Q: wifi greyed out iphone 4s

Hi Bowman134. Thanks for the info. Would you mind getting back to us in a couple days to let us know if the fix for the wifi is still working? Also, how much did you heat it up? Like burning hot or very mildly?

I will, it's currently still working without fail even after I turned it on and off to test. I used the dryer for about 2 mins and let sit for a minute or so. The phone was hot to the touch, especially the metal so be careful. As well I was having major battery depletion before doing this which isn't an issue now. Five hours after full charge, phone is at 76% with pretty constant use. Will update in a couple days.

i have tried all resets possible. resulting to wifi button being greyed out on and off. so frustrating.

I'm having the same issue.  I first went to Verizon, and they told me to go to the apple store.  The closest one was 45 minutes away and when I got there, they asked if I had an appointment.  Of course I didn't.  The next available time slot when someone could help me would be in 2.5 hours.  Thanks a lot.  I explained the problem, and the guy said it was a hardware issue - even though everything was perfectly fine until right after the new ios download finished.  They would be glad to replace the phone for $199.  No thanks!

this really works !!!!! but i cant understand why and how . how could that be a ios problm .mine was grayed out , if t was a driver or ios problm why would t work again by just heating t up

hey my wifi is working again by draining up battery using camera flashlight. phone will heat up and you can use wifi again. will update anytime soon

IT WORKS!

     I can't believe it, literally. I don't know what gets fixed in the WiFi card by heating it up, but the hair dryer thing works. I tried it as a last resort, and BANG! Reboot and the WiFi works.

Thank you furaanafulhi. I don't know how you came up with this?

Cheers,

Mathieu

I don't know why, I don't know how.... But it works.

Unbelievable... Thank you very much furaanafulhi

it worked for me too. i just don't know how long it will continue to work.

this confirms my suspicion that this is an apple hardware or software defect.

the problem started with the 6.0.1 firmware update, and though i updated the software to 6.1 and 6.1.2 the issue wasn't resolved.

i took the phone to the apple store, and the genius ran some diagnostics and said i had a broken antenna. because i had my phone for 13 months (1 month past the warranty!), the store refused to replace the phone and said i had to buy a replacement.

i cannot believe apple is unwilling to replace the device, when clearly this is a product issue. it seems like the 6.0.1 firmware update exposed an existing design flaw in the hardware.

this is absolutely ridiculous. i'm no longer committed to apple.

i'm going to look at the samsung galaxy s3.

apple -- feel free to contact me. i have plenty of apple devices, and if my experience at the apple store is somehow unique, and can be corrected, i'd like to hear about it.

good luck to all of you who also ran into this issue.

update: the hairdryer technique worked briefly, but it seems that once the device cools down wifi and bluetooth no longer work.

for anyone else dealing with this issue, or apple support that might be looking for commonality among impacted hardware, my device is a u.s. verizon iphone 4s (cdma)

time to find a new phone.

wifi grayed out after IOS updation. Tried the Apple suggestion to no avail. Freezer method worked for few hours for a couple of times. Hair dryer method also worked for a few minutes then grayed out again. Why Apple is not giving any official explanation? How else we can force them to listen to us as everybody cannot walk into their store and get it replaced freely or by paying.

I could not afford an Iphone yet I bought it in Pakistan and warranty does not work here and now I am stuck with useless phone with Apple logo which to me is more than ever eaten.

Apple come up with a solution soon.

from lots of post around on the Internet, I found out and also noticed it my self that after the installation of ios6.1.1 the phone got hot. due to this increase in temperature it's my view and increasingly the view of many on the Internet that the problem most likely started due to that update.but not only that update but this is the most visible one of all the 6.x updates

here under the most likely senario 

the problem with the wifi and Bluetooth both close together on the motherboard would be created due to a abnormal behavior of the wifi see 6.1.1 exchange server overload due to abnormal # of connections by iphone.

so what happened is the iphone when the phone was constantly connecting to the exchange server this generates heat in the wifi chip. if your phone was than also connect to be charged it could go on till ...

as heat makes the solder expand and cooling down makes it shrink again  this action of overheating cooling generates cracks in the solder and this generates bad connection. this is why when you heat your phone (hairdryer) the problem is temporary  resolved as the solder expands minutely an the connection between the  chip an the cracked solder is a lot bether. it is nearly impossible to prove this, but as a lot of people are helped by technicians who re-solder(heat the solder till it becomes like a liquied again and al cracks are gone)  i must deduce that it is not the version that is mocking up but the hardware that was broken due to an update of apple.So in that case apple should own up to there clients and repair the damage or by replacing the phones that are inflicted.

watch out some galaxy s3 have had battery probs lasting less than 5hours in normal usage

I had the same issue and I went into Apple today and was told I needed to buy a new phone because I'm just past warranty!!! Isn't this a hardware issue? Why would I need to buy a new phone for this? Did anyone else find a better solution? Frustrated

Last night I spent a few hours trying all of these resolves.  This would be the 2nd 4S I-phone that I've replaced for this WIFI issue.  The first was under warranty and this one is two months passed the warranty.  The restore lost all of the apps which is also a common occurrence.  The WIFI grayed out when IOS 6.1.1 was installed. The Apple Genius we visited today indicated although they have recently seen a large amount of users with the same issues and that chances are that I would have to replace the phone for $199.  Unacceptable Apple!  The "genius" referred me to AT&T because of a rumour that was heard about them "taking care" of this issue.  The AT&T represenatives had several I-Phone users in prior to us today and informed us that this was an IOS issue.  One AT&T representative has so much experience with this issue that we ran through all of the many resolves.  The only one that I did not try actually worked.

1.  turn Airplane mode ON

2. turn phone OFF, wait 10 minutes.

3.  power up phone, turn airplane mode OFF

the WIFI reactivated immediately. 

Thanks AT&T for saving me $199. 

I am extremely dissapointed with APPLE!.