iPhone Won’t Turn On? Do These 6 Things First

This sounds obvious, but it’s the single most common cause we see — and the one people dismiss too quickly. A deeply discharged iPhone battery (fully flat, possibly sitting flat for days) can take 15–30 minutes on the charger before it shows any sign of life at all. During this period the screen stays completely black, with no charging icon — which understandably convinces people the phone is dead.

What to do:

1. Connect the iPhone to a known-working wall charger — not a laptop USB port or car charger, which deliver less power.
2. Use a cable you know works. A damaged cable is one of the most common reasons a “dead” phone won’t charge.
3. Leave it connected and undisturbed for at least 30 minutes — ideally an hour.
4. After 30 minutes, look for the charging screen or try to power it on.

If the iPhone’s software has crashed or frozen, the screen will be black and unresponsive even though the phone has power. A force restart reboots the device without erasing any data — and it resolves a very large share of “won’t turn on” cases. The button sequence differs by model, so use the correct one below.

For the force restart to work, the phone needs some charge — so if Step 1 didn’t show a charging icon, leave it charging while you attempt the force restart. If the Apple logo appears, the phone is recovering. Let it complete its boot sequence fully before using it.

This is the diagnosis people miss most often. If the iPhone’s display has failed — from a drop, a crack, an internal cable that has come loose, or a screen component failure — the phone can be fully powered on and working while the screen shows nothing. It looks completely dead, but it isn’t.

How to test whether the phone is actually running:

1. Listen and feel: After a force restart attempt, does the phone vibrate, make a sound, or feel warm? Any of these means it has power and is running.
2. Call it: From another phone, call your iPhone’s number. If it rings or goes to voicemail, the phone is alive — the screen is the problem.
3. Connect to a computer: Plug it into a computer with iTunes or Finder. If the computer detects the iPhone, it’s powered on and functioning — confirming a display fault.
4. Check for sounds: If you can hear notification sounds or the ringer but see nothing — that’s a clear screen failure, not a dead phone.

If the phone won’t charge and won’t power on, the problem may not be in the phone at all. Before assuming a hardware fault, systematically eliminate each accessory:

1. Try a different cable. Lightning and USB-C cables fail internally far more often than people expect — especially after months of bending near the connector. A frayed or internally broken cable is a leading cause of “won’t charge.”
2. Try a different wall adapter. Adapters fail too. Swap to one you know works.
3. Try a different wall socket. Rule out a tripped socket — relevant in South Africa where load-shedding and power fluctuations are common.
4. Inspect the charging port. Shine a light into the iPhone’s charging port. Lint, dust and pocket debris compact into the port over time and physically block the connector from seating. This is extremely common and easily missed.

If your iPhone shows the Apple logo but won’t progress past it — or keeps restarting in a loop — the operating system may be corrupted. Recovery mode lets a computer reinstall iOS without necessarily erasing your data (though a backup is always recommended first).

To enter recovery mode:

1. Connect the iPhone to a computer with iTunes (Windows / older Mac) or Finder (newer Mac).
2. Perform the force restart button sequence for your model (from Step 2) — but keep holding the final button past the Apple logo until you see the recovery mode screen (a computer/cable icon).
3. On the computer, choose Update (not Restore) first — this attempts to reinstall iOS without erasing data.
4. If Update fails and the phone is still stuck, Restore is the next option — but this erases the phone, so only proceed if you have a backup or accept the data loss.

If you’ve worked through all five previous steps and the iPhone is still unresponsive, the cause is most likely physical damage to internal components — and this is where DIY ends and professional diagnosis begins. Two causes dominate:

Liquid damage. Even a small amount of liquid — rain, a spilled drink, humidity, a drop in water — can cause corrosion on the logic board that prevents the phone from powering on. The damage is often not immediate; a phone can work for days after exposure, then fail. If your iPhone has had any liquid contact recently, do not keep trying to charge it, as this can worsen corrosion. Liquid damage requires professional cleaning and component-level work. Our iPhone water damage repair guide explains the process.

Impact damage. A hard drop can dislodge internal connectors, crack the logic board, or damage the battery. Sometimes the phone works fine after a drop; sometimes it fails immediately or days later. Internal connector and board-level issues need to be opened and assessed by a technician.