iOS 18.3 update causing unexpected shutdown on my iPhone

Hi!bigness1970! I experienced the same issue after updating to iOS 18.3. I upgraded my iPhone 16 yesterday, and the update process was surprisingly fast—only took about 7 minutes. But in the past few hours, my phone also has been shutting down for no reason ..... At first I thought it was a hardware issue,tried to restarts it, no luck and it even gets stuck in a boot loop. I suspect that the rapid installation process may have caused system instability. but now since I fixed it,it's likely a software problem😁.

You can try some of the solutions I found:

1. **Force restart your iPhone** – Press and quickly release the Volume Up button, then the Volume Down button. Hold the Power button until the Apple logo appears.

2. **Reinstall iOS using a computer** – This worked for me, you can see this artical. I used my computer to fix this restart issue , and my iPhone stopped shutting down. You can try the same method.

Also, check out the offcial links here:

If your iPhone is stuck on the Apple logo - Apple Support

Restart your iPhone - Apple Support

If your iPhone won't turn on or is frozen - Apple Support

You can also contact the support team to fix this!(https://support.apple.com)

Hope this helps! 😊

Yes, it is a software glitch in the ios. I had the problem with both my ipad 8th generation and my iphone 13 mini. The problem with my ipad was never as bad because it would still charge sometimes. It wouldn't connect to itunes to restore my backup. An apple support person suggested I try downloading the Apple devices app from the Microsoft store for my windows computer. I didn't know there was such a thing. That allowed me to restore the ipad using my backup that I had previously made using iTunes. As far as I can tell it now works normally. That leads me to believe that the problem is in both the ios and the installer for the ios.

The iPhone was a totally different animal. The ios would only let it charge to 1% before it shut down the phone. It said that I didn't have a genuine Apple battery and had to take it to a service center or something like that. I never touched my phone battery since I bought it, so that was incorrect. Incidentally, I did take it to two different authorized Apple service center businesses (no Apple store anywhere near me). The first one said there was nothing they could do because they could only work on the battery or replace the battery if it failed a diagnostic test first. Since the ios wouldn't let the phone charge, it could never make it through the diagnostic. The 2nd service center just said "nothing we can do. Buy a Samsung phone". Maddening!

I tried to restore my iphone backup using Apple Devices app, but the ios would shut down the restore in the middle and shut down the phone. I drove home from my son's house about 4 hours in the car and connected the phone to my 12V charger in the car and it took the battery to 84%. Then, as soon as I plugged the cord into my computer at home to restore the backup, it immediately said 0% charge and shut down the phone.

Over the next 2 days I kept the phone plugged into its charger at my desk. 3-4 times an hour I would try to do a reset (up volume, down volume, push and hold power button past the "slider to turn it off" screen and hold it until the apple reappeared). It would always say the battery was charging on the icon and the battery app said "charging". As soon as the battery got to 1%, it would turn off the phone.

Then, just to be perverse and because I was getting angry by the 2nd day, I started continuing to hold the power button after the apple lit up and then went out again. I don't know why, but eventually it allowed the phone to charge. As soon as I saw that it was at 20%, I connected to Apple Device app and restored the phone from its backup.

Over the last three days, it appears to be working correctly except for the battery app under settings. There is a different message now -- "unverified" under battery health and charging and important battery message "Unable to verify this iPhone has a genuine Apple battery. Details from this battery may not be accurate". This is a different message than before the backup restore. Then, it said that the battery wasn't an Apple battery. Now it just says it doesn't know if it's a genuine Apple battery. Also, the battery usage by app is wrong. It says in the last 24 hours I have used a particular app or it has had background activity of 59% of battery usage, but I haven't used it in days and I don't allow it to have background activity.

So, the ios still has a number of software glitches relative to the battery function but it seems most of my problems (and the ones I couldn't deal with) were fixed by the backup restore. Good luck!

Yes, it is a software glitch caused by the ios update. The ios says "unable to verify this iPhone has a genuine Apple battery" Of course, I've never touched the battery on my iphone or ipad. I didn't start having problems until 18.3. It is affecting both my phone and ipad. I thought I had it fixed and that 18.3.1 would fix Apple's software error. It didn't -- it just caused my phone to have the problem again. Try doing a soft reboot (on 13 mini, up volume then down volume then push and hold power. Keep holding when it says to slide to turn off. Release when you see the apple logo reappear. First time I did it last week it worked. 5 days ago I had to do it 3-4 times. On Sunday, I had to do it 20 or more times before it finally started working correctly again.

My fix: Started happening to me after getting 18.3.1 iPhone 14 - boot up > unlock > phone shuts off after about 5 min. I tried a number of random things to fix it to no avail. Then I saw some other posts in reddit saying google apps were crashing after a few seconds in 18.3, so that got me to thinking maybe its notifications from google apps that are then causing the crash because of it running in the background. I get dozens of emails a day from work and I use gmail app for the majority of it.

I have deleted gmail and youtube from my phone, and turned off automatic updates for ios. Since doing that, no more random phone shutting off issues. I'm going to try reinstalling gmail a bit later, but i can at least get to everything else I need for now.

exMacEmp wrote: "...The battery was old but I was plugged in power during the update and the restart...."

exMacEmp ~ If the "old" battery was severely depleted, being plugged in to power won't have helped. And "garbage sound quality" can also indicate a depleted battery — as the microphone may not be supplied with sufficient power.

...If you're lucky, the solution is to simply replace the old battery. If not, your iPhone may be permanently 'bricked'.

iPhone Battery Service

About genuine iPhone batteries

Repair Provider Verification

(Articles found by searching Apple's Knowledge Base.)

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I wanted to share my frustrating and time-consuming experience with the iOS 18.3 update, which led to my iPhone unexpectedly shutting down. It has now been over nine continuous hours, and I am still waiting for my iPhone to fully restore from an iCloud backup.

How It Started

Immediately after updating to iOS 18.3, my iPhone started restarting on its own. Within a short time, it completely refused to turn on. I attempted several recovery mode restarts and tried to update or restore the device, but I lost count of how many failed attempts I made.

Endless Restore Attempts & Errors

• First, I used Finder to attempt an update, but my iPhone restarted in the middle of the process and then stopped showing up on my Mac.

• I received error 1403 or 2406 (can’t remember exactly).

• I had to disconnect and reconnect the iPhone countless times, trying both update and restore options, but nothing worked. The phone kept restarting into recovery mode, then eventually became unresponsive.

• After 4 hours of frustration, my iPhone was effectively bricked.

Trying an Alternative Approach: Terminal & Homebrew

The next morning, I searched for alternative solutions and, with the help of ChatGPT, I discovered the possibility of restoring the iPhone via Terminal. Here’s what I tried:

• Granting Terminal Full Disk Access

• Installing Homebrew & adding it to PATH

• Installing libimobiledevice (required for iPhone restore)

• Restarting usbmuxd (the iPhone connection service)

• Manually restarting USB services and reinstalling dependencies

• Restarting both my Mac and iPhone multiple times

Despite all these efforts, nothing worked. The iPhone still wasn’t detected, and the Terminal method failed.

Finally, a Partial Success…

Feeling defeated, I went back to Finder and repeatedly tried Update and Restore until, finally, I was able to perform a restore. At this point, I was hopeful the nightmare was over.

• The device was erased, and I started setting it up as a new iPhone.

• But then the same issue happened again—random restarts, just like after installing iOS 18.3.

At this point, I was on the verge of giving up and considering a visit to the Apple Store or even switching to Android out of frustration. However, I decided to give it one last try, repeating the entire restore process from scratch.

Finally, after yet another full restore, my iPhone booted up properly. I had to go through the entire setup process again (Face ID, Apple ID, settings), but thankfully, my iCloud backup restored most of my data.

Final Thoughts: Apple Needs Better Quality Control

While my phone is finally working, I still have hours of waiting for all my apps and data to restore, and I may need to set up certain apps manually.

This was a horrifying experience, and it raises serious questions about Apple’s QA process. Are they properly testing updates on real devices before releasing them? Do they check compatibility with different iOS versions and device models before pushing updates to the public?

This iOS 18.3 experience was beyond frustrating, and I sincerely hope Apple takes more care with future updates.

Has anyone got to comeover the iOS 18.3 issue? share your experience

exMacEmp wrote: "BRICKED. After installing iOS 18.3.2 earlier this afternoon, my SE2 never restarted..."

exMacEmp ~ As your SE2 is an old model, one possible culprit is the battery...

If it's the original battery and weak from aging, a complete discharge during the update can cause the iPhone to be 'bricked'.

If it's a replacement battery, Apple advises that: "Using nongenuine batteries might also result in unexpected behavior after installation, device software updates..." Source:

About genuine iPhone batteries

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It's not always the iOS update's fault!  Many things can cause phone problems.  If you tell people you think it's an iOS update, it might make it harder to fix or find a solution for the real issue.

Remember, the right question often leads to the solution!

Was/Is your device Jailbroken? If that's the situation, please be informed that attributing the issues to iOS updates may not be accurate.

iOS updates aim to enhance user experience, boost security, and fix bugs rather than disrupt core features. The majority of the issues after updates might stem from underlying, unmentioned factors. Updates won't typically alter personal data but may refine settings or features. Backup before major updates for safety. Review Apple's update details and backup advice for a smooth process.

Kindly consider checking your settings and addressing any device issues before attributing the issue to external factors. This could be a pure coincidence that the iOS update affected the iPhone functions.

Before initiating a standard iOS update, it's advisable to create a backup. Have you completed this step? If yes, proceed with the restoration from the backup.

See what each update does: About iOS 18 Updates, About iOS 17 Updates, About iOS 16 Updates, About iOS 15 Updates, About iOS 14 Updates, About iOS 13 Updates, About iOS 12 Updates, and so on...

I just got an iPhone 15pro in November 2024 for black Friday, and I did the software update on Monday February 3, 2025, and it went through the update but glitched and never turned back on after. Thankfully I have a year manufacture warranty, so my husband had to take it to the Apple store. He took it to the Apple store they tried to factory reset and other things but still did not work. They said it was a software problem have to replace the insides and the battery thankful for warranty would have been 600$ plus to fix it. They also said to make sure when doing any updates to be connected to Wi-Fi. Hope this helps others with this problem.

I faced the same issue today morning, my phone was on the charger all night, but it was 36% when I unplugged it in the morning. I wasnt able to open any apps, even the settings app were missing some icons.

I started backuping the images from my phone and after I removed thousands of images it seems like the issue is solved. Maybe with the new update the phone starts to process every image?

Apple support had me to do a forced hard restart. It seams to have solved my problem have not had any unscheduled restarts after that

Dude. I'm in Uganda, probably very far away from everyone posting here. It's not his settings. It's iOS 18.3

Immediately after updating, phone doesn't recognise the battery, and it just keeps rebooting with the battery slowly approaching zero. It's not possible that it's a coincidence that this is happening to so many people.