7 Easy Fixes if your iPhone Won’t Turn on or Charge

If your iPhone won’t turn on or charge you will need to determine if there is a software or hardware problem. Follow these tips to troubleshoot the problem.

Plug iPhone into Charge

1. If your iPhone won’t turn on, the first step is to plug it in to charge. This seems like an obvious step, but may save a lot of trouble in the long run.
2. Plug your phone in and wait to see if the charging screen comes up. It usually comes up within a few minutes if there is no issue. You can leave your phone connected for up to an hour before deciding it is indeed not working (as recommended by Apple).
3. If your phone still won’t turn on, try using a different USB cable and power adapter and check the jack (where the charger plugs into the phone) in case that’s where the problem lies.
4. Inspect your cable and adapter for any obvious signs of damage that could be causing a problem, such as a frayed cord. You could even try charging a friend’s phone to see if there is a problem with your charger.

Restart iPhone

The next step if your iPhone won’t turn on, is to restart it. The normal process to restart is to hold down the Sleep/Wake button on the top of the phone and slide the slider to restart your iPhone. If your iPhone screen is black, you may find this doesn’t work.

Force Restart iPhone

If there is a software glitch, and your iPhone is frozen, hard resetting your iPhone will force it to restart. Don’t worry, it won’t delete any data or info off your phone. The process varies depending on which version of iPhone you have.

Force Restart iPhone 8 or later

Press and then release the Volume Up button, then press and release the Volume Down button. After that, press and hold the Side button until the Apple logo appears on the screen.

Force Restart iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus

Press and also hold down the Top (or Side) button and the Volume Down button until the Apple logo appears on the screen.

Force restart iPhone 6S or earlier

Hold down the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button at the same time for at least 10 seconds. If the slider appears on the screen or the screen dims, keep holding them down until the Apple logo appears on the screen.

Check iPhone for Physical Damage

The next important step is to check your phone for any obvious damage that could be causing a hardware problem. Even liquid spilt on the phone a week ago could now be preventing it from turning on. Is there any water damage or cracks on the screen? Be sure to check the jack (where you plug it in) thoroughly for liquid or any fluff or foreign matter that could be causing an issue.

Connect iPhone to iTunes

Connecting your iPhone to iTunes may help if there is a hardware problem with the display only but the phone itself is fine or if the iOS operating system has become corrupted and needs to be re-installed or updated. It is best to ensure you have the latest version of iTunes installed on your computer so you may need to update it before trying this step.

Plug your iPhone into your computer and start iTunes. See if an iPhone icon comes up in iTunes, this means that you are in luck and iTunes is recognising the phone.

If you find that iTunes won’t recognise your iPhone, you may need to put it into recovery mode. You do this by pressing the same buttons for your device as force restarting your iPhone.

• iPhone 8 or later - Press and then release the Volume Up button, then press and release the Volume Down button. After that, press and hold the Side button until the recovery screen appears.
• iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus - Press and also hold down the Top (or Side) button and the Volume Down button until the recovery screen appears.
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• iPhone 6S or earlier - Hold down the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button at the same time for at least 10 seconds. If the slider appears on the screen or the screen dims, keep holding them down until the recovery screen appears.

Once your phone is recognised in iTunes, you should now be able to go into the phone setting on iTunes and back it up. This is an important step if you can do it as otherwise you risk losing your data and info stored on the phone.

Now you can now try updating the iOS on your iPhone (you will not lose personal data while updating the iOS via iTunes).

Restore iPhone with iTunes

1. If the iPhone still won’t turn on after completing these steps, you may need to restore it to its original factory settings.
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3. Once your phone is plugged into your computer and is being recognised by iTunes, you can try going into settings to ‘restore’ the phone. This will wipe all your data and info from the phone so it is important to take a backup (if you can) so you can put it back onto your phone after the restore.
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5. If you find that the update or restore process takes more than 15 minutes, you may need to reconnect the phone to iTunes again with the first step of holding the correct buttons down for your version of iPhone.

iPhone Stuck on Apple Logo

If your iPhone is stuck on the Apple logo, updating the iOS through iTunes or restoring the phone may help it to turn on properly again.

If all these steps fail, you may need to get a professional to look at your iPhone to see if it can be fixed. If it is still under warranty, it is best to return it to Apple to determine if the problem is covered under your warranty. Otherwise, there are many reputable iPhone repair shops.

At Aussie Mobile Phone Repairs, we are experts in repairing iPhones so if you would like to book your phone in to be repaired, please visit our bookings page.