Some iPhones Are Restarting or Turning Off Randomly at Night
Some iPhone users are discovering their iPhone has either randomly rebooted, or turned itself off, usually while plugged in overnight. Perhaps worst of all, when the iPhone starts back up, any set alarm may not go off, which has led some people to oversleep or to have to rely on a backup alarm.
While not everyone is experiencing the issue or having random restarts of their iPhone, whether overnight or simply plugged in for a long time, seemingly nearly every iPhone model running iOS 17.0 or newer are potentially impacted by this, including iPhone 15 series, iPhone 14 series, iPhone 13 series, and iPhone 12 series. Though certainly not everyone has experienced a random restart of their device, because the broad range of iPhones that are impacted, it suggests the random restart is associated with iOS 17.
The random iPhone restarts or shutdowns appear to be unrelated to software updates, which default to installing themselves automatically (and the auto-updating feature occasionally enables itself after iOS software updates, FYI), and appear unrelated to rapid response updates, which also will default to installing automatically.
It is unclear what is causing the random reboot issue, but it’s possible that a bug or crash is the problem. The iPhone will automatically restart/reboot if there has been a serious crash of the iOS system software, though that is fairly rare with modern iOS versions and devices.
This issue was first discussed on the Apple web by 9to5Mac, and now MacRumors has covered the issue after discovering many users on their forums, as well as Reddit, are also experiencing the curious reboots of their iPhones. I personally experienced iPhone restarting randomly earlier in the week overnight while plugged in, along with the failure of a set alarm to go off as expected. According to some Apple Support Forum users, the issue can also manifest similar to when some iPhone 14 devices experienced a black screen and wouldn’t turn on, but for most there is nothing unusual at all that happens, or just a simple restart.
Presumably this is a bug or some other hiccup with iOS 17.0.3, and will be fixed in an upcoming software update for iOS. It’s also possible that the restarts are intentional and related to some software function or feature (like automatically installing security updates or something similar), but are ignoring a users settings for those features.
Did your iPhone randomly restart or turn off? Did your iPhone alarm not go off as expected? Let us know in the comments if you also experienced this issue.
Certainly odd behavior I have a iPhone 15 have not noticed restarts but I do get some odd display anomalies when I plug phone in at night sometimes. Maybe Apple working bugs out of 17 and first gen USB C as well.
The iPhone 15 display issues are apparently being addressed in the upcoming iOS 17.1 update
FIXED! I had the same issue, rebooting in the middle of the night, so when I woke up, StandBy mode was disengaged. I fixed it (or rather, worked around it) by toggling off the Automatic Updates (settings -> general -> software update, then toggle off all of the auto install settings).
Just in the past few weeks my iPhone Pro Max 12 will turn off the screen suddenly while scrolling in Instagram (reels). I thought it was maybe a bug in Instagram but I was just navigating screens into Settings and it shut off as well. It also makes the sounds like I’ve manually shut it off with the button (no finger was near button). I did a hard boot and noticed it did not prompt for my SIM PIN as it normally does but cellular signal was showing. I turned off the carrier in Settings/Cellular then turned it back on, and it requested the PIN. Case is on correctly, not pinching any buttons. As this just started very recently my thought is iOS 17.x :-/
Iphone 14. Rebooting overnight during charging :( Very annoying :(
YES!!! While driving using gps! Randomly during the day and overnight. I have an iPhone 14 Pro. Help!!!
I’m running iOS 16.7 on an iPhone 12 and my iPhone reset last night. So, it’s not just an iOS 17.0.3 issue
Twice my iPhone 12 Pro Max lit up in the middle of the night and began sound notification signals. Hasn’t happened for the last week. Is the best response to shut down and restart?
Yes, on my 14 Pro Max, happens a lot overnight, will not happen if the iPhone is NOT plugged in. I have tried deleting apps, fooling around with the battery optimization option, no luck, this is is making me Droid envious, …….not really
My guess is that the iPhones are installing some sort of security updates behind the scenes and the iPhone must restart to finish them, maybe the phones are disregarding the settings in Software Update because of a bug?
Or maybe the whole thing is a bug and it’s not expected behavior, but I have experienced this random restart overnight too a few times this past week.