iphone 4S shuts down itself ?

I've had the same problem, my apple-savy teacher thought it might have been caused by my otterBox pushing down on the home button while it was in my pocket but that's definately not the case. Mine also started not recognizing contacts properly in messages so I just restored it but now I can't even activate the stupid thing. Hopefully its just a lemon and I can get a replacement tomorrow..... Kinda missing my Droid X though... never had serious problems with it....

Yes;

I got an Iphone 4S from France, and I have the same problem. I do not know how to fix!!!!

Same here...

Brand new iPhone 4s (32Gb).

Happened to me first time couple of hours after activation:

Took it out of my pocket, pressed the HOME button, and got the Apple logo. Few seconds after, got to the home screen and everything worked fine there (no need for hard reset as other users experienced).

Happened to me twice since (all during "sleep")...

As other already said, "panic" records are logged (Diagnostics).

I really hope its not a faulty device, since it was bought overseas (UK)...

Aviv dude-- mine shows the same "panic" stuff. But ya'll everybody get 5.0.1 and let's see if they maybe fixed it and somehow with the software.... Otherwise I'd go ahead and order another one, I've got a replacement coming in the mail.

and get applecare+ cause they will take care of us no matter what

@brysonpage

5.0.1 was just released: I don't see any reference there to a "shut down" bug (although they might have mentioned only major bug fixes).

I do hope its a software/firmware issue and not an hardware one...

I think I'll contact them before updating...

Did you send your iPhone for replacement?

Yeah dog verizon sent me one in like 2 days which was awesome. But after I 5.0.1'd my original glitchy iPhone it still did the same stuff so I assume it was the hardware. But you should be able to get a replacement pretty easy. Verizon just sent me one and told me to send the old one back. But I'd work on getting a replacement through Apple first. Bottom line I think its hardware.

So two days ago I've contacted Apple support (UK) and they advised me (as other users have mentioned mentioned) to restore my device.

But before doing that I've decided to try and update my iPhone 4S to iOS 5.0.1 (which I guess is identical to "restore" since the current OS version is now 5.0.1).

So far no crashes (and of course no panic logs)!

On one side, this is great - no more crashes.

On the other, I'm afraid that it is some kind of hardware problem and that it might show itself again in future iOS versions (when my device won't be under warranty anymore)...

As said, the "sut down" bug I've suffered from was a bit different - in a sense that I didn't have to do a hard reset in order to turn it on again, but rather click the home button and wait for the device to restart.

I think I'll wait a couple of days and see if everything runs smoothly...

I wonder if this bug was sorted out to other users, after 5.0.1 update...

I have recently been suffering from this same issue. My new phone was crashing and restarting frequently. I contacted AppleCare and tried a reset with no effect and updated to 5.0.1 also with no effect. I spoke to apple again and arranged a replacement. The guy in the store told me the panic error in diagnostics surjested a logic board issue. The new phone is working perfectly so fingers crossed. I strongly recommend contacting apple if u have this issues. Software dissent seem to be an issue with this fault.

@Cyux

Thanks for the input.

After crashing, did you have to hard reset it in order to restart it (I'm trying to fugure out if these are two different pronblems)?

Plus - how often did it crash on you?

The problem with replacement is that I'm outside the UK now... I'm not sure they'll be that happy to send it overseas...

I had both. It started with pressing the home button and getting the apple logo it then progressed into longer periods of time before I could even get the phone to start again. The time periods were between 30 mins of unboxing to about 5 hours after installing 5.0.1 but it happend mainly after heavy periods of use. But also happend after been in my pocket for a good few hours. As long as apple have retail stores in the country your in I shouldn't seen any reason why it would be a problem with the replacement.

Are u Getting panic.plist errors in the diagnostics window?

For anyone getting panic.plist crashes showing up in their logs, this is a hardware issue, no software update will fix it. Contact Apple tech support and tell them you are getting panic.plist crashes. You'll probably find that the panic.plist errors will cause you iPhone to reboot. My first 4S done this and I saw the Apple logo appear, even though the iPhone was already switched on, basically the iPhone had just rebooted itself.

Immediately after seeing this, I went into settings/general/about/diagnostics & usage/diagnostic & usage data. I then saw a panic.plist entry and the time on it was the same time that I had witnessed my 4S reboot.

I have had this issue with my 4S since Oct. 17th. I did a total restore and setup as a new iPhone on Oct. 26, panic.plist issue was not resolved. I updated to iOS 5.0.1 on Nov 10th and visited the Genius Bar on the same day. While I was there the Genius preformed a DFU mode reset and I was on my way. Naturally, this did not resolve the issue as well as the phone crashed again on Nov. 13th. It is very apparent this is a hardware issue and not an iOS one.

TUD wrote:

I have had this issue with my 4S since Oct. 17th. I did a total restore and setup as a new iPhone on Oct. 26, panic.plist issue was not resolved. I updated to iOS 5.0.1 on Nov 10th and visited the Genius Bar on the same day. While I was there the Genius preformed a DFU mode reset and I was on my way. Naturally, this did not resolve the issue as well as the phone crashed again on Nov. 13th. It is very apparent this is a hardware issue and not an iOS one.

The only way you will get rid of panic.plist is to get the iPhone replaced. No software update will fix it because panic.plist's are hardware based problems.

I would make another appointment and tell them you are still having panic.plist crashes and you want the iPhone replaced.

When I contacted Apple Care when I was getting panic.plist in my diagnostic log, the Apple Care guy immediatley said I would need the iPhone replaced.

So this is my "problem":

When I contacted Apple support UK (3 days ago), they advised me to restore my device

I did that and the iPhone was restored to 5.0.1

Since then (3 days now), it didn't crash yet (apps crashed, which is normal I guess) but the iPhone itself didn't...

Considering the fact that:

a. In the first 48 hours of use (iOS 5.0.0) it crashed 3 times (always during standby)

b. After each crash, I "just" had to wait for it to reboot (no hard reset)

So my "problem" is that I don't have a case here, since it hasn't crashed since the 5.0.1 update...

I guess that I can only hope that it won't happen again (although it is a bit scary to think that it might be a hardware problem after all which will pop again on later updates, and by then Apple's warranty won't be valid)...