How to fix black screen of death on iPhone

What is black screen of death

If your iPhone suddenly shut down black and simply trying to boot it back does not help, then you are on the right guide to fix it. The “black screen of death” is a term used to describe a problem where an iPhone’s screen remains black and unresponsive, even when the device is turned on. The reason your iPhone may abruptly go black can be related to various issues, including a temporary glitch, battery drain, or even hardware problems, which would require professional interference to identify and resolve the issue. Sometimes, a software glitch can cause the iPhone to freeze, resulting in a black screen. In this case, force restarting the iPhone can often fix the issue. To force restart your iPhone, press and hold the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button (for iPhone 6s and earlier) or the volume down button (for iPhone 7 and later) simultaneously for at least 10 seconds until the Apple logo appears. Of course, if there was a water damage or jailbreak attempt, there are small chances for recovery, but in many cases problem can be solved. However, before spending your precious time on handing your iPhone to a service center and paying money for its diagnostic, make sure you try the solutions listed in our guide below. Many users manage to fix the black screen of death on their iPhones fast and easily. Let’s get started.

Download repair tool

Resolving errors can sometimes be out of our control and possibilities. This is where third-party tools are more than welcome to contribute and carry all the difficulties away. If you are stuck on the black screen of death, you can try using Tenorshare ReiBoot – a great recovery tool designed for resolving a plethora of iPhone problems. It is likely that it will be able to eliminate the problem faster and easier. Here is how you can use it to resolve the black screen issue on your iPhone:

Tenor Reiboot Dashboard

Tenor Reiboot Download iOS

Tenor Reiboot Repair Modes

Tenor Reiboot Repair Process

Download iOS Repair Tool

1. Download and install ReiBoot for either Mac or Windows.
2. Once done, open the app and plug your device into the computer.
3. Click on Start and then choose Standard Repair.
4. If your device is not in recovery mode, ReiBoot will show what you should do.
5. After your device is properly connected, choose Standard Repair again.
6. Then you have to download the firmware found by the app for your smartphone by clicking Download.
7. Once the process is finished, click Start Standard Repair to start resolving the problems.
8. Wait until the app finishes its repair. It will take about 15 minutes to end.

1. Charge your iPhone

If you have been using an old version of the iPhone for a pretty long time, your battery may no longer be as good as it was, and sometimes experience something called a battery drain. If this is the case and your battery has not gone dead completely, you should try to charge your iPhone with the original lighting cable until it boots back to the home screen. Just leave your phone charging and return to see if it managed to regain life. If nothing has changed, you can try other another solution from our guide below.

2. Force-restart your device

As mentioned, sometimes the appearance of the black screen can occur due to a temporary glitch that could occur on your iPhone. In order to fix it, you can try to force-restart the device by clicking a combination of side buttons. Below you will find instructions for different iPhone versions. Choose the one that matches your device and perform it:

iPhone 8 or later:

1. Press and quickly release the Volume Up button.
2. Press and quickly release the Volume Down button.
3. Press and hold the Side button (which you use to unlock your screen) until you see the Apple logo.

iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, and iPod touch (7th generation):

1. Press and hold the Side (or Top) button and the Volume Down button together at the same time.
2. Likewise in the previous steps, the Apple logo should appear on the screen.

iPad models with a Home button, iPhone 6s or earlier, and iPod touch (6th generation) or earlier:

1. Press and hold both the Side (or Top) button and the Home button until you see the same Apple logo.

iPad models without a Home button:

1. Press and quickly release the Volume Up button.
2. Press and quickly release the Volume Down button.
3. Then press-hold the Power button and wait until the iPad restarts.

3. Update/Restore your iPhone using iTunes

You can try to fix the issue by connecting their device via a USB cable to iTunes and performing an update or restoration. If simply updating does not resolve the issue, then the last resort option is to restore iPhone to factory settings, which will erase all content stored on it. Thus, you will need to have some kind of backup (e.g., iCloud) to restore the lost data. Try to update first and then decide if you will perform a complete reset if nothing works.

1. Connect your iPhone to Mac or Windows PC. iTunes is already installed on Mac by default. If you are using Windows, make sure to install iTunes via Microsoft Store.
2. After this, iTunes should automatically display a message offering to Update or Restore your device. Click on whichever option you need. Note that clicking Restore will reset your device and erase all the data on it.
3. iTunes will start downloading the latest iOS version for your device. You can view the download progress in the top right corner.
4. Once done, your device will restart and should therefore exit the “black screen of death”.

Instead of using the discussed method, a quicker and simpler solution can be performed using ReiBoot by Tenorshare. We talked about this utility in the beginning – it combines a user-friendly interface and is capable of resolving issues such as the “black screen of death” in a few clicks and a shorter time. You can also use it if none of the traditional methods helped you fix the problem.

Summary

We hope the solutions above were just enough to resume your iPhone from the black screen of death. Note that these methods are quite versatile and can therefore be used in solving a number of other iOS issues as well. Apart from helping users get rid of various errors, our website also publishes a lot of articles dedicated to removing malware threats. Thus, if you ever need help with other issues on your smartphone or computer, feel free to use our website for finding the appropriate article to resolve them.