How to Fix an Unresponsive iPhone or iPad: Troubleshooting Steps

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Key Takeaways

First, try letting your iPhone or iPad charge for 10-15 minutes. Your device will automatically power on when it has enough power. Try multiple charging methods and clean out the charging port if needed. You can perform a “Hard Reset” to force the device to reboot, or restore to a previous version of iOS or iPadOS.

iPhones and iPads are known for their ability to “just work,” but no technology is perfect. If you’ve pressed the Power button and the screen won’t turn on, don’t worry. You can probably make it boot again.

The instructions here can be used to help make any iPhone or iPad boot up and work properly again. However, it could be possible your device has a hardware problem preventing it from booting. In that case, you’ll be out of luck, but don’t give up yet.

Why Won’t My iPhone or iPad Turn On?

There are a variety of reasons why an iPhone or iPad might refuse to boot up. It could simply be a fully depleted battery caused by charging issues or something more serious, like corrupt firmware. Unfortunately, there’s not really any way to find out without some trial and error. We’ll start with the common, easy solutions and work our way toward the more involved fixes.

Plug It Into the Charger and Wait

Generally, you’ll see some sort of “low battery” indicator when you try to turn on an iPhone or iPad and it doesn’t have enough battery power. However, when the battery is completely dead, it won’t even have the power left for that, and you’ll just see a black screen.

Connect your iPhone or iPad to a wall charger and let it charge for a little while—give it a good 10-15 minutes. If the battery is completely dead, you can’t just plug it in and expect it to respond immediately. When there’s enough charge to do so, an iPhone or iPad will automatically turn on while charging .

If it still doesn’t turn on, you might want to try some different charging cables or wireless charging if your iPhone supports it . We want to give the device a good chance to charge up enough to power on. This is the easiest solution, so it’s good to rule this problem out before continuing.

Clean Out the Charging Port

Tim Brookes / How-To Geek

Now, you might not want to give up on charging just yet. Sometimes, dust and lint can sneak their way into the charging port and get in the way of the connection. Every time you plug in your charger, it just packs that debris tighter and tighter, making the problem worse.

Grab a flashlight and take a peek inside the port. If you see some debris that looks like it shouldn’t be there, it’s time for cleaning . Don’t use a metal object like a paperclip or SIM tool that could damage the port. Instead, reach for a wooden toothpick. Gently poke around and get rid of anything that’s inside the port.

Force Reboot With a Hard Reset

iPhones and iPads have a feature called a “Hard Reset,” which sounds serious, but it’s actually just forcing the device to reboot . It doesn’t wipe any of your data off the device. Depending on your device model and OS version, the process will vary.

iPhones with iOS 16+: Press and release the Volume Up button, press and release the Volume Down button, then press and hold the Side button. Keep holding the Side button until you see an Apple logo on the screen.
iPhone 7: Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button and the volume down button until you see the Apple logo.
iPhone 6s and iPhone SE (1st Gen): Press and hold the Home button and the Sleep/Wake button at the same time until you see the Apple logo on the screen.
iPads with Face ID or Touch ID: Press and release the Volume Up button, press and release the Volume Down button, then press and hold the Side button. Keep holding the Side button until you see an Apple logo on the screen.
iPads with Home Button: Press and hold the top button and the Home button at the same time. Keep holding the buttons until the Apple logo appears.

Restore a Previous Version of iOS or iPadOS

If all else fails, you can try putting your iPhone or iPad into Recovery Mode to restore a previous version of iOS or iPadOS. If firmware is the culprit, going back to a previous “safe” version could fix the issue.

Unlike the Hard Reset mentioned above, this will erase all the data on your iPhone or iPad. It’s a good idea to perform regular backups for this very reason. If you did backup your iPhone or iPad before it stopped working, the set-up process will be pretty smooth after restoring iOS or iPadOS.

Check out our full guide on putting an iPhone or iPad into Recovery Mode and restoring it . The process is simple, but there’s no going back.

If nothing here worked, your iPhone or iPad likely has a hardware problem. You can take it to the nearest Apple Store (or just contact Apple) and they might be able to fix it. At the end of the day, you may just need to pick out a new iPhone or iPad .

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How to Fix an Unresponsive iPhone or iPad: Troubleshooting Steps