Why is my new iPhone 16 not turning on?

Randysea wrote:

I did follow your instructions and upvoted them, too. It works but isn't a permanent fix to an ongoing problem.

When I got my replacement 16 Pro, I let it immediately update to 18.2. I've had two "not turning on" events since then. The second was this morning. Most of the time (in two weeks) it's started normally.

OK, so let’s check for other things that can cause iOS to freeze:

• Do you have any apps installed that purport to make your phone safer from hacking, an antivirus, an app that says it will speed up your phone, one that claims to “clean” it, or to manage memory?
• Do you have a VPN installed?
• Any apps that are “traditionally” unstable, such as Facebook or Facebook messenger?

Randysea wrote:

Since I updated to iOS 18.2.1, the problem has not recurred. I have tried leaving my 16 plugged into the charger all night but turned off, fully charged but not plugged in, etc. Nothing triggers the problem.

Coincidence, sunspots, or ?? Anyway, I'm glad not to have any problem with my iPhone not turning on. Fingers slightly crossed, of course.

While it is called an iPhone, it is actually a very powerful pocket-sized computer that can incidentally make phone calls. And like all computers, it will crash occasionally, and that’s what happened. To minimize the probability of that happening it may pay to restart it occasionally→Restart your iPhone - Apple Support

And you don’t need to turn it off while it is charging; in fact, it’s better if you don’t. Continue charging overnight, and be sure to enable automatic backups.

When you shut it off, how are you turning it on? The correct way is to hold the upper button on the right side of the phone until an Apple logo appears. This can take up to 30 seconds holding the button. You also can’t turn it on for a couple of minutes after you shut it down, because the shutdown process notifies all open applications that they must save their data and waits for a confirmation from each app. This takes time to do an orderly shutdown.

Here’s a useful shortcut: If you want to restart your iPhone, say “Hey Siri, restart this iPhone"

I agree with Mr. Finch. The timing that works for me is to complete all three button presses in under a second - about as fast as I can reliably hit all three in sequence. I can also reliably cause the problem by failing to press the power button long enough for the icon to appear on the screen. If I fail to wait long enough, it lapses into the doesn't start mode. Then I have to use the three-button method. It became much easier once I had the Apple folks make some adjustments to some obscure settings that I would never have guessed were important and didn't default correctly when I upgraded from my very old dinosaur that ran a much older O/S.

One thing I have noticed is that I have never had a repeat issue once I made a practice of holding the power button until the apple logo appears. If I do not do that, the problem sometimes reoccurs. Given that not everyone has this problem, there might be a production lot related manufacturing issue. If so, replacing the device while under manufacturer's warranty may offer a solution.

It is disappointing to read posts that some of the new 16e phones have the same problem as the 16 Pro of not turning on sometimes without using the side button hack.

I haven't seen (or noticed, at least) any posts that the 16 has the problem.

I know that Lawrence has recommended calling Apple support if you have the issue. The problem there (and with the so-called genius bars) is that not all the Apple support people are aware of the problem. Some people have wasted a lot of time with this approach.

The ones that got help seem to be getting replacement phones, sometimes reconditioned. So far, there doesn't seem to be any fix forthcoming from Apple. Nor have I seen any acknowledgment from Apple that there even is a problem.

I may be the only one who started with the problem, did the side button kludge/workaround on three occasions, and then the problem just disappeared on its own. Mind you, I am not complaining!

The issue occurred the first night after purchase. There were a bunch of patches that loaded in quick succession after I got the phone home. There was one more that installed in the morning after I use the emergency startup sequence described above. I don't have a list of installed patches or that the patch actually helped with this issue. It may have been a coincidence. Either way, the issue has not reoccurred. At least now I know how to do a forced startup. The timing of the quick press sequence seems a bit sensitive though. It took me several tries before it worked. Pressing the volume buttons in the right sequence also seems important. Lawrence's advice is accurate. Slow deliberate pressing isn't fast enough, but "Flight of the Bumblebee" is too fast.

Randysea wrote:

Your reply to elainefromocola was not really on point. You wrote:

Apple is doing nothing for the problem with your phone

unless you contact their support. This is a problem specifically for

your phone and perhaps a few others, but does not happen with around 100 million other phones.

The comparison is not to 100 million phones. It is to how many users of THIS SITE have iPhones 16s and have even thought they might find help here. So far, 130 of them have said they have the same problem. The number seems to be going up every day.

I am one of those people, as you can see by my earlier posts. I have no speedup, etc., apps installed. I also doubt they could cause this particular problem.

I will say that your comment about contacting Apple directly and describing how to do it seems helpful in theory. However, it would be even more helpful if anyone reported trying this and actually getting the problem fixed. I haven't had the problem in a week. If I do again, I will follow your approach. So thank you for that.

Actually, anyone who got it fixed probably wouldn’t bother to post about it. Why don’t you just contact Apple and see what they can do?

Very frequently people who have a problem come to this site. If even 1% of those 100 million (1 million) had the same or similar problem you would see thousands of posts about it, not a couple of hundred. 10 years ago there was a real problem that affected 5% of, and there were 15,000 posts about it. So the number of posts is a good measure of how widespread a problem is.

It costs NOTHING to contact Apple Support. Why are you so hesitant to do it? What is the point of complaining to a few user-volunteers here?

I actually contacted support yesterday about a hardware problem, and they are shipping me a replacement iPad for the one I broke for delivery Monday. They ran remote diagnostics, confirmed the problem, and covered it under AppleCare+.

I bought a new iPhone 16 Pro a few months ago. I had this exact issue and I tried and tried to restart my phone. The phone was put on the Apple charger before the battery died. I then shut the phone off to charge and reboot overnight. When I tried restarting the phone it took many tries and a lot of frustration. I mean it’s a NEW PHONE. Eventually I got the phone to restart.

This morning a couple months later same issue. Again I tried and tried to restart the phone. I did get it to restart Finally.

I am outside the country now but when I get back Apple is going to have to replace the phone on the warranty. I believe there’s a glitch and I need to be able to rely on the phone starting every time, without all this drama. What if there’s an emergency and I need to restart my phone? The phone I have is great in every way EXCEPT for this failure to start issue. I saw other people having similar problems so I had to reply. Generally I don’t comment but this is SO IMPORTANT that I had to leave a comment here. Fortunately I paid for the extended warranty!!!

I purchased an iPhone 16 Pro Max two weeks ago and twice now it had suddenly won't turn on. I've done the reboot and eventually it works. But I want to know why it's doing this and when is Apple going to fix it since it is obviously an issue?

I have had the same problem of iPhone 16 not turning on. I have taking it to multiple Apple help centres. Bottom line is that Apple refuse to admit there is a fault in the phone and suggest that it is due to some app or software you have downloaded causing the problem. They pas blame to consumer. Typical of big corporates not to admit the truth and hope problem will go away and pass responsibility of cause to consumer. Disappointingz

The question was why this happens. The answer was how to fix it. The fix eventually works, but I still don't know why this happens. Is there something wrong with turning off the phone to charge it? Does that violate some design assumption?

While it is called an iPhone, it is actually a very powerful pocket-sized computer that can incidentally make phone calls. And like all computers, it will sometimes crash. To minimize the probability of that happening it may pay to restart it occasionally→Restart your iPhone - Apple Support

Thank you

Thank you

Thank you !

But I must say, after having iPhones going back to the 4, I have never had this happening before. A bit worrisome, with my 1 week old 16 Pro.

I plugged it into a charger last night and then shut it off. Unplugged it very early this morning. When I got up a few hours later, it was dead.

I've used this charger for more than year with iphone 13. No problems.

Why is that, Lawrence? I thought it was a good idea to turn it fully off at least once a day. Overnight seems like a good time. I keep it near my bed but turned off because I don't want it to ring or vibrate if someone calls in the middle of the night. In an emergency, I'd be reached on my landline. But I also want the mobile handy if I need it for some reason.