iOS 6 WiFi option is GREYED OUT (unrelated to iOS 6 WiFi connectivity issues)

Just letting you know, if you're under warranty they will replace the phone for free as I had mine replaced on Saturday, they try to fix the problem and if they can't they will replace the phone there and then. I am from the UK so if you guys are definitely under warranty just make an appointment ASAP with your local apple store. If you're not under warranty I think the charge for a replacement is £115. Either way I would recommend to book an appointment to see what the experts say.

I hope this helps

APPLE is the ones that screwed my phone up!!! They should replace it for free!!! I have had my 4s for 1 1/2 yrs and im sure its not under warranty anymore. But, it worked fine until they did an upgrade and it messed my phones battery up!!! I have spend at LEAST 30-40 hrs researching and trying to update and fix my phone to no avail. And DEFINITELY am not getting ANY help from APPLE!!! They have now come out with 2 fixes, which neither has done anything!!!! Im thinking of going with Samsung Galaxy S3. If i went with the 5, im afraid of more problems!!!

Having spent hours looking at this problem and not seeing any light at the end of the tunnel, until trying something extreme, I feel compelled to share it. I upgraded to iOS6 and immediately experienced the grey wifi switch of death. Versions 6.1.1 and 6.1.2 (last night) made no difference. Neither did the help recommended on the Apple support pages referenced above (resetting, reloading etc etc).

I read somewhere on these pages of people using hair dryers and freezers to solve the problem - out of desperation, I tried the hair dryer (the thought of cold induced condensation damage put me off the freezer approach). To my utter shock - it worked. I did the following:

1. Power down the phone
2. Hot air blast for a few minutes into the earphone jack until the phone felt hot to touch
3. Allow to cool until warm to the touch
4. Power on - switch on wifi

Now I'm a qualified Electronic Engineer and am therefore struggling to explain this - I was convinced the problem was associated with the software upgrade. The only possibilty that I can think of is a quality issue with solder joints on the phone (a dry joint might easily induce this behaviour) or possibly stuck bits in a NOVRAM. At any rate - a bit of thermal energy has solved the problem for me.

Best wishes.

Here’s my update from my last post: After doing the few methods I posted on page 34 and getting the Wi-Fi option back. I continue to see very little to no Wi-Fi connectivity. I also use the disabling the Cellular Data method by turning off Cellular Data, Wi-Fi and putting the phone on sleep mode then trying to enable the Wi-Fi connection a few times. After minutes trying this method I finally got Wi-Fi connectivity to my wireless network. However it doesn’t last long before it losses the connectivity, I was able to pull down the latest IOS patch update which rebooted my phone. To my surprise the Wi-Fi option was still available but the patch made no noticeable changes and the Wi-Fi still struggles to find a signal. I haven’t tried to reboot my phone again, but I’m not going to press my luck. I did hear some Apples stores in my area have notice the increase in customer complaints. Most Apple stores are willing to help those without Apple care or no warranty, but there is costs involved so don’t be surprised.

Hey there

applying heat from hairdryer to my iPhone 4s for about 3 minutes and then letting it cool down for about 10 worked for me. Although my phone has now sometimes problem finding a wifi network it's still a huge step up!

Please apple, since you obviously broke it, fix it.

Makes you wander if that heat refreshes solder between cb and network adapter.

Well - further to my last post I can report that a blast of heat was only a temporary fix. It is however repeatable.

Today I got in touch with my network service provider (O2 in the UK) who told me that this is a software issue (making the heat gun fix even more strange) and that Apple had told them it would be fixed in 6.1.2 - which as we know, is not a fix.

They also told me that since my phone is out of warranty they would happily charge me a fee to take the phone into repair and wind back the software to iOS 5 - which, they also confirmed, would fix the issue.

I spoke to our local Apple store who strongly denied any of the above and told me that this is symptomatic of a hardware issue (they denied hearing about it before) and I would have to bring it in to be repaired.

So - I'm now guessing that Apple are aware of this problem (which explains the fast rate of software updates we have seen recently) and another one to address the issue will be here soon. If it's not, then I'm afraid I take a very dim view of Apple's treatment of customers and will look at other brands for next phone. 😠

Dr Technical wrote:

Well - further to my last post I can report that a blast of heat was only a temporary fix. It is however repeatable.

Today I got in touch with my network service provider (O2 in the UK) who told me that this is a software issue (making the heat gun fix even more strange) and that Apple had told them it would be fixed in 6.1.2 - which as we know, is not a fix.

Apple does not speak to those people - did they also tell you that God spoke to them?

They also told me that since my phone is out of warranty they would happily charge me a fee to take the phone into repair and wind back the software to iOS 5 - which, they also confirmed, would fix the issue.

I spoke to our local Apple store who strongly denied any of the above and told me that this is symptomatic of a hardware issue (they denied hearing about it before) and I would have to bring it in to be repaired.

So - I'm now guessing that Apple are aware of this problem (which explains the fast rate of software updates we have seen recently) and another one to address the issue will be here soon. If it's not, then I'm afraid I take a very dim view of Apple's treatment of customers and will look at other brands for next phone. 😠

I am sure Apple knows about that problem and will be happy to charge you, however software update 6.1.1 and 6.1.2 are for completely different reasons.

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1639.

Multiple people promise to buy other phones, my experience tells me that no company replaces stuff for free past warranty, but if you find one that will -please post here I will go as well.

I agree - no company is going to replace hardware for free. However, I know that other companies are responsive to customer issues. If it's true that Apple know about this and refuse to own up to it (as happened with the iPhone 4 antenna saga) then I think it portrays a company of little integrity.

Just my opinion, but based on my experience.

To your experience any software company replaced your hardware after updates?

Microsoft, Norton, HP, Anyone? Sorry to say but you do know how many people complain that windows updates destroyed their machines. I hear that server admins, have special servers to run windows updates to, before they release those to company's computers. I am too old to keep dreaming, but who am I to take dreams from you....

If a piece of software or driver made a component of your PC malfunction, most of the time you just rolled back to the previous version. Can you do it on a iPhone?

You got that one right. Want to stay in controlled environment stick with Apple and pay the piper. Want to be on your own go Android. Free world.

I had this problem for about 1,5 months now. Temporarily fixed it with the hairdryer method but after a couple of weeks it happened again.

So I made a genius bar appointment at the local apple store (Hamburg, Germany) for today.

The guy immediately knew about the problem and said they got about 4-6 people (per day!!) with the same issue. He said it's a hardware fault caused by some sort of software issue.

Since I was out of the one-year warranty he wanted to charge me 199 EUR to give me a new one. I argued a bit since he previously made clear (in describing the software-hardware fault) that it couldnt be my fault… it didnt took a lot to make him go to the store manager.

After 2 minutes he came back offering me a new replacement phone free of charge.

Nice!

Half-Summary, Half-Deduction:

The issues popped out for some people during their use of any version of iOS 6, but not the newest one (.1.2), unless your iPhone was already affected by it. For me, it was around a month after I upgraded from .0 to .0.1.

Gathering info from other discussion pages, I'm assuming that these issues started with the beforementioned "cellular stability" issues on iOS 6, 6.0.1 and 6.1. It uses up random data even if both your Cellular and Wi-Fi are off. This resulted in an overheating of the Wi-Fi chip, which also resulted in a temporary shutdown of the chip. Unfortunately, even with the chip cooled, the software on iOS 6 still give out a signal to the chip, saying that "TOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOT". Bang, perma Wi-Fi grey.

So most of the discussions say that iHeat/iFreeze should enable the Wi-Fi. They are both right, the temperature change could result in new data being sent to the chip, enabling the Wi-Fi. Unfortunately, after some time, the Wi-Fi loses its power, resulting in weak signals or a complete loss of Wi-Fi, while the button is still able to slide on and off. In this state, battery drain doesn't exist and should function as usual.

Here comes the fun part. If (and only if) you do a restart of the phone, the Wi-Fi will turn back to grey. In nerd talk, this is restarting iBoot (restarting Springboard should have no effect). That being said, after Wi-Fi greyes out, the battery drain comes back.

Lets take a look at both .1.1 and .1.2 updates:

• The former states that it fixes the cellular issues. Check, but no Wi-Fi issues are fixed.
• The latter states that it fixes the Calendar bug, which in turn fixes the battery drain issue. It's half and half on this one. .1.2 fixes iPhones which are NOT affected by the greyed out issue, while in turn does not fix the battery drain issue in iPhones which are affected by the greying out prior to the update.
• Upgrading to iOS 6.1.2 directly from any iOS version should (Note: SHOULD, I am not responsible for what happens to your iPhones) not affect your Wi-Fi in any way, but anything before that (iOS 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.1, 6.1.1) has a chance of doing precisely what has annoyed everyone since the introduction of iOS 6.

So let's see:

1. iPhone has a chance of greying out whichever iOS 6 version you are on.

2. Updating does not solve the problem, maybe even causing it.

3. .1.2 only applies to those who have not been affected by the greying out.

P.S. Note that I am only making a deduction here, and not the absolute truth. I gathered some information here and there, and came up with this. Anyone who finds flaws in this are welcome to criticise (Please don't troll me, I'm scared of trolls 😟).

"Sent from my iPhone 4s running iOS 6.1.2 with Wi-Fi disabled and no data plan....." Just kiddin'.

Also, this is maybe loosely related to the XBox issues, a.k.a RING OF DEATH. 👿👿👿👿.

@floglaser

Most of the Apple employess go by the book, they don't give handouts for those expired warranties.

And for all future posters,

Please bear in mind that we all know that getting a brand new phone is a fix. Unfortunately, some of us are not located near enough to Apple stores, or our warranties have expired and we need to pay 200 EUR/USD for a brand new phone. Stop posting useless stuff saying "I HAVE NEW PHONE 😝".