iphone 4s wifi greyed out.

Hi everyone,

Here I go, another story of an EX- Apple client after being really disappointed by their service..

I had the same issue.

I bought my iPhone in Belgium in a provider store (Mobistar) in November 2011.

Really happy with it, great device, UNTIL I downloaded iOS 7 in October 2013. (I didn't want to but practically was FORCED by my own phone). After this, my wifi started turning on and off, acting really weird. After 2 days, the button just greyed out, couldn't do anything with it.

As we don't have an official Apple store with genius bar in Belgium, I went to a Switch store. I told the guy about my problem, he immediately knew what was going on, didn't even care to look at my phone nor did he make any record of it in his computer but just said I should go to the store where I bought it (Mobistar) and I would get a new one as it was still in warranty (warranty in Belgium is 2 years). I was leaving on holiday for 3 weeks the next day so was kinda bummed out I wouldn't be able to take my phone with me (really needed it to check my e-mails etc). But, I had no other option so decided to go and hand in my phone the next day. When I came home that night, my wifi magically turned on again and I was so happy it worked again and decided to just take my phone with me on holiday the next day. Little did I know, it was just a temporary 'fix', just the chip that decided to work again for 2 days. After one day in Portugal, the wifi went down again and NEVER came back up. When I came home 3 weeks later, my phone was out of warranty for 1 day. Dear lord I could've cried like a baby.

I tried contacting an Apple employee through the internet and all they did was tell me I should visit a Genius bar.

In February, I went on holiday to New York so made an appointment at the Genius bar in the Apple store on Fifth Ave.

The girl there was friendly, but same story: she knew immediately what the problem was, told me it's a common problem with the 4s but denied that it happened after downloading iOS7, had nothing to do with it she said. Completely ridiculous ofcourse. Then, she told me that if the employee at the Switch store had made a record of my complaint, I could have proven that it was already broken within my warranty and she could have had it fixed for free. The only thing she could do for me now was give me a "new" (it's refurbished, so basically she was lying) phone for 200$. Ok, so after paying 650€ (840$) for my iPhone, I had to pay another 200$, leaving me with an (at that time already) old phone for which I would have payed a total of 1040$. She told me that it would be better to buy an iPhone 5 immediately because after a year a 4S would be useless as well with updates that won't work on it anymore. Wow, thanks for not helping me at all.

I kept using my phone (which was getting slower and slower and with draining battery life) for half a year more, forcing me to spend endless amounts on cellular data. Thanks Apple!! Love your customer service!

I even tried the blowdry and freezer trick (together with all the other options) but it didn't even work for me. Honestly, while blowdrying my phone I couldn't help but laugh that a company that makes billions each year forces just forces customers to blowdry and freeze phones for wchich they pay a month's rent.

Know, I think it's crazy I ever paid that amount for a device from a company with SUCH BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE.

But lesson learned, I just bought the Samsung S4 Mini for a reasonable price and can't wait to start using it.

My advice: iPhone is not worth its price, and even if it was, the customer service is so disappointing that it's still not worth it.

I have the same problem in iphone 5 and taking the phone to DFU mode and again getting it out of it without doing anything else helped me i hope it helps others too.

What'a DFU mode? Mine is greyed out again and Ralph's trick didn't work a second time.

Just keep taking the phone to recovery mode and reseting by keeping both sleep/wake and home button and get it out of it without doing anything until the wifi is back. You might have to try several times,if your phone turns off you will have to do this again. for me it worked Mine is an iphone 5.

The way it works changes but with some trying for me it finally worked. i cant believe so many iphones have such a problem.

Just keep taking the phone to recovery mode and reseting by keeping both sleep/wake and home button and get it out of it without doing anything until the wifi is back. You might have to try several times,if your phone turns off you will have to do this again. for me it worked Mine is an iphone 5.

i have iphone 4S and i have updated my phone to IOS 8, and after that update i found my wifi turned grey out and also exactly today my phone id not showing any incoming call on the screen after the call has ended missed call notification comes out on the call menu.i have tried to restore it but the problem is that i have not turned off find my iphone from icloud and now i have no option to turn it off from iphone using wifi please help me to restore it to ios7 or simply fully restore it to ios8

Hi, I had the exact same issue. I read (and saw) that if you turn it off, put it in the freezer for 10 minutes and then restart it, it will work. I thought this person was crazy. Worth a try. I did it, and believe it or not, it DID WORK!!!!

My wife currently has my old Iphone 4s. After the update to IOS 8.0 the wifi button is greyed out and wifi doesnt work anymore. Online tech support from Apple has been going through all possible options to restore the problem. Given the amount of similar notifications about this issue, the problem undoubtedly is the result of the update to IOS 8.0.. I do not understand that apple doesn't take it's responsibility and won't come with a clear and reasonable solution to this matter. We will be going to a Aplle Genius technician next week. Hopefully they will come with a solution and that they take responsibility for this. I see people posting about putting the device in a freezer or using the oven or hairdryer to solve the issue. Really people, even if this might work in some cases, please just collectively knock on apple's door and put some pressure on the case! For the price we pay for an Iphone we might expect good service in return and at least a phone that holds longer then 2 years! Robin

Hello, Robin,

If you go to the Apple Retail Store and speak with a Genius, they're going to tell you the same thing.

After troubleshooting the issue / taking these steps to verify this is not Software related, your wife's iPhone 4s has a Hardware related issue that became present after the most recent iOS 8 Update. iOS: Wi-Fi settings grayed out or dim This is 100% not Software after taking these steps.

The reason why the freezer / hairdryer trick 'works' for some people is that they're modifying the Hardware component of the Wi-Fi chip; which temporarily or in the long run resolves the issue. You don't do those steps for a Software issue.

If you're Out-of-Warranty, you will be opted the Out-of-Warranty fee.

You can even request the Advisor to run an iOS Diagnostic Test, which further confirms that the Wi-Fi is failing.

Regards,

Alena

The only way to fix greyed out wifi is to go in iFile and change the wifi property list file. Go to var_preferences_SystemConfiguration and find com.apple.wifi.plist. Open it up with the Property List Viewer and turn AllowEnable on. I hope I have saved you from a trip to the apple store.

I have updated the IOS in my iphone 4S and as lot of you guys mentioned my wifi as well greyed out. I did everything mentioned in Apple support and nothing helped. I have contacted the Apple support by online and they have run the diagonistics and mentioned that my wifi chip is not working and need to send it to service. As my warrenty period is finished i have to pay myself when the issue is happened due to the Apple IOS update. Apple should take their responsibility to replace for the customer....

We have to raise this concern together..it's really not acceptable and fair from APPLE.

Well I finally got fed up. Iphone 4S in immaculate condition, updated and WiFi greyed out. Apple killed my perfectly fine 3GS a few years back, and now they have killed my 4S just before the iPhone 6 was launched! I fail to see how a company so big, who has a product with either a definite fault (but who haven't got the balls to admit they are in the wrong!!!) or who are releasing updates to force users to abandon their old hardware and pay for new.

I am frankly disgusted either way.....their software updates have killed tech with a value in excess of £900 over a period of 3 years.....this is NOT acceptable. Yes a phone is just a phone, but it is the principle of the matter. If I pay £500 for a phone, I want it to last more than 2 or 3 years...Apple want nothing to do with it because it is out of warranty, however I could also argue that their updates have caused the issue and therefore I am entitled to a refund or compensation. Sale of goods acts are very clear that items of value (Phones, tablets, Cars, BIG purchases) have to be suitable for purpose and function for a decent enough amount of time. I am going to investigate this further as it seems wrong, they are swindling people out of their hard earned cash no matter which way you look at it.

Needless to say my wife and I now have top line Android phones and I will NEVER be coming back to an Apple handset.

I think this is sabotage.

If the off airplane mode n on again step does not wrk, just hold your on/off button tgt w yr home button concurrently to do an software rest, then it should be ok after that.