Warning: Latest iOS 11 Update Making Life Hell For Some

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The latest iOS 11.0.1 software is giving many users grief by rendering their phones incapable of opening apps and making calls.

I thought my iPhone 6 Plus — running iOS 11.0.1 — had reached the end of its life as it began to lose functionality during a train ride home this past weekend. Apps wouldn't open, the app switcher just didn't work and I couldn't even swipe between the pages of apps on my home screen. Turns out, I wasn't the only one.

A Reddit thread on r/Apple, which currently has 2,317 up-votes and 804 comments, has been a dumping ground for other users whose devices have been rendered less-usable by this update. User metricrules has experienced nearly every flaw one could imagine, including freezing and rebooting, broken volume controls, muted alarms, loss of remote functionality on Apple headphones and even an inability to make phone calls.

Another user asks "anybodys phone start freezing 10+ times a day and then restarting? Since iOS 11 my phone has been freezing a lot and with iOS 11.0.1 it's doing it even more... so frustrating."

MORE: 12 iPhone X Features We Can't Wait to Use

Comments also show battery life issues with the new update, as one user claims they "Went to bed with 18%," and "woke up to a dead [redacted] phone."

Reports of these bugs are based on a variety of iPhones, including the 7. So, if you had thought — as I did — that your aging iPhone just wasn't fast enough for iOS 11 and that you were going to need to buy a new model, it seems the issues might be more about the update itself than the shelf-life of your phone. 

I managed to make my iPhone more usable by draining its battery at the end of that night. Once I brought it back to life from a dead screen, its worst issues went away and merely stayed slightly sluggish, which is still frustrating me to a point where I'm wondering if I'll need to upgrade (even though I claimed I wouldn't).

Apple will likely release a fix to this, as the company already pushed a public beta version of iOS 11.1 out for testing. We've reached out to Apple for comment, and will update this story if and when we find out more.

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Henry T. Casey
Henry T. Casey
Managing Editor (Entertainment, Streaming)

Henry is a managing editor at Tom’s Guide covering streaming media, laptops and all things Apple, reviewing devices and services for the past seven years. Prior to joining Tom's Guide, he reviewed software and hardware for TechRadar Pro, and interviewed artists for Patek Philippe International Magazine. He's also covered the wild world of professional wrestling for Cageside Seats, interviewing athletes and other industry veterans.

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2 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Elite Chiller
    nice little article giving attention to these widespread problems. When coming from 6s i can see how someone might wanted to upgrade, albeit a bit early. One shouldnt need to upgrade because phone is becoming sluggish. On the 7 though one shouldnt need to upgrade because of any issue really. If one can use a laptop or pc easily for 5 years why do we need to update our phones every two years. When i put ios 11 on my one yearold iphone 7 it also became terribly sloooooooowwwww sluuuuuugish.. like wtf. Clearly apple majorly messed up. And i do think allot people got the 8 because of these issues. Its an old trick apple keeps playing, doesnt make me less tired of it, in the contrary.. been a very 100% happy iphone user for a year up until this moment... lets see what google has to offer tomorrow. Wtf APPLe!!!!
    Reply
  • ksquared6000
    I have a 32G, dual antenna iP6. That little puppy cost me a small fortune 2 yrs ago and I have no intention of upgrading. I've barely used 1/2 the memory. That little beast was working just fine until iOS11 rolled out. I don't care about all those bells and whistles in hardware or software. I just want it to work the way its supposed to.
    I'm suffering many of the same widespread problems as most but I haven't read about any one particular app problem. (Raising my hand) My problem is the inability to open any password protected documents within the Pages App and the Files App. I click on them but no prompt for the fingerprint Touch ID or manual PW entry is given. Needless to say, I NO longer have access to any of my PW protected documents in Pages.
    How scary is that?
    The only PW protected document in Pages that I access on a regular basis contains ALL my username and passwords of ALL websites and accounts for all my media and devises. This information is extremely sensitive and Pages allowed me to privately and safely store all that information in one place (on my phone which has become an appendage) for immediate access when needed.
    I was on the phone with Apple Support for more than 6 hours yesterday. The tech screen-shared my phone to verify the issue. I backed up my phone as instructed in the event a restore was necessary (even scarier), I rebooted several times; performed several hard-reboots and ended the call with a complete phone reset…all to no avail. I would have continued with Support had it not been pushing 11 PM.
    After all that, I still can't access this crucially important document. I know it’s still on my phone because it peeked at me just once for a split second but then white-screened on me when it realized it was PW protected…no Touch ID prompt or manual PW entry.
    Sooooo how long will it take get this fixed? How long will I be without access to my PW protected documents?
    It doesn't matter number my iPhone is, I just want it to work. If it aint broke, don't fix it and don't replace it. If the Pages app, an Apple app - not a third party app, has this functionality issues on my iP6 it'll certainly have it on the 8 & X.
    Looks like I'll have to find another way of saving PW protected documents on my iPhone.
    Reply