Phone app freezes/gets stuck since iOS 12

The good news is that iOS 12.1 is available now. I updated my SE a few hours ago tonight and so far my phone app and everything is functioning. Hopefully it will be okay by tomorrow as well. Fingers cr

I updated to 12.1, but I still have the same problems -- and I made sure to do the update via cable and iTunes. Still crashes on open with great frequency.

New issue is it sometimes opens to a completely blank screen, which it didn't do previously. When it does that, it crashes very soon.

Other times when it opens, it has the grey dots instead of images. If I wait, I may get functionality, or it may crash.

When it opens with the images, it may or may not function immediately. If it doesn't respond to selecting different tabs, it won't function.

Visual Voicemail is still non-functional.

Siri still works great.

I never got the teathered iOS update to work, but ever since I reset Network Settings (maybe 3 weeks ago) it's worked fine. I'll never know for sure if that fixed it, but it was at least coindicent with it. I'll do the teathered update now that iOS 12.1 is out, but more out of superstition than groping for a fix to this problem.

It seems like updates are such a gamble. So sorry the update didn't fix the issue. I cringe every time there's a new update. Seems like Apple should be responsible for fixing any software issues causes by their updates, free of charge.

I have the same issue with my iPhone 7S. I did not reach out to Apple as I have not found this helpful in the past. The issue just began after I rebooted my phone this morning. I believe this is an OS issue and not user error or settings. Hopefully apple will discover the issue and send out an OS update. I am frustrated.

I have the same Issue. No fix.

Phone does not back-up.

All my data is on the phone and locked in.

Preparing to leave the Apple Ecosystem.

Buggy as a cheap phone.

I am just not sure if I can switch with our without my data

I am also experiencing the issue and trying the "stabbing in the dark" methods since 10h+ now

One extra difficulty: My iPhone does not back up!

Neither via icloud, itunes or Airdrop Phone Cloning.

Looks like 3 month of my Data are gone because I have to fully reset the phone without backup.

If this is the case, I'll get my life apple free.

I've been having the same problem with my iPhone 6 ever since I updated to iOS 12. The recent contacts, contacts, or voicemail screen will randomly lock up. Forcing the screen closed won't remedy the issue and I am forced to reboot my iPhone everytime this occurs. I did realize that only SOMETIMES if you hold the power button like your going to turn off your phone, once the slider shows up if you just hold the home button until it takes you back to the app screen it will SOMETIMES correct the freeze issue, but not always. Very annoying issue though having to reboot my phone everytime it decided to lock up.

I have the same problem on iPhone 5S.

The only way to use the screen is to tap an icon, and wait for a square to appear around it, then tap it quickly two or three times to use that icon or character or number.

Restored the phone by cable connect to PC using iTunes (had to turn off Find My iPhone before it would work.)

Then the same problem occurred about 18 hours later.

Clearly it is an IOS12.1 issue and should be addressed by Apple.

I have found that if I use the Contacts app rather than the phone app it works just fine. I am beginning to think that the issue has something to do with visual voicemail.

So, my current workaround is Contacts for most

Things and ‘Hey Siri, call yadda’ where yadda is the phone number. But the phone app seems slightly more responsive than it was, or I’m just getting used to it.

Bruce’s easy 10 second fix. Get a SIM from a friend with a phone on another provider. Insert into phone. Reboot. Shut down. Insert original SIM. Restart. Voila. Mine has been perfect for one month. Feel free to ignore. I didn’t hit on this idea. Bruce did accidentally and like any good idea it’s been ignored by virtually everyone.

Happy holidays!

Thanks, Bruce!

I am delighted to report that the most recent update, 12.1.1, appears to have fixed this issue for me. For the first time since I received this iPhone my visual voicemail works, everything about the phone app seems to be functioning normally.

I turned the automatic updates off so I could process updates via iTuneS, and so this one was manually run last night. It did take longer than usual to download the update and to install it in the iPhone, but I think it worked, I am very happy. This was an amazingly annoying problem.

I'm having this problem too, since that update. And a couple of days ago, I had an emergency at my house and could not call out. This is very scary and a severe problem that must be fixed STAT! APPLE please give us a permanent, not a temporary, fix!

I'm on update 12.1.1 with an iPhone X, and the problem is still happening. I can reboot my iPhone and the Phone app will work, but the next day it will be frozen again. Force quitting the app has no effect.

Did you install the update by WiFi or by iTunes? I had to turn off automatic updates and do it connected to iTunes. Which was a pain in the neck as I hadn’t connected a phone to iTunes since I had a 4S.

My understanding is WiFi only does changes while iTunes does the whole thing. Since my phone had a system glitch the WiFi didn’t address it. It took two manual updates on iTunes to get one that worked. Since this last one, it is working as expected. No more weird phone issues.