iPhone 6 Plus Keeps Crashing PLEASE HELP!

I have performed a detailed experiment which has found the "cause" of the problem. The root cause (hardware or faulty iOS) is of course unknown to me, although I am sure Apple engineers already know it but are not disclosing the information for commercial reasons.

In summary, my conclusion is that anything over around 793 apps installed causes noticeable instability. There may be infrequent crashes even at 793 apps, but none were noted in a short test period. Size of apps or other non app files have no effect on crashing behaviour.


EXPERIMENT:

iPhone 6 Plus 128GB crashes repeatedly, even sitting idly untouched. It always crashes when it goes into sleep mode (screen off), or when manually put into sleep mode using the power button. It also has a number of bugs, including always crashing when attempting to change wallpaper. Cannot take screenshots.

A replacement identical iPhone showed exactly the same behaviour, but additionally has unreliable wifi.

USAGE:
ios 8.1
Normal (not zoomed) view - I have found that changing zoom mode appears to be a placebo effect
88 songs
45 videos
388 photos
1052 apps
51.0 GB available free


Decided on the following test methodology as it is opposite to Apple's suggested technique of using a fresh install and installing apps one by one. This way I started with a supposedly flawed backup/installation, and removed files.


TEST 1:
Put phone into Airplane mode. Touch ID and passcode off. No iCloud.

Crashing as above.

TEST 2:
Deleted all photos, all videos and all music.
Crashing as above. No change.

TEST 3:
Decided to delete the 12 biggest Apps, to see if App size was a factor.
1040 apps
62.8GB free
51.3GB used
Crashing as above. No change. BUT can now take screen shots.

TEST 4:
Decided to randomly start deleting apps.
980 apps
48.6GB used
65.5GB free
More stable. But folder backgrounds still vanishing. Crashed when trying to change wallpaper.

TEST 5:
Deleted more random apps.
908 apps
47.1GB used
67.0GB free
No change to above.

TEST 6:
Deleted more random apps.
888 apps
46.6GB used
67.5GB free
Appears stable, no crashing. Will not crash even when repeatedly putting into sleep & wake modes. Folder backgrounds present. No crashes when trying to change wallpaper, but will not actually effect any changes.



TEST 7:
Deleted more random apps.
793 apps
43.7GB used
70.3GB free
Appears 100% stable, no crashing. Will not crash even when repeatedly putting into sleep & wake modes. I tried filling the memory with lots of big games running in the background. It would not crash. Folder backgrounds present at all times. Wallpapers can be changed at will. No abnormal behaviour noted whatsoever.

RESULT: iPhone is STABLE!

That's a great experiment. Thanks for all your labor!

Gives me hope that I might be able to resurrect my iPhone IF I can find enough to delete (not that I should have to). Sadly, I can't swipe past screen 5, which makes it hard to go through my apps. And almost none will launch, making it hard to judge them in the first place. But it's a start.

What does this prove? What's the difference between test 5 and 6 to make it stable? You deleted 20 apps and freed a gb.

i have less than 700 apps 40gb free and still getting missing folder frames and reboots.

Sounds more like an app was causing the issue or over 64gb causes crashes

Just adding a data point. I have an AT&T 128 GB iPhone 6 Plus, which I preordered and have been using for five weeks. It's been a great phone -- no problem except for the occasional Springboard crash (what some people on this thread describe as a "quick" reboot) probably caused by iOS 8 app incompatibilities. In short, I've been happy as a clam with the phone and the problems I've experienced I'd call minor/teething issues.

Today, my phone hard crashed for the first time -- the crash logs after the reboot showed a kernel panic. Crashes then persisted, with reboots and the red and blue screens described in this thread. Kernel panics showed in the log, which sure seemed like the memory problem described in this thread.

Interestingly, on the last crash and reboot I lost both my WiFi and BT functionality. Apple's diagnostics revealed I had lost my antenna (shared) for both BT and WiFi. Whether this possible antenna issue is a symptom of a NAND memory problem or the cause of the kernel panics, I don't know.

I then did a DFU restore of iOS 8.1 with iTunes, and set up the phone as new. I did not get the WiFi and BT back, and I still have other stability problems -- the phone won't wake from sleep any more and I have to "hard" reboot by holding down the lock/power and home buttons simultaneously to wake it up.

I will get a replacement 6 Plus tomorrow. It's clearly a hardware problem.

Obviously even restoring from a backup is a PITA, as one loses Touch ID, Secure Element, and other data. I'm disappointed that a five-week-old phone has kicked the bucket, for whatever reason. And I will now have a refurb model whose IMEI won't match the retail box I bought the first phone in (goodbye good resale value).

If there is some widespread hardware fault with the 6 Plusses I hope Apple figures it out quickly and does a recall.

All....it is a problem with the iPhone 6 128. I am on my third phone and obviously it is not a hardware problem. Only thing I can think of is the 128 is just too much processing for the phone. Maybe Apple should discontinue the 128 model and move on as there sure seems to be a problem trying to get an IOS fixEd. Nothing seems to work and the tech group is great, but they do not have an answer.

I was in the Apple Store yesterday and I have never seen so many replacement phones going out the door. Apple....please ...you are torturing many or us.

On a support call today with Apple today, an iOS senior support advisor in Austin told me that Apple had, as of now, not confirmed any widespread iPhone 6/Plus/128 GB issue. She confirmed she had been getting calls about iPhone 6/128 crashes, but, with 40 million-plus iPhone 6s shipped in the last quarter alone, it was hard thus far for Apple to determine a real problem above the statistical noise.

Obviously, everyone in an Apple call center is following a script, so take this response for what it is worth. That said, if Apple is not acknowledging an iPhone 6/Plus/128 issue, how can they be on the verge of issuing a fix in iOS 8.1.1? Thus, I would not hang my hat on a fix on an upcoming version of iOS. Apple is still figuring this out.

The solution for 128 GB iPhone 6/Plus owners is to continue to call Apple when *any* problem arises, so Apple has more data. It's not a painful process from the user perspective. Apple sends a SMS message with a link. One clicks on the link, which uploads diagnostic info from the affected phone to Apple.

The iPhone 6 Plus 128 costs almost $1,000 off-contract. It's a flagship product. I have every reason to believe Apple wants to fix any problem and make its customers happy. But we need to feed Apple the data so they can come to grips with the problem.

As previously noted, this has now gone on for 1 full year on the 128GB iPad Air first available 1 year ago - including all versions of iOS 7.

Apple has been given the option of taking possession of units with this issue for in-house testing, yet they have refused to do so.

So not sure why you believe that they will be eager to look at a diagnostic log when they do not want units verified with the issue in hand that they could run infinite tests on - unless they know they cannot fix the issue.

By requesting diagnostic logs, at least they can claim they are "working" on a solution....lol...

The only way this will get fixed (or recalled or whatever) is if WE narrow down the commonalities.

I posted the instructions for doing this and only 1 person did - thus it is apparent people want to complain and have someone else fix it.

Guess what. As Apple has proven over 365 days with the iPad Air 128GB, that is not going to happen - no matter how many send diagnostic logs to them.

Here is my case. Bought my IP6 plus 128GB around 20th OCT,2014. I was using Android before, so it's no backup and no restore matter to me. Just setup as a brand new phone but the phone just started keep rebooting more and more recent days. Rebooted 4-5 times last night. I did not install many apps on it. (APPLE said some installed more than 500+ apps cause the issue but not me). I only had around 20 apps so far and one of them is the NBA 2k15.

Every time when i try open app or even calculator. It may crash and reboot. Showing the white screen with apple logo. And it looks like a quick reboot. Seems much faster than normal reboot. Just takes about 5 sec.

Last, my IP6 plus updated to 8.1 already when all this reboot happened and looks more stable to me when i still on 8.0 (at least I do not see crash and reboot before) with all the same apps on it.

Anyway, i will bring in my phone to have it replace but i only bought my phone for less than a month. If i can only replace for a refurbished one. This is not fair to apple fans and customer because this is for sure at either software or hardware faulty. APPLE should take care of it but not let us to bear the risk or cost.

I saw many excuses from APPLE side around internet but my case here is real and just happened recently. No old backup, restore or too much app issues.

All these reasons flowing around but none on my phone.

APPLE, please find the true reason cause this issue but not only telling some excuse or fooling people around. Fix it asap because we paid you real cash. And i don't think people will accept for a refurbished one for a such brand new phone.

I suspect that the number of apps is not the issue. It is the size of the apps, which is why people are seeing different number of apps cause an issue.

But as people here will not troubleshoot with the easy steps asked for 2-3 days ago, we will never be able to find the commonality.

It also affects the 64 GB model iPhone 6+. I have the exact symptoms, and don't have a 128.

And I agree with others: call Apple! The Genius can't do anything but give you a new iPhone that will probably have the same issue. But calling Apple gives them data to work with--or at least to know the problem is serious.

(There's also apple.com/feedback, but that's not a conversation.)

How do I know if I have the bad band flash?

iPhone 6+ 64GB model bought launch day... I have nothing but crashing, rebooting, keyboard glitched, orientation glitches, just super weird behavior. I restored from a 32GB iPhone 5 with 25 gigs in use... I did not have a ton of apps but I did have songs and I like to bookmark my safari pages to the home screen, I had thousands of them. My first sign of problems was the icons from my safari bookmarks did not retain their images, they all turned into a white slab with a circle and x, my second sign was soon reboot, it took well over 30 seconds to boot after the mandatory 4 pin unlock code upon first reboot (My wife has same phone bought with mine and she has no issues). as for the crashing, my screen would flash and turn black, I had no idea what was happening as it looked like the screen saver kicked in in the middle of doing whatever I was doing but no buttons worked what do ever, it acted like a dead battery shutdown without the spinning circle. I would have to wait a solid minute before I saw any signs of life, then the white Apple screen appears for another 30-40 sec then back to business. Finally, I decided to kill my "iLife", 5 years of backed up material #%*€¥#!!!! My symptoms are tame now, I can reboot and when I input my password at first boot my screen appears almost instant. However, crashing and the black screen crash are still a part of my experience, it is not as bad, but it gets me. Facebook and chrome are my worst culprits, they are current so I can't justify the app not supporting iOS 8... In app video is a bugger, that's where most problems occur. Orientation is still an issue. I have not installed enough apps, music, or bookmarks to see if things progressively get worse. This is a real bummer! My suspicion is the file system, especially since I lost the images from my icons. I retained my iPhone 5 and have reinstalled my backup to that phone because I have important information I need to retain. Color me bummed!

I DONT WANT A REFURBISHED IPHONE! I paid full price for 2 - 64GB.... EXPENSIVE! I want my hardware to be functional, if it's not, then promptly replace it with a new one. I cant believe I had to lose all I did just to get a semi-stable platform.

scootersound wrote:

How do I know if I have the bad band flash?

iPhone 6+ 64GB model bought launch day... I have nothing but crashing, rebooting, keyboard glitched, orientation glitches, just super weird behavior. ...

... My first sign of problems was the icons from my safari bookmarks did not retain their images, they all turned into a white slab with a circle and x, my second sign was soon reboot, it took well over 30 seconds to boot after the mandatory 4 pin unlock code...

... I cant believe I had to lose all I did just to get a semi-stable platform.

Same boat here with my 64 GB--but the "bad flash" theory is still just a theory (and more recent articles seem like they may have debunked it).

That still leaves a mystery: it could be bad hardware, but it could (my personal guess) be an OS bug.

Which is why I am NOT going to the Genius to get a replacement (a refurb in trade for my brand-new brick??)--it doesn't sound likely to help.

I'd say, hang on to your new phone and hope for a software fix.

Like you, I too need to keep my "stuff." So what I'm doing is using a bare minimum of apps for now, and not generating anything new (that's not in the cloud). That way, I can wipe this current setup later, after a fix comes out. THEN I will restore from my old backup and--with any luck--be up and running just as I should be.

And in the meantime, at least I have a phone, a browser, and a couple key apps. (I have had only one crash on a "new" installation--and it sounds like you've had more. I chalk that up to iOS 8 having multiple different bugs. Not all of them affected by restoring from an old phone.)

I have similar issue, best I can figure my random shut down and reboots occur when I have multiple apps open and switch between them. after going back and forth 2-3 times, it crashes and reboots the phone.

Am I the only one that is installing a bunch of apps that i don't need just to get my 6 plus to crash/restart cause I have 40 so apps opened in the background and about 76 app installed no movies or music and still have not had any random reboots. I've used about 48gb so far

Hey everyone. I just saw this article, and after reading it it definitely seems to be the problem that everyone here is having (or at least what was happening with my original phone). I already got my replacement weeks ago, and actually haven't had any more problems since (although I doubt I got one with MLC Flash), but I thought I would share this anyways. If you're having problems, just take it in to the store, tell them you're having these problems and I bet they'll replace it on the spot.

http://www.macrumors.com/2014/11/07/apple-stopping-tlc-nand-flash-iphone-6-6-plu s/