode screen on the phone’s display. Until this appears, keep the 2 buttons pressed. You will then have to choose the “Update” option.
Now Apple will try and load the latest iOS version all over again on your phone. And you need not worry about any of your data within the phone getting erased.
That will be safe. This process should end the trouble you faced with your iPhone and you can resume using the device as before.
Check If the Latest iOS Update Is Installed
Even without taking recourse to the above iTunes solution, you can check if your iPhone has the latest iOS installed in it.
Apple has just released iOS 12 and unless your device is too old a model (iOS only works on iPhone 5s and above), you will be able to get the software updated to iOS 12.
This is a practice Apple follows, unlike Android where only a small proportion of the smartphones get the update to the latest version.
To do this, head straight to Settings and find the General button and tap on it to reach Software Update. Tapping on it will reveal if there is an update available.
You can then download and install it, and the difficulties you had with the phone may be remedied.
Try Some Reset Options
There are occasions when out of sheer curiosity, users or children at home or even friends could fiddle around the iPhone and inadvertently make some changes in the settings. This could be the cause of your troubles with the device.
There are Reset options available to get out of this issue. One way is to choose “Reset All Settings.” You should go the same route as above, Settings, then General and in the menu options there, there will be Reset All Settings; choose that and it will virtually restore all changes made on the iPhone and will be as it was when you first unlocked it.
Using Backup to Restore Factory Settings
If none of the above suggestions are working, you may have to clean up your iPhone and restore it factory settings. But before you do this, you must ensure you don’t lose any data on your phone.
You will need to be sure that there is a backup of all phone data. You can check if the backup has been done by going to the Settings menu, and then selecting General > iCloud > Storage and then clicking on Manage Storage. There will be the last date the backup has occurred.
If the backup has been made recently, you should have no worries and you can head back to Settings. If not, then you will have to manually backup the data on your iPhone.
It is within the same iCloud option where you can choose Update Now and if your phone is connected to Wi-Fi (preferably), the backup will be done.
Now, to restore your phone to factory settings, go to Settings > General, choose the “Erase All Content and Settings” option. This will mean many actions you had initiated earlier may have to be redone to bring your phone’s look and feel to suit your liking.
—————————-
In all probability, the above five solutions should be enough to get your iPhone back to functioning normally. There can be a couple of other related issues like fast battery drainage or the device getting overheated.
Battery usage could be due to a particular app consuming more power in the background. You can check and close such apps to fix this.
On the question of overheating, the normal reasons for that is if the device has been exposed to direct sun or through a car window.
That’s why it’s best to keep your phone in a room-temperature environment for long periods of time.
If none of these solutions work, then you may be left with no alternative but to approach the nearest Apple service center.