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Fix iPhone or iPad Frozen or Locked Up Screen

Fix iPhone or iPad Frozen or Locked Up Screen

October 1, 2018 by Mitch Bartlett 34 Comments

If your Apple iPhone or iPad screen is frozen or locked up, it’s not fun. Normally you can simply pull a battery from a device if it locks up. Apple devices don’t have a removable battery though. Instead, you’ll have to try these options.


Try to Power Off

  • If a force quit does not work, turn the iPhone off and turn it on again. To do this, press and hold the “Sleep/Wake” button for a few seconds until a red slider appears, and then slide the slider to power the device off. Once powered down, press and hold the “Sleep/Wake” button to turn the device back on.

Force Reset

If all of the above didn’t do the trick, force a reset. Forcing a reset will not delete data from the device.

iPhone X & 8

  1. Quick press “Volume Up“.
  2. Quick press “Volume Down“.
  3. Press and hold Sleep“/”Wake” button until the Apple logo appears.

iPhone 7

  • Press and hold both the “Sleep/Wake” +”Volume Down” button for at least ten seconds.

iPhone 6 and older

  • Other versions may require holding “Sleep/Wake” + “Home“.

Hopefully, one of these options have worked for you and your Apple iPhone is now working again. If not, you may need to try a restore using iTunes, which will wipe all data from the device. Data can usually be re-synced from your computer once restored.


FAQ

My iPhone/iPad won’t turn on. What do I do?

Ensure your device is plugged into the wall using the adapter and cable so that you get the most charge going. Wait about 10 minutes, then try the steps above.

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Filed Under: iPhone

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Shook Hoon says

    September 25, 2021 at 12:58 am

    I have a very old phone. The home button is only working and nothing else. Help me pls

  2. Semisi says

    June 21, 2021 at 5:34 am

    My iPhone 11 stopped working. I still get notifications but my screen is unresponsive I tried force resetting and still nothing happened please help

  3. Beverly says

    May 30, 2021 at 1:28 am

    Hello, The bar at the bottom of the page is not allowing me to swipe it up to get out of the page i am on. I have tried to force a shut down by holding the buttons on both sides. When the power slide comes up it will not slide to shut the phone down. What else can i do. I’ve also went to settings and then to General and scrolled to the bottom to do a shut down but still won’t shut phone down.
    I have a Apple 11.

  4. lawrence says

    January 29, 2021 at 2:10 am

    It is true that force resetting iPhone/iPad is a good way to fix their frozen screen. Actually, there are other 2 methods to deal with iPhone/iPad screen freezing, too. On the one hand, it’s the application of professional ios repair software such as TunesKit iOS System Recovery to resolve the problem without data loss. On the other hand, it’s the use of iTunes to restore iPhone/iPad. But this will cause data loss, so those who more appreciate this way must back the data before.

  5. Renee LeVeck says

    January 25, 2021 at 10:11 am

    My iPad is stuck on the twitch logo from an app and isn’t letting me leave, use Siri, or force a reset. I have tried to turn it off and back on but still won’t work. Along with those, I have also tried to use the control center to go into the camera app, and clock but still won’t work, and I also tried to go into other apps using notifications. Any tips?

  6. Yjs says

    April 17, 2020 at 1:26 am

    Hey 5hours ago i found my old ipad 2 i charged it up and when i went to erase all data it came into a screen with the apple logo and a loading bar below the bar hasnt even moved for several hours and i couldnt hard reset it, it doesnt get detected by itunes what should i do.

  7. Justin Hardison says

    April 2, 2020 at 3:57 am

    Hello, an HR ago the allow this device prompt appeared as I have my phone connected to my laptop but when pressed don’t allow it didn’t move and hasn’t since. I did all the soft and hard reboot options but the screen just wont leave, I even called 911, what can be done to fix this.

  8. MarilynB says

    March 1, 2020 at 5:26 pm

    Thank you very much. This helped reset my iphone 11. The only advise apple tech support and AT&T tech support gave me was the common way of powering off which is to press the volume and sleep button at the same time which of course didn’t work on the frozen screen.

  9. Baron says

    February 21, 2020 at 1:58 am

    Thanks Mitch!! Awesome it worked!!! My iPhone was jammed up with “allow this device to access …” prompt and it wouldn’t accept any command. I couldn’t power down normally or sign in as it was in the way. The hold the power button and bottom button worked. Simple but I didn’t know it and my family (that might have known) is asleep.

  10. Dominica Mor says

    January 31, 2020 at 6:35 am

    hi< just plugged in my iphone 8 plus to my computer to charge and this icon comes up "ALLOW THIS DEVICE TO ACCESS PHOTOS AND VIDEOS -dont allow or allow?"
    Its now blocked and cant even answer a call. What can i do?

  11. Emilia Cordon says

    November 19, 2019 at 1:24 pm

    The first thing that worked on my iphone x, thanks a lot.

  12. Lyssalyn Rodriguez says

    November 14, 2019 at 6:57 am

    I fell asleep on the phone and now their name is burned into my screen please help me!! I have an iPhone 6s

  13. Alex says

    October 27, 2019 at 2:00 pm

    thanks bro. fixed my problem

  14. frank says

    August 28, 2019 at 3:38 pm

    I just want to say “THANK YOU”. I have been going crazy all morning. I work over the phone and it froze in zoom. I freaked. I did what you said. Bang!. Thank you.

  15. Mikeg says

    July 24, 2019 at 6:55 pm

    The reset tip worked for my 8plus, it was locked up with a black screen with a little circle going around around around, thanks a bunch

  16. Leolinda says

    January 12, 2019 at 11:30 am

    Very helpful, the reset tip worked perfectly for me (iPhone X)

  17. Hannah Wilson-James says

    December 16, 2018 at 5:21 am

    I am in Morocco and just tried to get my international calling package up and running. After making my first call my screen stopped taking my touch (two options were putting in my passcode and sliding to turn off).
    None of the methods you show work.
    For some reason siri takes my touch and I can slide up for the tool screen but none of the tools work to touch.
    I could really use some help ASAP

  18. Jacqueline Lynch says

    November 29, 2018 at 12:43 pm

    My iPhone is stuck and I can’t force ito turn it off either. Please help me. I spend so much money on my iPhone and I can’t use it.

  19. Julie says

    June 30, 2018 at 11:48 am

    It helps so much thank you!. I was also having problems with the zoom and got it working now. I wrote all the help tips down on a piece of paper to put in my wallet because this time I had to wait till I got home to get my iPad to find out what to do about my phone. ?

  20. RainDance21337 says

    June 6, 2018 at 12:11 pm

    Thank you.. ! Thank you.. ! Was thinking “oh no, here’s another $800 down the drain.” But your Force Reset worked.. !
    Thank you.. !

  21. Abigail says

    May 4, 2018 at 12:03 pm

    Hey.
    My iPad is blocked on the notifications center and I can’t swipe up so I can’t do anything.
    Please help. Thank you. (Btw it isn’t a new iPad, its an old one)

  22. lakeysha says

    April 14, 2018 at 1:31 pm

    YAAAASSSS!!!!!!! this worked thanks….

  23. Tammy says

    March 19, 2018 at 12:18 pm

    It worked!! Followed first 3 steps.
    Thank you!

  24. Mikable says

    March 4, 2018 at 12:48 pm

    My i7 froze this morning. I tried your restart method and the phone works great. Thank you…

  25. Laidback Lenny says

    March 2, 2018 at 8:12 am

    Gadzooks! It worked! I have an iPhone se. Screen locked, touch buttons not working. Held sleep button and home button together. It shut off and then on. All works well. Thank you, Mitch!

  26. Darla Erickson says

    February 6, 2018 at 7:27 pm

    No, I don’t see anything about my iPad frozen on magic puzzles. Help!

  27. omar says

    January 28, 2018 at 10:57 am

    thank you very much this was really helpfull

  28. Nanette Vincent says

    January 6, 2018 at 6:10 pm

    My iPad is frozen on Google. I was trying to follow a recipe and the screen froze. I’m 91 years old band not good at following instructions. Everything else is working, the only problem is the Google screen in the midst of a kabochu recipe.

  29. Dorothy says

    January 3, 2018 at 3:24 pm

    No it’s my iPad that hadthis mechanical man that was to rest my password It stops and won’t go off and won’t finish. I had a post on my timeline and a note above asking me if I posted it . I said no and that’s when the reset man came on

  30. - says

    December 26, 2017 at 3:37 pm

    Thank you so much!! My phone is working again

  31. DB says

    December 9, 2017 at 11:23 pm

    Comments did not prove effective.. Have repeatedly tried to power iPhone 8 off or hard reset without success. Had just completed programming a remote lighting device, when screen froze, approximately 8 hours ago.

  32. mark says

    December 9, 2017 at 7:21 pm

    iphone 8 plus is only a month old. i have recently updated to IOS 11.2. Everytime I go to photos and then want to send pic through messanger it locks up. Sometimes I can send one pic then if I want to send a 2nd it locks up. I have to close the app and try again. sometimes it is still locked up someitmes it will let me send the 2nd pic.

  33. Vijay konala says

    November 25, 2017 at 11:53 pm

    Yup it’s working

  34. Jenna says

    November 22, 2017 at 2:36 am

    This helped me so much! A notification was stuck at the top of my screen so i couldn’t power off. This showed me how to force shutdown. I could not live without my phone. That you so much.

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Who’s Behind Technipages?

Baby and Daddy My name is Mitch Bartlett. I've been working in technology for over 20 years in a wide range of tech jobs from Tech Support to Software Testing. I started this site as a technical guide for myself and it has grown into what I hope is a useful reference for all.

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