iPhone 3GS Freezing Problems

[Thorpeedo]

Hi guys,

I've just bought an iPhone 3GS and I've found that the whole device just freezes on a regular basis. I can be web browsing or flicking through the menus and it just stops. The screen is totally unresponsive. When it does this I have to switch it off and try to restart it.

I've downloaded the latest updates and sync'd with my iTunes so it should work ok.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Thorpeedo
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[mattwd]

How long do you wait before restarting? This happens to me intermittently (maybe twice a day) but so far not for any more than about 10 seconds at a time. It would certainly be nice not to have it happen in the first place, but for me, 10 seconds isn't too big of a deal. I've had the same issue once in a while with just about every iPod I've ever owned. And computer, for that matter. If your issue is more frequent/severe, then it may be a different issue altogether.

[encoder]

Same problem over here. My iPhone 3GS freezes a couple of times a day in various applications. There's no pattern. Seems to be completely at random.

Restarting the iPhone is not necessary: just press the on/off-sleep/wake button twice and you can continue.

Annoying bug. I'm sure it will be fixed in the next update.

[eaglesteve]

I had freezes a few times in my first 3GS. It also had connection problems. I spoke with the Apple Genius people about this, and they first did a firmware restore and asked me to monitor it. When the problem did not go away, they gave me a replacement and these problems have so far not occured again.

[realtt]

My iPhone 3GS does too, sometimes it just does not respond say if you're in notepad or another application trying to get the keyboard to show up.

Did we make a mistake by getting the first batch of iPhones?

[eaglesteve]

I suggest that you guys who experience freezing video tape it and show it to the Apple staff when you want it replace. Otherwise, they may not believe you, since the freezing is random.

[ajs1974]

I got my GS on the day it was released. I have had a consistent problem with it freezing while I'm using it. This most often happens while I'm typing an e-mail or a text message, especially when I'm doing it in landscape mode, but it happens in other circumstances as well. I have not been able to find a common reason that applies to these freezes. I have tried the following:
(1) restoring the device
(2) downloading a new version of 3.0
(3) removing all of the apps and reinstalling them
(4) soft and hard resets of the device
(5) using the device in different modes (airplane, wi-fi, 3G)

Still the problem persists. The immediate fix is always to turn the device off and back on. Sometimes shaking the device helps. But in both of these circumstances the device usually proceeds to freeze up again. I have noticed that the freezing has been less frequent for the past couple of days. Not sure why this is, since I can't correlate it to anything I did to the phone, other than the usual recharge. I have an appointment with a Genius Bar specialist on Monday night. Will post an update when I get more information. In the meantime, if anyone else can figure out a way around it, let me know. This is not a problem of a couple of freezes per day, as one user has noted. It is more frequent than that, and since I paid $500 for the new phone it is not acceptable. I like the suggestion that I record the freezing, but I don't have a video camera, so I'll have to hope that it happens in the Apple store when I take it in.

[hanky]

I haven't had a problem. Not sure why. Watch it start freezing incessantly now. So how do you force reboot the phone?

[eaglesteve]

For a non-jailbroken phone, you reboot by holding down the power button and home button simultaneously until a slider come up. When you reach that state, you can continue to hold them until the white apple logo appears. Alternatively, when the slider appear, you could slide to shut down first, then press power button again to start it (you will then see the whilte apple logo, ..... until you see the lock screen).


For jailbroken phone that has sbsetting installed. You swipe the top task bar, and on the pop up you touch the Power button and choose reboot.

[jayleen]

my phone has froze once or twice. i don't remember what i did to fix it; it didn't last long. my bf's froze, just now. specifically, the contacts screen. we tried the on/off switch; that did not work. i googled the issue and found this thread. decided to monkey around and came across a fix that worked (at least, for this particular scenario).

since it froze on the contacts screen, i went into settings and selected, "mail, contacts, calendars." then, under contacts (scroll to the very bottom), i changed the sort order from "last, first" to "first, last." i don't know why, but after that it "unfroze" and my bf was able to scroll through his contacts.

Hold sleep & home for 10+ seconds to start a reset, it should clear the memory cache and boot like normal

[WaLdO328]

I just bought my first iPhone 3GS a few days ago and am having the same problem, it keeps freezing while using the ipod (video or music). I'm still within my 14 days of purchase, do you think I can just return it at the apple store for a replacement?

[Manga]

Hi there,
I bought a brand new iphone 3GS 4 days ago, just after activating my phone through itunes, it started freezing up on me, and its been doing this ever since. The whole screen becomes inaccessible, no matter what icon I touch for about 10 or more seconds. I find this sort of situation unacceptable for a hi range mobile phone. I took the phone back after just 3 days. I thought that I could have had a bad streak of luck, but from what I read so far, I guess i'm not the only one. This could be the end of the iphone for me! Good luck to all on solving this one!