We all love our iPods and iPhones but technology as advanced as it is now is still not perfect. Wouldn’t you like to know how to help yourself when some of the nagging iPhone problems like crashing or freezing up occur? Well, be sure to bookmark this page for future reference because the tips included here will help you maintain your sanity!
If your iPhone or iPod touch is getting a little grumpy, crashing and freezing there are things you can do solve the problem and help ensure it doesn’t happen again.
Your iPhone/Touch is really just a pocket computer and like all computers if left running for days or weeks on end it can start to develop a few issues that cause it to occasionally crash. When your devices screen turns off or when you press its power button at the top’ it is not actually completely powering down but rather going into a sleep mode in a similar way to your desktop computer.
Like a computer it will occasionally need a complete restart. To do this hold down the power button at the top until a red slider appears and drag the slider to completely turn off your device. Don’t worry all of your data will be retained. Turn it back on by holding the power button again for a second or two. Be aware that its quite normal for your device to take a minute or so to start up from cold.
So what do you do if you’re in the middle of using your favorite app and suddenly it just stops responding? It wont scroll, the buttons wont work and even the main home button of your device wont take you back to the home screen. Its not like a computer where you can just switch to the desktop and force it to quit! Well actually it is in a way. If an app just stops responding hold down the home button for six or seven seconds. This is the iPhone equivalent of the Force Quit on a mac or End Task on Windows.
If your entire device has completely locked up and you can’t even shut it down using the above method there is a way of forcing it to restart. Hold down the power button as above but this time hold the home button at the same time until you see an Apple logo appear. This will actually force the machine to completely restart which will again take a minute or so.
If you have completely restarted your device but there is still one particular application that insists on crashing, you could try replacing it with a fresh copy. First of all delete the troublesome app by holding your finger down on it until it starts to jiggle. Tap the x that appears in the top left corner of the icon. It should be noted that if you delete an app which was purchased on your device (rather than on your computer) before ever syncing, the app will be lost for good and you will need to download a new version from the app store.
The app has now been deleted and can be replaced with the copy in iTunes on your computer. Plug your device into your computer and wait for iTunes to open. In iTunes click your device icon in the column on the left and then click the Applications tab in the main window. Make sure the app you deleted from your device is selected to sync then hit the Sync button in the bottom right. A new copy of the app will be loaded onto your device.
No amount of restarting will help if it’s the actual data on your device that is corrupt. Luckily Apple has provided a way to replace key data. Open the settings application and select General. Scroll down to the bottom and select Reset. The first two items in the resulting list are Reset All Settings and Erase All Content and Settings. Ignore the following four items.
Settings are all the ways in which you have customized the device for your own use and content is the media and data you have loaded on to it. Resetting settings will restore your device to its initial condition but keep all of the media you have added to it. Erase all content and Settings will completely restore your device to its original condition when first purchased. If you now re sync your device with your computer it will be populated with a nice fresh copy of your content.
I do hope this information has helped you restore your iPhone/Touch back to the smooth running device it was when you first starting using it and prevents further frustrations in the future.
Matt Byron Petch started his career as a product designer before moving into the world of digital design and has been an Apple (and Windows) product user for about 20 years. http://www.appletap.com