iCloud restore causes screen flickering on iPhone 5 reboot

Question

iCloud restore causes screen flickering on iPhone 5 reboot

Greetings,

I have an iPhone 5 64gb white on AT&T. I previously had an iPhone 4 that I updated to iOS 6. I use iCloud to back everything up. When I got my new 5, I set it up to restore from the most recent iCloud backup. It completed the restore and my settings were present (bookmarks, IM messages, background and lock screen photos) but none of my apps were there despite the phone telling me that my apps would continue to download.

The apps did not download, but that's not my issue. The problem is that once the restore is complete (eg: you get the welcome screen that says 'You may now begin using your iPhone') and you power off the phone and reboot, you get greeted with a superimposed Apple logo progress bar (like the one you get when the iOS is updating) over the lock screen and the home screen. The screen continues to flicker unless you press the lock screen button. The phone is "useable" in that the screen will accept input but the progress bar does not seem to progress at all.

I've attempted a restore from an older iCloud backup (iOS 6) with the same results. I have not attempted to do a restore with an older backup from when my iPhone 4 was on iOS 5.

Here is a link to a blog that has a video of the phenomenon I am describing:

http://www.pulpconnection.net/2012/09/iphone-5-screen-flicker-problem/

I should add that I erased/reset the phone each time before I attempted a new iCloud restore. I am also connected to my home network via 802.11n wireless network with WPA2 security.

The phone will continue to function before you reboot it except for that certain applications will not launch and crash to desktop (DirecTV Sunday Ticket is the only one I can currently remember).

Any thoughts?

-Craig

iPhone 5, iOS 6

Posted on Sep 28, 2012 10:58 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Sep 29, 2012 12:49 AM in response to Craig Philhower

I just experienced this bug when restoring a non-iCloud backup of an original iPhone, and was able to reproduce it reliably.

I'll file a bug first thing Monday morning, but I fully expect that somebody has already reported it by now. :-)

Reply

Answer 2

Sep 29, 2012 4:46 PM in response to Craig Philhower

I experienced the same thing, but thought it was because I lost network connection (had to run to the library). I wiped the phone and restarted a restore of the same back up and so far have not had any issues.

Have you figured out a solution to the apps not downloading automatically? Every search I've done says that the apps would appear on screen with a progress bar. None of my apps showed up on my home screen, including the ones I set specifically to back up to iCloud (did not back up all). I even tried mannually downloading one of the apps. It began to download in a folder just as I had it in before, but none of the data was available. In settings, under iCloud, it says that my phone is still "currently being restored" but I don't really see any other indicators that anything is happening. Starting to get nervous...

Reply

Answer 3

Sep 30, 2012 5:03 PM in response to Larry Infante

Left mine overnight at the 'iCloud is restoring' part. No joy. About 11 hours and nothing. I synced with iTunes and copied over my 150+ apps. Same behaviour: some apps crash to Springboard, flashing screen returns when I reboot.

I need to determine if this is even worth my time. I'm only missing my text message chats; everything else is thru Google and iCloud was supposed to be the Camera roll backup. I do have an backup of my Photos on my PC plus my Photostream covers the remainder of what's missing.

Once more I'll communicate with Apple about this. If I can't get satisfaction via telephone or Genius Bar then I'll cut my losses and use what I have going forward.

-Craig

Reply

Answer 4

Oct 1, 2012 11:43 AM in response to Craig Philhower

UPDATE

The problem replicated again after a 12+ hour episode of letting the phone restore via WiFi. I restored, then synced over all my apps via an iTunes sync, rebooted, and was greeted with the flashing screen. Instead erasing and resetting the phone to factory, I instead reset all settings, which leaves data/apps intact but wipes out wallpaper, WiFi settins, saved passwords, and data stored in applications. This stops the flashing screen issue. For applications that were crashing, I deleted them and redownloaded the apps and that problem was fixed.

This seems to have stopped the wonky behavior. iCloud treats this phone like a new device on the same account so it does not attempt to continue a restore. In fact, it seems to be backing up to iCloud, as it lists a successful backup as of this morning.

As far as data that was lost, it seems to be minimal; certain games are missing data, Shazam has no list of tagged songs. However, Pages has my documents (since they are stored in iCloud) and some gams (like PvZ) has my progress intact.

I'll need to research further for any data loss but I think this is the best situation I can come up with. Going forward, I may have to skip iCloud backups if this is the result I can expect. I've moved from several iOS devices in the past, always by corded sync/restore, and never had any issue. This was my first restore and I am sufficiently disappointed as to never use iCloud again.

-Craig

Reply

Answer 5

Oct 2, 2012 9:36 AM in response to David A. Gatwood

Just to clarify, I do *not* experience lock screen flicker in future boots, and I do not experience random app crashes when restoring from a local backup—just lock screen flicker immediately after the restore. The other behavior is a different issue that I guess is specific to restoring a cloud-based backup.

If you still have your old device, try attaching it to iTunes, making a *local* backup of the device, and doing a restore of the local backup. Whether that works or not will help narrow down whether the problem you're seeing is iCloud-specific or not.

Reply

Answer 6

Oct 4, 2012 6:23 PM in response to David A. Gatwood

The prior device was lost/stolen so that wasn't an option for me.

I'm disappointed because I've upgraded from two prior IOS devices (3G - 3GS - 4) via cabled sync and never had an issue. My very first restore from iCloud was a annoying partial failure. I know iCloud was a free service, but I'm paying additional for extra room and it did not meet expectation or deliver on its promise.

The end result is that I was able to recover my text message logs (most important thing I wanted). If I had been storing my contacts or e-mail in iCloud those would have been lost. I store my contacts in Google and my mail is in Gmail. As it was I did lose a few hundred photos from my Camera Roll because there was a gap between my last tethered backup and the beginning of my Photostream.

I think Apple has lost me as an iCloud backup customer for the time being. To say nothing of the unmitigated disaster that is iTunes Match.

-Craig

Reply