iPhone 16 Pro Random reboots and automatic shutdown issues

[DenniSundaY]

Hi all. I got the iPhone 16 Pro (as per prefix obviously) at the release and lately I'm having some weird issues with my iPhone randomly rebooting or totally shutting down. I am not sure if these are iOS bugs or if there is more to it (hardware issue). At least one reboot (today) and one 'unexpected' shutdown (2 days ago) happened, but it might have happened a few times before that (although I'm not sure).

Reboots aren't unheard of of course but still very rare, at least for me (not counting running beta's). But shutting down completely is a new one for me, and I use iPhones since the iPhone 7. Anybody else experienced more reboots/shutdowns compared to previous iPhones? Below are the 2 cases I experienced.


The reboot a few minutes ago: I was playing with my Sphero BB-9E (app enabled Bluetooth Droid) while it was on a MagSafe charger and suddenly it just reboots. It was charging but it wasn't overheating or anything. I do admit it is an older app that hasn't been updated for years.

The sudden shutdown from 2 days ago was a little bit weirder: I got a message from someone through iMessage so I tapped the screen to wake it up as it had gone to "always on'/standby and at the moment the screen woke up, the screen went just dark. I didn't know what was happening so I waited for a while, but nothing happened so I hold down the side button until it turned on. It might've been rebooting already and I just hold the button at the same time it was booted up but it seemed like it took way longer than a usual reboot.

 

[Bigwaff]

Possibly a bad battery. Check your battery health in Settings. Turn off optimized battery charging and reboot. Use your phone until battery near drained and allow to recharge fully to 100% overnight. See if issues persist days after. If so, appointment at Apple Store w/ Genius warranted. Genius will want to reset and restore iPhone so be sure to have iCloud backup. You could always reset iPhone, restore from iCloud backup yourself, and watch if issue persists. If issue persists, at least you can tell Genius you have already tried reset and restore.

 

[DenniSundaY]

Possibly a bad battery. Check your battery health in Settings. Turn off optimized battery charging and reboot. Use your phone until battery near drained and allow to recharge fully to 100% overnight. See if issues persist days after. If so, appointment at Apple Store w/ Genius warranted. Genius will want to reset and restore iPhone so be sure to have iCloud backup. You could always reset iPhone, restore from iCloud backup yourself, and watch if issue persists. If issue persists, at least you can tell Genius you have already tried reset and restore.

Thank you. It indeed seems similar like situations where the battery can't handle power spikes, although it was charging at the time it happened I don't know if that would make a difference as I don't know if iPhones draw power directly from a power source or always draw from battery). I checked the battery health and it is good.

It could also just be a kernel panic for some reason, but 2 times in within 2 days is still very rare for that. Nevertheless I will start with your suggestions. Thanks again!

 

[coffeemilktea]

I think you might have to bring it to a Genius Bar; I've never had an iPhone just suddenly shut down on me outside of an old 6S with a bad battery, and it's really odd for it to happen to a brand new phone. 😨

 

[Aoligei]

Hi all. I got the iPhone 16 Pro (as per prefix obviously) at the release and lately I'm having some weird issues with my iPhone randomly rebooting or totally shutting down. I am not sure if these are iOS bugs or if there is more to it (hardware issue). At least one reboot (today) and one 'unexpected' shutdown (2 days ago) happened, but it might have happened a few times before that (although I'm not sure).

Reboots aren't unheard of of course but still very rare, at least for me (not counting running beta's). But shutting down completely is a new one for me, and I use iPhones since the iPhone 7. Anybody else experienced more reboots/shutdowns compared to previous iPhones? Below are the 2 cases I experienced.


The reboot a few minutes ago: I was playing with my Sphero BB-9E (app enabled Bluetooth Droid) while it was on a MagSafe charger and suddenly it just reboots. It was charging but it wasn't overheating or anything. I do admit it is an older app that hasn't been updated for years.

The sudden shutdown from 2 days ago was a little bit weirder: I got a message from someone through iMessage so I tapped the screen to wake it up as it had gone to "always on'/standby and at the moment the screen woke up, the screen went just dark. I didn't know what was happening so I waited for a while, but nothing happened so I hold down the side button until it turned on. It might've been rebooting already and I just hold the button at the same time it was booted up but it seemed like it took way longer than a usual reboot.

I would say, battery problem is extremely hard to reproduce at Apple Store. All Apple Store does is to put diagnostic tools that they use, I can almost guarantee you that the tool will report everything is normal.

If you go to privacy-> analytic data, and if you can find any panic log, you'd better back up these log. Show these log to Apple Store employees.

Multiple panic log is good indication for hardware problems.

Also make sure you backup your iPhone either to the cloud or your computer. They will certain trying to reset your iPhone.

 

[Aoligei]

I think you might have to bring it to a Genius Bar; I've never had an iPhone just suddenly shut down on me outside of an old 6S with a bad battery, and it's really odd for it to happen to a brand new phone. 😨

Man, Apple Genius Bar really aren't run by technicians. All they do is connecting iPhone wirelessly with their diagnostic tool, and if your iPhone functions correctly at that time, it will not detect problem.

The best evidence of actual hardware failure is to record on video, if you can reproduce them. Or in OP's case, backup all the kernel panic logs, so Apple Store employee will know there are problems.

 

[ry-guy]

It could also just be a kernel panic for some reason, but 2 times in within 2 days is still very rare for that. Nevertheless I will start with your suggestions. Thanks again!

It’s not battery related, it’s probably a software issue. I had it happen to me a few times with the new Pro Max. One time was trying to use the share sheet to Mail and it just crashed. I was using a 14 Plus before this and have never had a kernel panic or shutdown. Had the phone for a couple years. I made a feedback to report at Apple.

I have no “proof” but my hunch is iOS 18 and its rush just sucks. I hope it gets better.

But, the iPhone 6 Plus had this problem and I believe it was a hardware issue. I really hope it’s not that.

 

[Jackbequickly]

iOS 18 had performed without a flaw for me. I have never had any of my iPhones suddenly reboot.

 

[FlyingDutch]

Sudden reboots and shut downs are not normal behavior and must be investigated because most probably caused by hw.
By the way it is not a good habit to use the iPhone while charging.

 

[DenniSundaY]

It’s not battery related, it’s probably a software issue. I had it happen to me a few times with the new Pro Max. One time was trying to use the share sheet to Mail and it just crashed. I was using a 14 Plus before this and have never had a kernel panic or shutdown. Had the phone for a couple years. I made a feedback to report at Apple.

I have no “proof” but my hunch is iOS 18 and its rush just sucks. I hope it gets better.

But, the iPhone 6 Plus had this problem and I believe it was a hardware issue. I really hope it’s not that.

I also have the same hunch, but I couldn’t rule out battery issues. Ever since iOS 16 the software stability is going down with each year, but that’s only the OS. But also some strange hardware related issues are getting more common. For example, waking the screen by tapping it sometimes just doesn’t work, it takes a few taps or sometimes just doesn’t wake at all and you have to use the dive button. And even then sometimes your iPhone just doesn’t want to wake up. This was an issue on my 14 Pro and continuous to happen on the 16 Pro. All in all, these kind of issues feeds my theory that it’s just some firmware issue and that some things aren’t quite optimized.

To give an update to my issue: It hasn’t occurred again since I made this post. So u guess it was a fluke.