If your iPhone screen is completely white and does not show any icons or applications, there is clearly a problem. You may be facing the infamous iPhone White Screen, also known as the iPhone White Screen of Death. That name makes it sound scary, but in most cases it’s an exaggeration. It’s not like your phone is going to explode or anything.
The iPhone White Screen of Death rarely lives up to its name. The steps explained in this article can fix it in many cases.
Causes of iPhone white screen
An iPhone white screen can be caused by a number of things, but the two most common culprits are:
- Software Update Failed or Jailbreak: When you try to update the iPhone OS and the update fails, sometimes you will see the white screen. This is even more common when trying to jailbreak your iPhone and the jailbreak fails.
- Hardware issue: If software isn’t to blame, the other most common cause of a white screen is a loose or broken cable connecting the iPhone’s motherboard to your screen. In some cases, this is simply the result of hardware failure over time. In others, the connector loosens after the phone has been dropped once too often.
Try the Triple-Finger Tap first
This won’t solve the problem in most cases, but there’s a chance you won’t have a White Screen of Death. Instead, you may have accidentally activated screen magnification. If so, you may be zooming in too close to something white, making it look like a white screen. In that case, normal faucets wouldn’t help you. For more on this phenomenon, read My iPhone Icons Are Big. What’s going on?
To set the magnification, hold three fingers together and then use them to double-tap the screen. If the screen is enlarged, it will return to normal view. Turn off magnification in Settings > General > Accessibility > Zoom > Off .
Restart iPhone
Often the best step to fix any iPhone issue is to restart the iPhone. In this case, you need a slightly more powerful reset called a hard reset. This is like a reboot, but it doesn’t require you to be able to see or touch anything on the screen, which is key if you have a white screen that doesn’t respond to taps. It also clears more memory from the iPhone (don’t worry, you won’t lose your data).
To perform a hard reset on any iPhone model from original to iPhone 7:
- Press and hold the Home button and the Sleep/Wake button at the same time (on iPhone 7, press and hold the Volume and Sleep/Wake buttons instead).
- Hold it down until the screen flashes and the Apple logo appears.
- Release the buttons and let the iPhone boot up as usual.
Because the iPhone 8 has different technology in its Home button, and because the iPhone X doesn’t have a Home button at all, the hard reset process is a bit different. On those models:
- Press the volume up button and release it.
- Press the volume down button and release it.
- Hold down the sleep/wake button (aka Side ) until the phone reboots. When the Apple logo appears, release the button.
Press and hold Home + Volume Up + Power
If a hard reset didn’t work, there is another button combination that works for many people:
- Press and hold the Home button , the volume up button and the power ( sleep/wake ) button at the same time.
- It may take a while, but keep it that way until the screen turns off.
- Hold down these buttons until the Apple logo appears.
- When the Apple logo appears, you can release the buttons and let the iPhone start up as usual.
Obviously, this only works with iPhone models that have a Home button. It probably won’t work with the iPhone 8 and X, and it may not work with the 7 yet. Whether there is an equivalent to this on those models is not yet known.
Try recovery mode and restore from backup
If none of these options have worked, the next step is to try putting the iPhone into recovery mode. Recovery mode is a powerful tool to bypass any software issues you may have. It will allow you to reinstall iOS and restore data from backup to iPhone. To use it:
- Connect your iPhone to your computer.
- What you do next depends on your iPhone model:
iPhone X and 8: Press and release to go up , then to go down . Press and hold the sleep/wake button (aka Side ) until the recovery mode screen appears (the iTunes icon with a cable pointing towards it).
iPhone 7 series: Press and hold the Volume and Side buttons until the Recovery Mode screen appears.
iPhone 6S and earlier: Press and hold the Home and Sleep/Wake buttons until the Recovery Mode screen appears.
- If the screen changes from white to black, you are in recovery mode. At this point, you can use iTunes’ on-screen instructions to restore your iPhone from backup.
The Apple logo will appear before the recovery mode screen does. Keep holding until you see the iTunes icon.
- Restore your phone from backup.
Try DFU mode
Device Firmware Update (DFU) mode is even more powerful than recovery mode. It allows you to turn on the iPhone, but prevents you from starting the operating system, allowing you to make changes to the operating system itself. This is more complex and tricky, but worth a try if nothing else has worked. To put the phone in DFU mode:
- Connect your iPhone to your computer and launch iTunes.
- Turn off the phone.
- What you do next depends on your iPhone model:
- Press and hold the Home button and the Sleep/Wake button at the same time (on iPhone 7, press and hold the Volume and Sleep/Wake buttons instead).
- Hold it down until the screen flashes and the Apple logo appears.
- Release the buttons and let the iPhone boot up as usual.
Because the iPhone 8 has different technology in its Home button, and because the iPhone X doesn’t have a Home button at all, the hard reset process is a bit different. On those models:
- Press the volume up button and release it.
- Press the volume down button and release it.
- Hold down the sleep/wake button (aka Side ) until the phone reboots. When the Apple logo appears, release the button.