why does the wheel keep spinning at the top of my screen on my iphone 5

I am having this issue as well. And have tried the hard restart (power + home) as well as the stop command (hold power till the slide comes up then hold home) and it is still spinning...all the time...

I understand this is an indication that something on the phone is accessing WiFi but I keep most things on my phone turned off most of the time, and this is new since the iOS 11.0.3 update...

Me too. I have an iPhone 6, software version 11.1.2. My data wheel is now constantly spinning. The only way to get it to stop is to shut down my phone and turn it back on. It will stop spinning until I go into my email or an app or Safari, then it spins and spins. I always close all my apps after I’m done, yet it continues to spin. Shutting my phone off and on is a ridiculous way to get rid of it. Any ideas? I also have the automatic updates turned off for the apps. I go in and check for app updates in the Apple Store daily and update them manually. Please help. This is running my battery down big time.

I’m glad I’m not the only one experiencing this. Hard restart helps ,,, until you go on line or check email. I’ve noticed it does not do it when I’m using just cellular data. I keep hoping Apple will fix this !!!!!!!

Go to App Store >Tap on the upper right icon>Tap purchases> hide all GRAYED OUT cloud/arrow apps.

Essentially this will eliminate the “stuck” apps that are no longer compatible with 64 bit architectur.

I’m not sure if that’s fixed anything for anyone or not. I can turn my WiFi completely off and in airplane mode with nothing running in the background and it still spins. 10+ Times a day iam having to restart my phone. It sometimes lasts for an hour beforeim doing it again and sometimes it lasts all day. I’ve not downloaded any new apps in a long time. I keep my location services off too. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I'm having the same issue. I submitted a forum question in December regarding this issue and never got it resolved. I can turn my phone on AirPlane mode or turn cellular data off and that will stop it, but turning wifi completely off doesn't do anything. This is very frustrating.

Hoping someone comes up with a solution, namely Apple.

I had a suggestion to go into my purchased apps and delete the ones that were shaded gray. I did that and I thought it helped but it didn’t. Then there was an iOS update, I updated the software, the data will is still spinning. I really wish they would fix this problem. Now it’s happening when I just go to my text messages. That’s The only app that is open and my data will will start spinning and it won’t stop until I hard restart my phone. It’s draining my battery and really ******* me off. Anybody else know what’s going on? Apple? What’s going on?

Thank you, I did just that and I thought it helped, however, it started spinning again once I opened up my text messages. There has been an iOS software update since and I was hoping that would fix it. It hasn’t. I’m getting super frustrated that I have to hard restart my phone constantly because it’s draining my battery. Thank you for the information though. I didn’t know about the grayed out apps

I think that means the device is accessing the internet. It may be app's checking for updates or the device.

You could try a reset hold both the on button & the home button until the Apple logo appears.

Had the same problem myself so thought what worked for me might be the solution for you too. 🙂

The small spinning wheel at top left indicates iPhone is searching for a Wifi.

Nope as I'm already connected via wifi when I see the wheel - connecting to the internet activates said wheel.

I think that it is turning the WiFi switch on in Settings (from "not connected" ) that starts the wheel.

In normal circumstances the wheel stops when you have selected and connected to a network of your choice.

You are right.

the wifi signal indicator is there, a spinning icon will appear next to it when downloading data or accessing the network.