Level 1

43 points

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

Since about 2 days ago my good old iPhone 12 Pro has started going nuts. Whenever I try to select any text on a webpage (or in any app) and often when I tap on anywhere that brings up a keyboard to start typing the app freezes and then after some time crashes.

I tried rebooting and it helps for about 1 min after which same stuff happens again. I

also tried resetting the dictionary, turning off check spelling, predictive typing, etc. in the keyboard setting which didn’t help.

Furthermore I tried unticking all the checkmarks in the selected dictionaries (though most of the time the settings app freezes when trying to open the dictionary section.

Finally I tried updating to 17.4.1 (from 17.4) which also didn’t help.

Interestingly I was unable to update from the phone itself, it was spinning on checking new version until finally throwing up “Unable to check for new version”. I had to update using the mac and on 17.4.1 it behaves the same.

I am afraid to try the wipe and restore from backup nuclear option as I will lose the eSim and I’m in a different country now from where I got the line from and it will be a challenge to restore it.

What else can I do?

iPhone X

Posted on Mar 28, 2024 12:38 PM

Top-ranking reply

ChiffaNe Author

Level 1

43 points

Posted on Mar 28, 2024 2:28 PM

Another update - after a couple more hours of poking and troubleshooting I tried to reinstall 17.4.1 via DFU mode and it partially helped - selecting text stopped crashing but I still could not enable any dictionaries or check for a software update.

Guessing this might have something to do with access to apple servers I tried to reset network setting AND IT WORKED!

After the reboot I was able to readd the dictionaries, access security, change voices, the whole 9 yards. It did throw me for a bit of a loop as it spent it’s fair share of thinking when I was turning on the dictionaries (I’d say it froze up for about 15-20 seconds) but then it unfroze and succeeded. I guess it was indexing or copying something ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Long story short for anyone with the above symptoms:

Connect the phone to your mac or pc.
Put your phone in DFU mode

1. Quick-press the Volume Up button.

2. Quick-press the Volume Down button.

3. Long-press and hold the Side button. (After 10 seconds, the screen goes black.)

4. Once the screen goes black, while holding down the Side button, long-press the Volume Down button for 5 seconds.

5. After 5 seconds, release the Side button while continuing to hold down the Volume Down button for an additional 10 seconds.

3. Using Finder or iTunes update the phone to the latest version (be careful NOT to select “restore” as you will lose all data)

4. On the phone go to Settings - General - Transfer or reset iPhone - Reset and tap Reset Network Settings

5. Profit

Hope this helps someone else.

ChiffaNe wrote:

I did some more poking and found that the settings also freeze when I try to change the Siri voice (not language, that is fine) or enter the Sign-in & Security menu in iCloud. I’m starting to have a feeling this is in some way related to broken rights to access any kind of system downloaded data (different siri voices, dictionaries, etc)

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60 replies

Jul 28, 2024 12:03 PM in response to ChiffaNe

I just installed 17.6 and can also confirm it does fix this issue

patchy5

Level 1

16 points

Jul 29, 2024 3:54 PM in response to ChiffaNe

I suspect whatever was causing the keyboard freezing issue before was also consuming a lot of CPU cos processes were hanging behind the scenes. The phone does feel way smoother on 17.6.

ChiffaNe Author

Level 1

43 points

Apr 11, 2024 6:25 AM in response to effjayodellmay

Unfortunately not.

Using the steps above (reinstall via dfu, network settings reset and turning off the dictionaries) I at least don’t get any more freezing when trying to type or selecting text in input box. Selecting something on a webpage or similar still freezes.

At this point I’m basically waiting for the next update and hoping it will fix the issue.

Apr 13, 2024 8:08 AM in response to ChiffaNe

I am having the same issues with my Iphone 12 Pro max, where my phone freeze not only after some copy/paste but also with Safari as well.

when this happen and I try to reset the device by holding the power botton and the volume up, the phone totally freeze. I am able to turn off the Iphone only by asking Siri "turn off my iphone".

the issue started to happen after the 17.4 update. I had some hope with the 17.4.1 but the bug persist...

Apr 23, 2024 2:02 PM in response to ChiffaNe

I’m on an SE

and text select is useless. I can select once, sometimes adjust the selection but always freezes whatever app I’m in.Cannot cut, copy, or paste! Notably Safari, notes, mail & texts all native apps that I use most often and killing my productivity. ‘Word processing’ the first ‘killer app’ is now dead?! Please help us with an update or solution. I’ve also been searching for days for anyone solutions and now after about 5 separate searches I finally found this thread… but still no solution??!

[Edited by Moderator]

ChiffaNe Author

Level 1

43 points

Apr 24, 2024 4:20 AM in response to ollimuc

unfortunately I don’t own apple SEO so I’m not sure what I can do to make this topic more findable.

from my side the answers to your questions are

Can you check if any section uses up unsually much space on iCloud? - about 40 gb for iMessage, seems reasonable for 10+ years of photos & videos. Nothing unexpected in other sections.
did any of you run into a "space full" sort-of message even though you still had plenty of space? - No
Did you ever have an issue with the Notes app, such as unsually high data volume when syncing? - No
Is anyone using iMazing? -No
Can you do a full backup of your iPhone to your Mac - one that actually finishes? - Haven’t tried, the iCloud backup is up to date
Any troubles with iMessage size-wise, when looking at Space on iCloud and under the tab with the space needed on the volume / "hard drive" of your iPhone? - no, barely 2 gb on iPhone, still 20gb free

Overall for me it seems more like a permissions problem rather than anything else. Let me know if I can aid yout investigation in any manner, I’m out of ideas myself.

ollimuc

Level 1

49 points

May 13, 2024 10:05 AM in response to ChiffaNe

ChiffaNe: Can confirm, trying to switch Siri voice also causes a freeze for me 😂

haven’t tried to open a case so far, Care+ and under warranty, but didn’t want to have to go through the usual hoops (factory reset etc - I’ve got my backup onc iCloud, but w/o a full backup to disk reauthentification for banking apps etc is going to be a terrible procedure).

well - will try anyway, can’t hurt - thanks for the suggestion.

ChiffaNe Author

Level 1

43 points

May 16, 2024 11:50 AM in response to ChiffaNe

Unfortunately the fix didn’t last.

The situation seems to have improved a bit - most of the time selecting text no longer freezes the phone.

On the other hand a couple of times it froze up when simply bringing up the keyboard.

Also nothing related to system downloads works - checking for updates, sire voiceover or changing of voices, dictionaries, etc. Also, the translate app doesn’t work.

mrFred2k

Level 1

8 points

May 17, 2024 11:12 PM in response to ChiffaNe

Hi - I have the same issue using a iPhone 13 Pro max. I can not select text nor enter into dictionary settings. Using a non-english language as default. Using iOS 17.4.1. In addition - the phone app freezes randomly and I am unable to make a call until restart.

ChiffaNe Author

Level 1

43 points

May 20, 2024 4:04 AM in response to ervintwj

Can anyone check one additional point - I was looking at traffic usage data in the phone and noticed that the one of the biggest consumers is system services with DNS Services being the second largest consumer at 1,25G which seems excessive for the work it is supposed to be doing.

Can you check if you have a similar situation?

[update] a quick search indicates it a similar situation for a lot of people so doesn't seem to be the culprit.

ervintwj

Level 1

14 points

May 23, 2024 11:26 AM in response to ollimuc

Great work! Very detailed steps and explanation!

Quick Q: Can I clarify if you backed up to the internal SSD of your Mac, or is it an external disk – and if so, can you outline the specifications of your external disk? (And asking this because my Mac has 256GB primary SSD, and my iPhone has 1TB storage, I want to eliminate all variables before jumping through these hoops)

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

ChiffaNe Author

Level 1

43 points

May 24, 2024 3:05 AM in response to ollimuc

Thank you for taking one for the team and I'm happy to hear it resolved for you!

Unfortunately this option is a bad one for me as a couple of critical apps I am using are no longer available on the App Store and I would lose them if I went this route.

I'll try to hold out until iOS 18, maybe that will help.

ollimuc

Level 1

49 points

May 24, 2024 8:51 AM in response to ChiffaNe

This is VERY frustrating - and the reason why I've practically begged the Apple support gentleman to have someone look at our error logs to maybe find a better solution. Maybe you could check iMazing or any other 3rd-party-backup app if they can help you physically back up the entire app (so it won't have to be downloaded again from AppStore, which will be problematic if the app has since been removed). If you can get your hands on another iPhone to test if this works, this could maybe be a good solution?

If not - keeping my thumbs crossed 18 will eventually solve the issue for you (I expect it'll be rolled out around end of September again?).

May 30, 2024 1:54 AM in response to ollimuc

Just confirming, you completely erased/wiped your iPhone (on iPhone > Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Erase All Content and Settings), restored from your iCloud backup, and the issue returned?

patchy5

Level 1

16 points

Jun 5, 2024 12:50 AM in response to wildlywicked3

Oh man that’s depressing to hear. Full restore is not an option for me right now. I did find a partial fix, if I disable predictive text and check spelling in the keyboard settings. At least it doesn’t crash in Messages and WhatsApp’s when I type or select text. Still crashes when selecting text in all other apps like Safari and Mail.

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