Technology
4 easy ways to fix your iPhone
iPhone causing you trouble? We’ve got the solutions to the four most common reported problems.
- My battery is always low – If you’re running low right this very second, go to Settings > General > Battery and enable Low Power Mode. Next, go to Settings > Cellular and turn *off* Wi-Fi Assist. If you’re really desperate, go to Settings > Accessibility and turn Grayscale ON. Finally, turn your phone face down so that it doesn’t light up when you receive notifications. There are plenty of reasons why your battery might be dying quickly. These are usually due to ‘background functions’ running too frequently. Try adjusting your email settings, screen brightness and push notifications. Head to Settings > Battery to see which apps suck up the most power.
- My screen is frozen – Hold down the power (sleep/wake) button to see if your phone will power off. If that doesn’t work, try a force-reset. To do this, hold the home button and the power button at the same time for 10 seconds until you see the Apple logo. Rebooting your iPhone this way simply cuts the power, but beware that it may cause corruption, so only use it as a last resort.
- I dropped my phone in water – If your phone is off: Retrieve it immediately and do not attempt to turn it on, which could short-circuit the device. Wait until the phone is completely dry (it’ll take about two days) to turn it on from an off position. If the phone is on: If the phone is on but asleep, you can take the risk of quickly waking the device to power it off or hope that you don’t get any notifications (which will turn on the screen) while in sleep mode. If applicable, remove the phone’s case. Wipe off the liquid from the exterior and gently shake the device to get rid of any liquid stuck in its ports. A popular solution is to place the device in a bowl of uncooked rice, but a more effective method is to cover the phone in silica gel packets or a product designed to remove damp.
- My home button is broken – iPhone buttons typically stop working because of damage, dirt, or drops. Fortunately, there’s an easy fix! You’ll need to turn on an accessibility feature called AssistiveTouch. First, open Settings > Accessibility > AssistiveTouch and switch it to “on.” Now you’ll see a little black square. That’s your new virtual home button!
What’s the biggest issue you have had with an iPhone? Tell us how you solved it in the comments below.
Related links:
What to do when you lose a phone
6 tips to speed up a slow iPad
How to secure your Wi-Fi network from hackers