spinning wheel icon next to wi-fi indicating network activity

Podgirlfromtheblacklagoon wrote:

This is not a little thing I use my iPad every single day all day long for work and this issue is draining my battery. So if I want to discuss it in this forum and watch what others are coming up with please let me do that with all belittling me. Why do you need to do that?

If, like wade175 claims, you are actually seeing something «draining [your] battery», then that’s what you should be focusing upon, rather than being distracted by something that you have “designated” as an “indicator” of your issue: you are likely focusing upon something you can easily see, that seems to be coincidental with your actual issue—something «draining [your] battery».

(Seasoned troubleshooters learn to not be so easily distracted by proximal coincidences. [They keep them in mind, but don’t let such lead them too far from their troubleshooting path.])

2010StreetGlide wrote:

That statement makes no sense. I called every three days now for a few months. Apple doesn’t care they already have your money. We are all small fish in a big pond.

I’m sorry, but I don’t know what statement you are referring to, even though you are, apparently, responding one of my comments.

You say you «called [Apple?] every three days now for a few months.» What line? Were you able to talk to anyone?

They have responded well to all my “Bug” level reports (written, not verbal). (Lesser level reports, or poorly expressed “bug” level reports, will, typically, receive no direct response, but that doesn’t mean they were not read and appropriately filed and acted upon, once they make sufficient sense for action to be taken.)

If only I had the ability to rid the world of pompous individuals...

Back to our problem though, we have definitely identified the user actions which prompt it to occur and we can reliably recreate the problem. We've also identified the actions which temporarily fix the problem. The biggest obstacle is this problem does not affect all devices, which means the cause could either be faulty hardware or related to software (specific apps, combination of apps, and/or settings within apps). This means we can't reliably get an Apple tech to recreate the problem on their end.

Plus, the problem we are experiencing is not new, and other people have actually identified the same exact problem and temporary fixes years ago. And even though I know I have reported all of this to Apple, and I believe the numerous other people who state they have reported it, the Apple techs I have spoken with act like Apple has never been made aware of the issue.

So I am not optimistic this is getting fixed, and I still intend to try and return my iPhone to Costco before my return window expires. I have not decided whether or not I will give the iPhone SE another shot or go back to Android. The iOS software has several shortcomings in my eyes, and I am still trying to decide if I can live without certain features of Android and what I gain by sticking with iOS.

Sorry I don't have a better idea!

I have had this problem with 2 phones over a 5 year span. The ONLY thing that fixes it for me (and yes, I have tried resetting to factory, reinstalling iOS, rebooting, taking it to Apple repair etc) and the ONLY thing that works for me is to engage Siri by holding down the HOME button and then clicking on the small circle that shows that Siri is engaged. At this point, I don't speak to Siri -- I just engage the button. I click that small circle that pops up when the home button is engaged several times. It changes it's look (I suppose that it is going into different functions -- I don't know). If the top data circle doesn't stop spinning after several attempts over and over of pressing the multi-colored circle, I speak with Siri to actually engage the voice and I tell it to stop spinning. The voice says it doesn't know what I mean, but then, I push the multi colored circle again and the spinning stops. So it seems that something is happening to get "stuck" when voice-to-text gets engaged. Apple does not seem to interested in investigating it.

Having spent about 3 hours with Apple technical support on this over several calls, the two technicians I spoke to ended up recommending return of the iPad if a full restore does not solve the problem. I received my new iPad late December and my network icon has been spinning roughly since then. I was dreading the restore process, not being familiar with apple products, however it went very smoothly and I was happy to see that my icon is so far stable after several hours of use. I realize some of you have already tried this step without success, just sharing my experience so far.

Welcome, stein2908, to Apple Support Communities!

I’m very glad that restoring your iPad to Factory conditions has helped you; at least, so far.

This is the sort of test that needs to be performed on the iPhones—before restoring their settings and Apps!

If an iDevice in Factory conditions cannot reproduce the issue being Discussed here, then there is something in the settings or added Apps that is leading to the issue.

On the other hand, if an iDevice in Factory conditions can reproduce the issue being Discussed here, then we have a reproducible test that even the Apple Technicians should be able to test!

Machine_Ruse wrote:

...

Back to our problem though, we have definitely identified the user actions which prompt it to occur and we can reliably recreate the problem [at least on those devices already exhibiting the problem]. We've also identified the actions which temporarily fix the problem. The biggest obstacle is this problem does not affect all devices, which means the cause could either be faulty hardware or related to software (specific apps, combination of apps, and/or settings within apps). This means we can't reliably get an Apple tech to recreate the problem on their end. …

(Emphasis added)

Yes. This is the «biggest obstacle» in getting Apple to prioritize this issue: there is only a visual symptom, with no reproducibility; let alone anything pointing to a root cause (or even an issue that goes beyond visually “annoying” or “troubling”).

…

Plus, the problem we are experiencing is not new, and other people have actually identified the same exact problem and temporary fixes years ago. And even though I know I have reported all of this to Apple, and I believe the numerous other people who state they have reported it, the Apple techs I have spoken with act like Apple has never been made aware of the issue. …

The fact that «the Apple techs [you] have spoken with act like Apple has never been made aware of the issue» probably has more to do with how such are entered into the issue database, and the keywords «the Apple techs» are searching the database with. (There may even be two or more “levels” of issue databases: known issues vs. “varied reports of speculative issues”.)

(Back when I worked Technical Support, at a very different company, I don’t ever remember even being told of any “issue” database.)

…

What is needed is some way to «reliably get an Apple tech to recreate the problem on their end.»

Without this, there is no “known issue”, only “speculative” reports.

(I know. That seems “harsh” or “dismissive”, but it is the reality, at least to Technicians.)

If this issue can be reliably reproduced on an iDevice in Factory conditions—so no restored settings or Apps—then we’ll have either found faulty hardware, or something that «an Apple tech» can «recreate»!

If this is found for even some class of iDevices (such as iPhone SEs, perhaps), then we have something even more reliably reproducible!

Perhaps this is the way forward?

@Halliday, I traded in my iPhone 7 for the SE 2020. It still does it. initially Apple recommended that I remove all my widgets. I did. It’s still spun when I would use Voice to text. Then it was recommended that I delete my Facebook app because that was the issue. I did. It’s still spun. Then I was told it was unique to my iPhone 7 so I went to have it fixed and they said there was no problem and it must be one of the apps because they had not heard of anything like that before. I eventually upgraded to the iPhone SE 2020 9 months ago. It’s still spins. It’s random and I have to catch it or it will run down my battery very quickly because it will go all day if I don’t make it stop.

Welcome, rswc90, to Apple Support Communities!

Did either, or both, of your iPhone 7 or iPhone SE (2020) exhibit the issue under Factory Conditions—no added Apps or restored settings?

This is what needs to be tested, in order to track this down, or even just to make it reproducible.

Hi stein2908, can you confirm a few things please?

Prior to your last post, you indicated you had tried to fix the problem by deactivating Siri, restarting your iPad, and then reactivating Siri (for button only), and that you thought that fixed the problem for you. (As an aside, that process did not even temporarily fix the problem for me)

I don't see any later posts from you indicating the problem ever returned, so I am making the assumption that it must have returned and you then spoke to the Apple techs and have now done a "full restore". Is that correct?

In regards to your "full restore", was that a restore to factory settings (as Halliday has assumed), or was that a reset and a restore from a backup? In other words, did you do a factory reset and have now started fresh with a stock iPad, which you are testing with voice-to-text? Or did you restore from a backup, which would have included restoring settings and apps?

TIA

I cannot answer that because I immediately downloaded the main apps I used and connected mail accounts etc. So there was no mention of trying a "virgin" slate, so to speak! I suppose I could try that now by backing everything up and then factory restoring with no apps for a day... to see if voice to text still triggers it. The problem is that the trigger is not consistent - it's random.

rswc90 wrote:

I cannot answer that because I immediately downloaded the main apps I used and connected mail accounts etc. So there was no mention of trying a "virgin" slate, so to speak! …

I’m not surprised. It’s an extra step (or more), and one always hopes that restoring everything will simply “work”.

(Even the techs hope so.)

…

I suppose I could try that now by backing everything up and then factory restoring with no apps for a day... to see if voice to text still triggers it. The problem is that the trigger is not consistent - it's random.

Intermittent (“random”) issues are always the worst! They are the “bane” of troubleshooting!

If you are willing, and your are able to get it to “trigger”, this will be helpful.

Unfortunately, with the “trigger” being “random”, you could see nothing, but we would not be able to conclude that running under Factory Conditions has no issue.

The longer one can run under Factory Conditions, without an issue, the greater the confidence that there is no issue under that condition, but the confidence will never quite reach 100%.

Perhaps Machine_Ruse can give you pointers on “triggering” the issue more reliably.

Yes, Machine_Ruse. Those are important distinctions, which I emphasized in my comment to you.

Since we have far fewer reports on iPads, with this issue, I was actually not assuming whether stein2908 restored from backup, or simply reinstalled previous Apps: both are no longer testing under Factory Conditions.

At this point, I was simply glad for stein2908. I do hope for the best, for him/her.

Yes, Machine_Ruse. Of the Reset to Factory Condition class of resets, I believe that is reasonably complete.

I do understand how you came to the conclusion you did.

However, what I was referring to was that Reset to Factory Condition class of resets. (There are also “softer” sorts of resets, as I’m sure you know.)