iPhone 12 Pro freezing on iOS 17.4(.1) when selecting text (or sometimes when trying to type)

Did more experiments to figure out where the root issue might be – and I think we are on to something. The iOS features that we are having problems with all require Apple ID.

• System Update: Apple ID is used to determine which iOS build is offered (i.e. developer, public beta, main release)

• Highlight text: maybe checking for other devices on network that is signed in to same Apple ID to facilitate copy/paste Continuity feature

To further corroborate our findings, the Apple Store app which uses Apple ID to track order and purchases is also non-functional (i.e. crashes on load)

So, a likely fix to this could be simple: signing in and out of iCloud account from Settings. See Sign out of iCloud on your devices - Apple Support for more details. Do give it a try and report back. Good luck!

What I did, which has almost eliminated apps freezing after selecting text and also keyboard freeze is:

• Disabled all dictionaries except for one (Oxford English)
• Disabled all keyboards except for default English keyboard for my region and Emoji keyboard
• Disabled Predictive Text and Check Spelling
• Disabled Accessibility -> Spoken Content -> Speak Selection

I didn’t even know I had that Accessibility setting enabled, but that seemed to help a lot.

This has not fixed the software update, iCloud Sign In & Security problem, etc.

Also another interesting observation, I also noticed that I’m not able to use the ChatGPT app anymore, whatever issue is affecting the network traffic also impacts this app specifically.

iPhone 13 Pro Max 512Gb with the same freezing upon using the keyboard.

can happen in any app, even in iOS’s spotlight.

The issue started in 17.4 and continues in 17.4.1.

The longest working workaround until now has been to enter Settings -> General -> Keyboards -> Keyboards after an hard reset and remove the Ukrainian keyboard. I also have these keyboards in use: English (US), German, Spanish, Italian and French.

Also, all six keyboards did show that something wasn’t downloaded to the device (each keyboard had a cloud with an arrow icon on its right side).

I downloaded all the dictionaries after deleting the Ukrainian one.

Inside Settings -> General -> Keyboards all options are active.

I will update the post if anything changes. The Issue seems resolved for now. Maybe anyone can double check on her side if this helps at all.

I hope this can help someone.

Best!

SOLVED: It's been 24hrs without the bugs (stall when highlighting text, no access to Updates, Siri Voice, Dictionary, iCloud Security setting etc.)

I did the following steps:

• Update to 17.5.1 via my Mac (since no access is possible to Update on the device itself)
• Backup to disk via Finder on my Mac
• Full Device Reset via Finder
• Set up device from backup on my Mac

(Those of you who've been following the thread for a while may remember I wasn't able to do a full disk backup before, I had it hooked up for >24hrs and still it just wouldn't finish; yesterday, after lots of tinkering around, it DID work; if I had to take a guess it was the cable, which is weird since it allows for full data transmission with any other device, at least when testing it by hooking up SSDs ... anyway, weird, but eventually it did work).

A strange phenomenon that occured: When resetting the device via Finder, after starting up again, a message came up that a previous incomplete installation (or a similar message, I didn't memorize it verbatim) was found and if I wanted to do another reinstall? I sure did.

So - 24hrs and everything works as it's supposed to. Just a bit of a pain since all of my banking apps need reauthentification (by snail mail, unfortunately), I need to reauthorize all my IoT apps, reauthorize Apple Pay cards etc.

Seems like 17.4 left some sort of "relict" that wasn't removed by any further updates, nor by the first full reset to factory settings. But this time, the OS caught the issue and offered another reset.

Theoretically, it could also have been the 17.5.1 update, which I didn't even test since ChiffaNe stated it didn't resolve the issue.

If anyone else wants to have a go, maybe try 17.5.1 and see if it works, if not - go the route of backup -> factory reset -> maybe the second reset -> set up from backup as outlined above. Just keep in mind you may not be able to use your banking apps for a few days and will need at least half a day (if not more) to finish the process. Please also make sure you have Wifi access w/o any data restrictions since all apps will not be installed from the backup, but downloaded from the App store again (even with disk backup). Make sure all the apps you really need are still available there.

Please report back here since anyone else affected will certainly appreciate it!

Wonderful idea, ervintwj - very much appreciated! Seems like you were spot on with your diagnosis. Apple ID is the culprit, and the solution most likely is:

• sign out from Apple ID (settings, first section)
• keep copies of your data on iPhone probably not a bad idea to save some time when you later re-add your ID
• sign into your Apple ID again (do use the manual way, the auto way via another iDevice seems to want to do a more thorough reinstall)

This does work. For now, at least ... Unless the problem comes back like after the update to 17.5 ... thumbs crossed.

Thanks again, ervintwj - VERY helpful.

Force restart of the phone fixed it for me, let’s see how long it lasts. I’m able to open dictionaries and select texts now

Force restart iPhone

1. Press and quickly release the volume up button.
2. Press and quickly release the volume down button.
3. Press and hold the side button.
4. When the Apple logo appears, release the side button.

Do General > reset iPhone > reset all settings ( will not erase media and apps ). fixed the issue for me

I'm on a chat with an Apple Advisor. Here's what he says:

Reset All Settings: All settings—including network settings, the keyboard dictionary, location settings, privacy settings, and Apple Pay cards—are removed or reset to their defaults. No data or media are deleted.

I am positive this will fix the issue for you.

I can't do this as I'm currently travelling, but if anybody does eventually try this – please report back. That will be extremely helpful.

Updating to 17.6 fixed it for me, hopefully this will help others.

Update: 17.5 doesn't solve it, just for a mere few minutes.

Here's what I initially posted:

*sound of knock on wood* 🪵

(Possible) SOLUTION: Update to 17.5 which has just been released.

You most likely cannot do it via your iPhone (since "Update" stall is one of the issues), here's how you can update anyway:

• hook up your iPhone to your Mac (via USB)
• open your device in Finder, you should find it in the sidebar
• there, you should be able to run an update

Personally, I used iMazing 3 - which is a paid app, though, and hopefully unnecessary for the update process which can also be done via Finder; if you have it, though, might as well use it. On the first try, it didn't work and yielded an error message. Second try, all went well.

I've only tested it on 17.5 for a few minutes so far, so hopefully the problem won't return (as suggested by ChiffaNe, possible logs etc. might cause this - which would be gone after an update, but may fill up again - oh my, the next few days are gonna be filled with adrenaline ... 😳).

What works now and didn't before:

• highlighting / selecting text
• opening "Dictionary"
• opening and changing Siri voice
• opening "Updates" and either get an update available or up-to-date message

Will update if problem returns. I hope you won't hear of me ever again (at least on this thread, though) ... 😂

Hi ervintwj,

Even quicker Q: Full Device Reset refers to the Restore button yeah?

Sorry for not having been clearer. If you open up your device on Finder, it's the "Restore iPhone" button (located right next to the updates button). So I guess - yeah 😅. My Finder's not in English, so I had to google some Finder images to find the actual text on the button.

Basically: Factory reset, completely wiping the device.

As to the backup question: Maybe iCloud backup works better for you? I'd have a full disk backup anyway, just in case. Squeezing 1TB into 256GB may be difficult, hence an external disk would make sense. I think my backup (roughly 300GB) took about an hour, I used my Macs internal SSD, the speed was around 100MB/s, so an older HDD hooked up via USB might work just as well. For my regular backups, I do use a Synology disk station, speed there is notoriously low - but good enough for TimeMachine as well as iDevice backups. Most of the times, I use iMazing (which used to be great BEFORE Apple changed the necessity of "trusting the computer" by entering your passcode on your device EACH time and not only once ...), since it's easy to use different internal as well as external disks for your backups. But if you google "Manually changing iOS backup folder on macOS", you'll find ways of doing it via Terminal without the need to pay for additional software. Before I used iMazing, I already had iTunes (before Finder took over the job) backup to an external device that way.

Hi all, I’ve been having this problem too on an iPhone 12 Pro. I tried some steps like resetting network settings and keyboard dictionaries a few times and clearing the cache. I didn’t totally reset my phone as I don’t have iTunes on my computer to create a backup. It was just something I added to my to-do list to complete eventually.

Orthogonally I couldn’t check for updates, it would spin forever and fail. Back when I reset network settings that helped in the past to get the update check to work.

A couple of days ago (April 22), I reset network settings once again to see if I could check for updates. Since then I haven’t been able to reproduce this issue at all. Last time resetting this/keyboard dictionary, I was able to reproduce it right away. I can’t say if it’s fixed, but will update if it happens again.

Thanks, jososem, blissfulinferno and especially ChiffaNe (very detailed and helpful!) for your feedback on this issue.

@jososem: I've also tried tinkering around with deleting and adding various keyboards, also changing the iOS system language, doing resets in between - didn't solve the issue for me (except for the first minute or so ...)

Judging from ChiffaNe's info, we can rule out so far: iMazing, former crash due to (wrong) space full, sync errors iCloud Notes or Messages.

To sum up the main issues - here are a few additional ones, worth checking out if you have any, all or none of the same - will help us pin-point the isse:

Hang / stall / crash / pause when selecting / highlighting text in any app

System > iCloud > "Password & Security" -> nothing happens

Open "Dictionary" in Settings -> not loading / crashing

Opening Updates leads to spin-balling, nothing happening

full back up to disk not working

Can you please check the following and verify if you experience the same issue or not? Maybe we can find a common denominator in addition to the hang / crash when selecting text:

Can you do a full back up to your Mac?

Can you successfully open System Settings > iCloud > "Password & Security"?

Can you open "Dictionary" in your system settings?

Can you open "Updates" and either an update shows, or the message that you're up-to-date?

In addition to that:

is your system language non-english?

are you using more than one Apple ID (e.g. for mail or contacts)?

My guess so far: When highlighting text, a context menu pops up. Dictionary ("look up") is somehow messed up, since it cannot be accessed via system settings - hence the crash. Not sure about the other issues, though ...

Seeing this is a super-minor issue with almost NO reports whatsoever here or on the other forums, chances are no one from Apple is going to help us. I'm hoping for another update to somehow resolve this, but don't get my hopes up too much ... Let's see if we can somehow solve this on our own.

Upgraded to 15 Pro Max after a long time with my 12. Very enthusiastic at first, the last few weeks I've waited till I'm on my Mac to write text or do anything serious. Shame ...