iPhone iSsues
October 30, 2011 10:13 PM   Subscribe

Can you point me in the right direction to determine if something is wrong with my new iPhone 4S?

I'm new to Apple and the iPhone. I've had my phone a couple of weeks now and love almost everything about it, but one thing concerns me. I thought one of the big advantages to Apple products is that they are more stable, but I find myself having to turn off my phone in order to "reboot" it several times a day. When playing games (Words with Friends for example) or trying to update my Twitter feed, I often get the spinning circle that indicates the phone is updating and it just spins and spins and spins and spins. Sometimes I will eventually get a message that my request has timed out. This happens with any application that needs to reload (such as reading Metafilter, refreshing my weather app, following a link in my Twitter feed, etc). With my old (android) phone, I could force stop an application that was hanging up, but it's my understanding there is no way to do that to an iPhone?

Questions:
1) Is it normal iPhone behavior to have so much trouble with various apps refreshing or updating?

2) Is it usual to have to turn the phone off/on 4-5 times a day in order to "force stop" a hanging app? Is there another or better way to resolve the issue?

3) Would these problems be part of the Sprint slow network issue? I am on the Sprint network, but the problems also occur in places where I have wi-fi, so I'm not sure if the Sprint network has anything to do with it.

4) Is this a problem that would warrant taking the phone in to Sprint (or Apple?) to have it looked at. If so, which one?

I've googled my fingers off, but haven't found anything specific and don't know enough about Apple products to interpret some of what I've found. Thanks for any help!
posted by SweetTeaAndABiscuit to Technology (11 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
It is the network, not the phone. Try toggling airplane mode which will reconnect and maybe get a better cell reception.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 10:17 PM on October 30, 2011


Double-tap the home button to close apps. I'm not sure that Sprint or Apple can do much about third-party apps, but if your network connection is slow, that's up to Sprint, probably.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:18 PM on October 30, 2011


Bring it to the place where it was purchased. I would havevthem look at it. No matter how bad my recrption, the device does not lock, it goes slowly then returns a message that it could not connect to server.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 10:23 PM on October 30, 2011


Best answer: Please bring it to Apple, not to Sprint. No cell phone carrier that carries iPhones knows how to do tech support on them properly. Since it sounds like your phone is acting funky, I would say this: make an appointment with your local Apple store's Genius Bar and bring it in so a small-devices specialist can take a look. Bring your receipt from Sprint just in case.

A caveat: If the phone only hangs when you're using a non-Apple, app-you-downloaded-from-the-store, it might be that app. Some apps aren't gelling super great with the new iOs. However, having to restart your whole phone over and over isn't cool, and that should definitely be checked out by an Apple technician because it could be hardware or software related, and that's their realm. You could just have a dud. It happens.

TLDR: Go to Apple, not Sprint, and make an appointment to do so so the Genius Bar can set aside time just for you. I saw that you're in Raleigh. Check this page out, choose the store closest to you, and click on "Hours and Directions" to be taken to that store's personal page. You can then make a Genius Bar appointment right there using that page by clicking on "Genius Bar" in the upper right hand corner.

MeMail me if you need more help. :)
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 10:36 PM on October 30, 2011 [2 favorites]


To "force quit" an app (which is sometimes needed), double tap the home button. This will show you the apps that are all open and running the background at the bottom of the screen. Touch the icon for one of those apps until they start wiggling and the red X shows up. For any apps that you want to force quit, touch their red X.
posted by visual mechanic at 11:15 PM on October 30, 2011


Best answer: If you have been experiencing these problems multiple times a day, there is a problem and no, it is not normal for an Apple product to behave as you described.

You did not mention the memory size of your phone, nor how much of the memory you have used. If your phone's memory is too full (of music, apps, etc) it could cause the problems you mention. An appointment to see a genius at the Apple bar may be in your future as the only answer, but I would first try restoring the phone via iTunes. Once you restore it, do not add any additional apps, but use it for a few hours and see if you have a problem. If not, add apps one at a time and use the phone for a while after each addition to see if the one you add may be causing the problem. Keep adding the apps you want intermittently until you encounter a problem, or until you have added the ones you want. Remember that you can also remove an app when synching if you want to verify that an app you suspect is truly causing a problem.

If after testing in this way you still have an unresolved issue, see the local genius at the Apple Bar.

I also have a new 4s and it runs beautifully, don't give up.
posted by konig at 11:33 PM on October 30, 2011


I suggest you follow the iPhone forum on one of the big rumors sites such as MacRumors Forums.

Imho, this is just part of the fun when you buy bleeding edge technology.
posted by fairmettle at 4:01 AM on October 31, 2011


Best answer: Seconding to take it to the Apple store. This isn't normal, though it sounds like poor cell reception.

Do you have it set to automatically join wireless networks, btw? Is it possible you're joining wireless networks nearby that don't have a strong signal?

Btw, you can force stop apps by double clicking the home button, then holding down your finger over the app you want to close.
posted by empath at 5:32 AM on October 31, 2011


Best answer: I have a 3GS. If it acted like that, or if I got a 4S and it acted like that, I would consider it broken and take it to an Apple store.
posted by pwb503 at 7:30 AM on October 31, 2011


Response by poster: Thanks for the confirmation that something is likely amiss. I'm going to schedule an appt at the Apple Store this week and will report back.

Thanks too for the info about double tapping the Home button. I didn't know that feature existed!
posted by SweetTeaAndABiscuit at 10:13 AM on October 31, 2011


Response by poster: Just coming back in with the sequel. I traveled out of town for the weekend a couple of weeks ago and had no problems at all with my phone, so it must be something in my network. I rebooted the home router and that seems to have helped a good deal. Thanks for all the help!
posted by SweetTeaAndABiscuit at 2:25 PM on November 13, 2011


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