The white screen of death on an iPhone manifests through a totally white screen that doesn’t display any apps or icons. It may sound scary, but it isn’t as bad as its name sounds, and it doesn’t mean your phone will die completely or explode or anything extreme.
This problem usually occurs when there’s a failed software update, hardware problem or if you try to jailbreak your phone and the process fails. If you update the ios and the update fails, the screen could go white.
However, sometimes the problem can be caused by hardware like the cable connecting the iPhone’s motherboard to the screen. If it comes loose or breaks, it could cause the white screen. Hardware failure over time could also bring the same white screen though, especially if the connector is loose after several drops of the iPhone.
How to fix iPhone White Screen of Death
Check Screen magnification
Sometimes you may not have the white iPhone screen, but it could be that screen magnification is turned on. You may have zoomed in super close on something white, which makes it look like a blank white screen. In this case, the triple finger tap won’t help. To resolve magnification, hold together three fingers and double tap the screen to bring it back to normal view if it’s magnified. You can also go to Settings>General>Accessibility>Zoom>Off.
Hard reset
Restarting your phone can resolve technical or software glitches, but for the white screen of death, you’ll need to do a hard reset. It’ll clear more of your phone’s memory without losing data.
Recovery Mode and Restore from backup
Recovery Mode helps get around any software issues on your iPhone and reinstall your ios and restore any data backed up to the iPhone. To do this:
· Connect the phone to your computer and depending on your iPhone type, go to Recovery Mode (the screen will turn from white to black)
· Use on-screen steps in iTunes to restore the phone from backup
DFU Mode
You can also try the Device Firmware Update mode (DFU) to turn your iPhone on. It’ll prevent it from starting up the OS so you can make changes to it. It’s a bit complex and trickier, but worth trying if nothing else works. To do this:
· Connect your iPhone to your computer and open iTunes and then turn off the phone. Depending on your iPhone model, go into DFU mode
· Follow the on-screen steps in iTunes to complete the process.
If these fixes don’t work, you can contact Apple for further support and troubleshooting guidance.
Elsie is a tech writer with 8+ years professional experience. For Tech News Watch, she brings rich experience contributing to topics such as Windows, MacOS, Android, and iOS among others. In her spare time, she loves checking out the latest tech trends, gadgets, and news, listening to music and cars.