I have an iPhone 5S. These bars appeared when I was using an app - Tinder - completely covered the screen and now my phone is inoperable. Anyone had the same experience? Reboot doesn't seem to work.
OS X Mountain Lion (10.8)
Oh oh...a dating app that already has you behind bars. Not good. 😉
When you say inoperable do you mean the phone is completely dead? Have you tried resetting it? Hold down both the home and sleep buttons for 10 seconds or so until the Apple logo appears. You won't lose any data.
Thanks. I knew that admitting to using Tinder would cause me some justifiable flack! Hey ho!
Anyway, the best way to describe it is that the bars over lay the whole screen, making accessing apps etc impossible. I am scrolling over bars not apps!
I have tried resetting a couple of times and the bars remain. It is interesting that when I reset, and if I can swipe the opening page, it does not go to the unlock, password screen rather straight to the apps!
I think I have a problem. Can I depower the phone some how?
I believe you have a hardware failure, probably related to the screen. Make an appointment at an Apple Store to have your device examined by a technician. Or contact Apple Support.
Sorry about the dig. It was so ripe for the picking. As for your question no, the phone can't be de-powered. Have you tried restoring the phone? If no joy you could also try putting the phone into recovery mode and see what happens. It'll erase your phone though so if you haven't been making backups you'll lose any data although if it is hardware failure it might be a moot point anyway. Or as Ralph suggested take it into an Apple store if one is nearby.
If you can't update or restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support
Use iTunes to restore your iOS device to factory settings - Apple Support
vertical 'prison bars' cover the iPhone 5s screen, everything is behind these bars so cannot access anything. Tried rebooting which does nothing, except sometimes I can access apps but without going through password page
