iphone 4s wifi greyed out.

I tried the "reset network", power off/reset, restores to prior software, and the big Freeze. None worked. So today I drained the battery and let it sit for an hour. Powered back on, and the wifi is now working--at least for 2 hours at this point. Very strange, but if you have this problem, try draining the battery--it seems to have worked for me.

It also has given me serious pause about purchasing Apple iphones in the future given the lack of Apple's response to this problem. Antennagate chapter 2... My phone is 1 year and 20 days old, so just past the support period.

Can't believe it but looking good, and has been working solid for 6 hours now. Resynched, wifi on and off manually and still working. The freezing bit was working for about 10 minutes, then greying again. Tried the hair dryer without protecting anything else as I really didn't expect it to work. That'll teach me to keep an open mind as the phone appears to be working again.

I'll respond again if it stops but the hair dryer tip really seems to have a dramatic effect. Given the heat, and cooling time I'd leave it as one of the last resorts though. Try the safer ones first !

Thank God it worked for you too...you are also a living testimony of a hair dryer! Apple should include hairdryers on the packaging for their iporns!

Thanks Ralph! It's working 🙂

Hi Ralph

I bought my iPhone last year while I was in the US. It's an Upfront Unlocked purchase and already 1+ year old. So no warranty.. I have all of sudden got this problem while I came back from Office and was trying to connect to my home Wi-Fi router...

Usually when I turn on WiFi, it shows the available networks list and connects to my home network, but yesterday, it kept on searching for a while... I restarted my Router and the phone did not find it still... I turned off WiFi setting from phone, and when I turned it on, the page went blank (blue)...

I had to exit the "Settings" by double Home click, and Cross it out... Since then, the WiFi Option is Greyed Out..

I have done Reset Network, Reset All Settings, Downloaded the firmware back from Apple and installed again.. It did not help...

I have read atleast 40+ pages of User Forums, but am still not convinced to try Freezer / Hot Air technique...

As per Apple's Forum, the screenshot shows WiFi Address Missing - Mine is NOT The case...

I can see the WiFi Address in About menu... And Bluetooth is working.... Multiple Resets and Restarts, Installing the Firmware Again did NO HELP..

Do you suggest anything more? Is there a Patch for me please? I am dying to get this fixed here in India but do not want to Waste money in case there is NO Hardware glitch - Which does not make sense, and as I said, Address Shows, so I'm convinced, software must resolve this...

And I've found your desire to get something for nothing disturbing. I paid for an extended warranty to get exgtended coverage. Why should you get the same extended coverage for free?

None of the suggestions worked so far. Then I found a vid on the topic on youtube, recorded by a 12 yr old boy using a hair dryer to fix the issue.

In my despair, I did the same and it worked for me.

Shame on you, Apple.

Hi Parmeet,

There does not seem to be a single, universal fix. If the tips offered in http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1559 do not help, and the AirPlane Mode/Do Not Disturb trick does not work, and the backup-restore to factory condition-restore backup do not work, the issue may then be related to hardware itself. Or there may be halp with the new iOS 7 when that comes out. Though no such info is available at this time.

Unfortunately you are in the difficult position of having purchased your iPhone in the US and taken it back to India. The warranty status is irrevalent in this case since the iPhone and iPad warranties are only valid in the country of purchase. Apple-India will not provide service to a US purchased iPhone. The only alternative if that is needed is to take the iPhone back to the US, or send it to a trusted person in the US, to get service at an Apple store genius bar. Apple will not accept shipments from outside the US so you cannot send it to Apple.

As a further note, some on here are suggesting using a freezer and a hair dryer to either freeze or heatup an iPhone to fix this issue. That is STRONGLY not recommended. If you read the technical specifications for the iPhone, there are very strict temperature limits for both use and storage. Deliberately freezing and heating up violate those limits and will result in no assistance from Apple when other failures occur. And other failures will occur doing these things. These procedures are not a success path for the long term.

Well, this happened to me 2 days ago, and i've been updated to the new iOS for a while now, I've tried Ralph's suggestion, as well as the suggestions offered by Apple. I live in Australia, and the cost for an out of warrenty service for an 4S is in the range of $250AUD. It is not an issue of the warrenty expiring, as it seems to have happened to recently purchased handsets. My warrenty expired only 2.5mths ago.

I agree with those stating that if Apple knows about the issue than they should do something about it. So now, not only do i have to fork over that much money, but I will most likely go over my data charge with my carrier and will have to pay the excess of that too. For a full time student, part time worker, this is a weeks wage for me.

I tried this and all other tricks listed to correct this issue; while they worked for me a month ago, they did not this time. Does anyone have anymore suggestions? I live 2 hours fron the nearest apple store and work everyday between now and monday and would like to use my wifi. I did purchase the more expensive of the apple care protection plans, so I am not worried about that.

I did what Ralph said and it worked. For one night.

When I woke up, the same problem happened. But now, looks like the tips won't work again. I'm surprised that it's happening with so many users. I bought my iPhone 4s 10 months ago, but sadly, I'm not in the US, so I can't have the assistance. So, for everyone to see, it's happening with non expired warranties phones as well.

Call Apple Support at the appropriate number from http://support.apple.com/kb/HE57 and ask about sending your iPhone in for service.

To anyone living in Australia and this is happening, take it to the closest apple store, even if the one year warranty has expired. Our consumer law states that the warranty of an item should be appropriate for its expected lifespan. A mobile/cell phone on a 24mth contract should be expected to last this length of time minimum. I took mine to my "closest" apple store where they ran a diagnostics on it and found that they wifi chip needs servicing. They gave me a, what I'm assuming is a refurbished iPhone of the exact same specs, and the warranty continues til my contract ends. But they also give 90days in case anything happens.

My wifi switch was greyed out and I tried everything from the airplane mode to a hard reset and then heating it up and none of these worked. I am very mechanically inclined and my fix defies reason, but I apprehensively stuck my phone in the freezer for about 30 minutes after watching several videos and thought I ruined it but low and behold it works. SMH... I wouldn't have believed until I saw with my own eyes. I will log back in and give an update on how long it works for.

I have come across this link:

http://forums.macworld.com/index.php?/topic/151553-wifi-fix-from-ios-7/

The guy was plagued with the grayed out wifi issue and was responding to someone else's post. His fix was to sign up for a development account (he had to pay 60 GBP) and download the iOS7 beta release. After the install his iPhone 4s "miraculously" fixed itself up (and for more than 24hours by the time he was writing his response). He also mentioned that Apple took down his post from the support forums.

What I would suggest is that if you are still under warranty then get your phone replaced if you can, otherwise, it might be worth waiting for a week or so (or until iOS 7 gets released) and upgrade the the latest iOS release (which might fix your phone up).

Hope it works out for you.

T