iOS 8.3 iPhone 4S wifi problem

Well sticking it in the freezer certainly didn't break my 4S. It fixed it and as a result highlighted where the problem lies. Or we saying the iPhone 4S will break if it is exposed to a few degrees below zero? Having said that, you lose the warranty if it gets a sniff of rain too. Well of course you put it in the freezer at your own risk, or you can pay for a newer iPhone! It's all about money after all..

I spent many hours on the phone with AT&T and Apple with the same problem. I have a 4s and updated to 8.3 and now have no wi-fi connectivity. When I talked to Apple on Friday the 17th they said they had not heard of this problem at all. I told them it's all over the internet. They recommended I get a new phone as I'm ready for an upgrade or I could run it through my insurance with AT&T. We did the whole backup routine and reinstall, as many have described here, to no avail. They ran a diagnostic test on the phone and said it checked out as everything is working properly. I just thought I'd put in my two cents. It's ridiculous! I have told all my iPhone friends not to update at all because it could be trouble! Hopefully someone from Apple will see all these posts and get this taken care of soon.

The grayed out wifi is not a 8.3 issue, but a 4s issue. I noticed the problem when i switched over to ios 8, but the problem was happening to the 4s way before the ios update. The easiest "temporary" fix I have found is to take a blow dryer to the top of the phone by the audio jack. Get the phone to go into a thermal protection mode. Turn off the phone and place in a plastic baggy (for protection reasons) and stick in the fridge for 15-20 minutes. Start up and change to airplane mode then back off airplane mode. Wifi is now back on. This is not a permanent fix. This cycles the Wifi module to get it unfrozen basically. Only real fix is to replace the module itself. Now, there were a couple times where i had to cycle the thermal shutdown twice in a row, but mostly just once. This lasts anywhere from a week to a month. Just all depends and results may vary. If you find it too much a PITA, then I would suggest going to the 5 or 6.

and this isn't necessarily a response to bass, just a general response

Yes, looking through Google it does appear to be more of a 4S problem but I had no problems with iOS 8.1. 8.2 and 8.3 seem to run very slowly.

I find that the greyed out Wifi fixes itself just by sticking it in the freezer for 15 mins. I don't need to heat it up first. There are so many Google hits for iPhone and freezer.

It also seems that if you turn the wifi and Bluetooth on and off using the drag up buttons (rather than via the Settings slider controls) and give the iOS time to update, the hang up doesn't seem to occur. It could be a combination of dodgy hardware with slow performance and state synchronasion. Who knows?

i think the problem is the software.

please apple try to remove the condition between temperature and bluetooth/wifi.

The problem (according to my local authorised repair centre)...is a chip on the mainboard...only repairable by Apple...you send it to them...fork out approx. £170...they send you a functioning (for now) phone....I spent 30 years in a Motor Trade sales environment...would never have got away with this practice!!...ah well...Android it is...

My WiFi would drop out when the phone woke (as in, the WiFi icon would disappear before my eyes), but after "upgrading" to iOS8.3, it started to drop out randomly when I was in the middle of using the phone. It didn't do that before 8.3. It doesn't drop out on my home network, but only on my office network. The signal is strong, so I don't think it is related to signal strength, but I can't be sure. Just to be clear - when it drops WiFi, most of the time it does not reconnect by itself - not in any reasonable time period, anyway.

It doesn't ever drop the connection when it's on the mains charger.

btw. for people asking if Apple reads this forum - I'm pretty sure they don't, and they could not care less. It's all about numbers, and if a relatively small number of people has a problem, then they just ignore it and hope we all upgrade to a new iPhone.

#IAmBeyondAnnoyed

iPhone4S

iOS 8

-Probelm: Wifi was unable to recognize any networks, (NOT "greyed" out).

-Solutuon: Freeze phone 30min, (hard reset on wifi chip).

iOS 8.2 "fix update"

Same

iOS 8.3 with "wifi fix"

-Problem: Wifi continually drops out, and picks up.... And drops out. Leaving it completely useless and blowing my data.

-Solution: PAY $600 for a new phone.

Evening.

I've still got my 4s and can switch wifi on/off and see available networks BUT I am 'unable to join' ANY of them! Tried at home, work etc etc

I have tried resetting network, turned off wifi networking, forgotten network etc

As it is not on contract, I have no mobile data so I have also turned that swipe off.

I am using the phone to download spotify offline playlists only.

Does the full factory reset/restore work??

Forcing customers to buy the latest iPhone, by making the previous ones inoperative after a software update, should not be allowed.

Maybe it's time to think about 'class action'.

You could be right but life is too short. I'm switching to android.

Upgraded to iOS 8.3. Still WiFi switch greyed out and no Bluetooth (spinning wheel).

Switched phone off. Put in freezer for 20 mins. Switched back on. All fixed (can now switch WiFi on as it isn't greyed out and Bluetooth works).

I have iphone 6 with same exact problem

Take out of freezer works until it warms up again - junky

OK, an update after a few weeks. I found that despite using the freezer trick the Wifi would fail again as soon as the phone warmed up. This time I tried the full 'fix' suggested on the web of getting the phone to over temperature then stick it in the freezer once switching fully off. So far so good! I muse admit I'm coming round to believing it's more of a software issue now. Particularly as someone has just reported the same with iPhone 6.

The strange thing was that when I switched the iPhone 4S on after taking it out of the freezer I got WiFi (toggled correcy in Settings) but no WiFi symbol on the top of the main screen. I could browse the Internet. Oddly the WiFi button on the drag up window showed the WiFi as disabled. As soon as I switched the drag up button on, the WiFi symbol returned. I'm wondering if the whole problem is caused when the user interface (UI) gets out of sync with itself and somehow a flag gets set which incorrectly determines a WiFi hardware fault. Maybe this flag gets reset when you force the phone to overheat.

I've found that the UI is very clunky in iOS 8. Often when you toggle a switch for Wifi or Bluetooth it doesn't actually register when you come out of the settings page (you go back into settings and its toggled back). I've noticed this a lot when trying to set Airplane mode too. Apple should look into these UI issues as they are bound to lead to software/hardware sync problems. I'm staggered that Apple test team haven't spotted these problems. Do they test everything properly I wonder?

IF the problem was purely hardware why would users report months of no failure after attempting this 'fix'? I think it's time Apole work with their customers to sort the problem out once and for all. I'm wondering if they've tried to reproduce this in the lab. If I was behind the Apple development team I'd be chomping at the bit to get hold of a phone with this fault to help find a proper solution.

I'll let you know if the fault returns but in the meantine I'm giving the UI plenty of time to register changes in settings before exiting the settings page.

Just got a new iPhone 4s from Apple after mine had GSM signal issues.

The new one came with iOS 8.1.3

- restored data from backup

- wifi was working perfectly fine for 6 hours

- popup notified of the availability of iOS update 8.3 : installed it

- after 2 hours using iOS 8.3, got a grey wifi icon

- erased network settings : no go

- unable to connect to any wifi network since.

I'll again need to spend time with Apple Support to get this sorted...

Will replacing the Wifi Module help any?