For the last two days my iphone's screen has been acting strangely. I've noticed the screen glitches when locked. It's happened several times where the lock screen (AOD on) would glitch and display screen length barcodes or something similar (black and white vertical lines). The first couple of times I thought I was crazy because it happens so fast like a fraction of a second so by the time I look at the screen it' gone. But then I began to stare at my iphone and it certainly did happen. It seems to be random. I'm on ios18.0.1. Has anybody experienced this?
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iPhone 16 Pro Max iPhone 16 Pro Max strange screen glitches (barcodes)
- Thread starter Rayansb
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Yeah I also have had it happen before in very specific occasions…
First time it happened around 3 weeks ago and then I had these lines show up like 5 different times in like an hour when I was in a concert recording and taking some photos.
Since then I’m always paying attention to my screen every time I wake up the phone but so far they haven’t showed up again.
A bunch of people are experiencing this issue from what I’ve read in other forums so I hope that it is software related and not hardware
I’ve been able to recreate it. It only occurs when the display has to rapidly change auto brightness, immediately after wake from AOD, in the dark.
Assuming the concert was lowlight conditions?
Yeah low light and a lot of coloured lights changing every now and then
I’d guess it’s software then. Hopefully 18.1 or 18.1.x eventually addresses it. It did freak me out the first time.
It did happened to me again yesterday and I was inside a car and the day was cloudy so I’m guessing also fairly low light situation?
What leads you to think that it is software related and it only happens in low light?
I really do hope it is software as well
I’ve seen a number of ppl (on Reddit) who had this problem and taken their phone to Apple, who ran diagnostic tests and couldn’t find any hardware issues.
Additionally, since the screen seems to glitch when something software related is happening (e.g., changing the auto brightness), and not when something physically is happening (e.g., being held at a certain angle/pressed somewhere on the screen)—I think I safely assume it’s software. I had my MacBook Pro suffer from vertical lines from hardware, they were an obvious hardware issue bc they never went away, and changed depending on how the display was positioned—which would suggest a connection issue.
That is reassuring thanks a lot! I’ll see how iOS with 18.1 goes and the following updates, if the issue still there I’ll take it to the Apple Store
I had a similar glitching on my 16 Pro Max, it happened so fast it was difficult to describe it visually but definitely some kind of 'glitching'. However, mine would happen when the phone was unlocked and being used, not while locked, so potentially a different issue.
I had the phone replaced on AppleCare and new phone does not have the same problem.
I had the phone replaced on AppleCare and new phone does not have the same problem.
How long ago did you had it replace? Because to me it happened again two weeks after I got the glitch for the first time. It is very inconsistent.
Mine only has done it once when being unlocked the rest has always been in the lock screen
Oh sorry I completely missed the first bit of your comment. How exactly do you recreate it? You go in a pitch dark room and wake up the phone at the same time you turn on the lights?
So I can try to recreate it as well
I still have hopes that it is software related as it happens the same way for everyone and some people have been able to recreate it. And other people have replaced their phone and still got the same issue.
Apparently disabling AOD fixes the issue but haven’t tried myself.
Luckily enough my phone didn’t suffer from the touch sensitivity issues but it did suffer from speakers crackling which it has been fixed with 18.1 so hopefully they fix this issue with the glitching lines soon.
If not last resource will be having to replace my phone but luckily I have AppleCare
Update! CC: @Abraham_1991
I was picking up a repair for my MacBook the other night at Apple, and asked the Repair person to take a look at my phone and described the issue.
She ran a quick test and said there are no hardware issues (and I, unlike some members I've seen, have no other issues with my iPhone).
She said since the issue occurs when a software action is taken (unlocking the phone), it's very unlikely to be hardware, and that a hardware display issue would happen more frequently and more randomly (not on one specific screen/app/action).
She told me to submit the bug report on the Apple.com site to draw attention to it.
It seems like two things can be true, based on what I've seen online:
1. Your phone is suffering from this software glitch
2. AND, your phone has other hardware issues with the display, which needs replacement
But the two are not necessarily thought to be correlated rn
I was picking up a repair for my MacBook the other night at Apple, and asked the Repair person to take a look at my phone and described the issue.
She ran a quick test and said there are no hardware issues (and I, unlike some members I've seen, have no other issues with my iPhone).
She said since the issue occurs when a software action is taken (unlocking the phone), it's very unlikely to be hardware, and that a hardware display issue would happen more frequently and more randomly (not on one specific screen/app/action).
She told me to submit the bug report on the Apple.com site to draw attention to it.
It seems like two things can be true, based on what I've seen online:
1. Your phone is suffering from this software glitch
2. AND, your phone has other hardware issues with the display, which needs replacement
But the two are not necessarily thought to be correlated rn
Yeah the only two issues with my phone were the speaker popping which has been fixed with 18.1 and the screen glitching just like you so it is nice to know that it is most likely software related. Already submitted the bug to apple so if more people also do the same plus the different threads talking about this problem hopefully apple becomes aware (if they haven’t already) and release a fix soon.
I saw very anecdotal evidence that people who set up their phone “as new” do not have the issue. Since I have been running on a backup that goes all the way to 2016, I decided to erase the phone and start fresh on Friday evening.
Thus far, I haven’t been able to recreate the issue—although I rarely got it more than twice a week to begin with. I will keep everyone here updated.
Thus far, I haven’t been able to recreate the issue—although I rarely got it more than twice a week to begin with. I will keep everyone here updated.
Even if the issue was indeed a corrupt back up Apple should still be able to fix it right? I use my phone for work and the last thing I wanna do is erase everything and start my phone fresh.
I haven’t gotten the lines for a while now but who knows when they will appear again if they do
I have very limited understanding, but I believe so. It may just take them awhile to discover what exactly the corruption is and patch it.
Small detail that I’ve noticed maybe is worth pointing out.
I’m not sure if it is coincidence but the last 3 occasions that have happened to me on my phone has been when I was inside a car.
Other uses have said how it might be related with automatic brightness and maybe I see why?
since when you are inside a moving car the lighting slightly changes inside specially at night with street lights and traffic, but it has also happened during the daytime with cloudy weather where lighting is almost never changing.
it has happened to me also in a concert with lighting changing all the time.
I’m not sure if it is coincidence but the last 3 occasions that have happened to me on my phone has been when I was inside a car.
Other uses have said how it might be related with automatic brightness and maybe I see why?
since when you are inside a moving car the lighting slightly changes inside specially at night with street lights and traffic, but it has also happened during the daytime with cloudy weather where lighting is almost never changing.
it has happened to me also in a concert with lighting changing all the time.
It’s been about a week since I set up the phone as new, and so far no issues.
Did anyone who have this issue in this thread NOT restore from a backup?
Did anyone who have this issue in this thread NOT restore from a backup?
From a Reddit thread there’s another user who said that had screen record on when the glitch lines appeared but they didn’t show up in the video.
Would that say it is hardware or not necessarily?