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Published on: 06.08.2023 | updated on: 01.04.2024
Apple's iPhone 14 is an expensive, high-end phone that's powerful enough to replace a computer. No matter if you own the base model or the enthusiast-grade iPhone 14 Pro Max, chances are that you've invested a lot of time and money into your phone, which is what makes it so disastrous when it fails to turn on. Not to worry, though—with our failproof methodology, you'll diagnose your phone and figure out how to fix it for free.
Our guide to fixing an iPhone 14 that won't turn on serves as step-by-step instructions on how to diagnose the problem, including an in-depth description of all the possible causes. These causes range from simple issues, such as a depleted battery, to more advanced problems, such as issues with the iPhone 14 A15 Bionic chip.
Once you've pinpointed the issue with the help of our comprehensive guide, we will talk you through the various ways to address the problem, such as performing a soft reset or changing the charger. More often than not, these simple steps will fix the issue.
In the event that the steps outlined in this guide don't revive your iPhone 14, we will advise you on when to start seeking professional help, and where to turn to if you need to get your phone fixed.
If your iPhone 14 won't turn on, it's most likely due to one of the following issues:
The battery may have run out and the phone needs a full charge
The adapter, the outlet, or the charging cable may be malfunctioning
Your phone may be experiencing a firmware glitch
Your phone isn't off, it's just frozen
Most of the root causes behind an iPhone 14 that won't turn on are fairly simple to address and we describe them in greater detail in our guide. A good first issue to rule out is software-based problems and freezing, and for that, a soft reset is known to help.
Press and release the Volume Up button
Do the same with the Volume Down Button
Lastly, press and hold the Side button
Once the Apple logo appears, release the Side button
This method fixes a great deal of problems with the iPhone 14, but if your phone remains unresponsive, you may be having problems with the battery or the charger. In those cases, it's a good idea to try to swap the charger for a different model and see whether it helps.
In our guide, we will walk you through many other iPhone 14-related problems and fixes, so chances are that you'll be able to bring it back to life for free. However, if our in-depth guide doesn't help, make sure to reach out to a professional repair service, as your iPhone may be in need of more thorough troubleshooting.
At Simply Fixable, our expertise lies in troubleshooting, diagnosing, and resolving all types of issues faced by the iPhone 14 and the rest of the Apple ecosystem. Throughout this article, the steps we outline to diagnose and resolve the issue of an iPhone 14 that won't turn on have been carefully refined based on our experience dealing with this problem over countless different instances. In addition, our writers and experts have years of experience in covering the mobile space and have tested all of the methods outlined in this article firsthand.
If your iPhone 14 turned off and won't turn back on, it's certainly a stressful situation, and you might not know what happened—there could be a number of reasons behind it. Most of the time, the issue is simple enough to fix on your own and it shouldn't stem from a previous hardware problem, but of course, that can sometimes happen too.
If none of this applies to your situation, don't worry—we'll cover even more of the possible reasons, along with handy solutions, down below.
In many cases, you can make your iPhone 14 turn on if you charge it to full. If the battery is completely depleted, the phone may not even have enough gas in the tank to alert you that it's time for a charge. However, the exact fix will depend on the root cause of the problem.
Make sure that you are holding down the power button for a sufficient amount of time (up to 5 seconds) to turn it back on.
Forcing a restart can be a good option if your iPhone appears to be frozen and won't power back on. On the iPhone 14, you can do this by pressing and quickly releasing the volume up button, then the volume down button, and lastly, pressing and holding the side button until the Apple logo appears. Do these actions in succession, not at the same time.
Let's assume your iPhone 14 shuts off and won't turn back on, or it just refuses to come back to life after you tried to restart it. The problem could be something as simple as a faulty charger or an app that ate through your phone's battery life a lot quicker than you may have expected. Using GPS tends to do that.
Here are a few things you should try:
Whether you've got an iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, or iPhone 14 Pro Max, you'll find that problems with the actual hardware are fairly rare unless the phone suffered some kind of damage. This is good news, because it means following the steps below is likely to help you fix your phone.
You've just tried to turn on your iPhone, but it's a lifeless husk and it fails to respond? Or perhaps it died on you and won't power back on? It could also be that it's working in theory, but in practice, it's frozen or the screen went black.
In this section, we'll go over the most common problems and then show you how to fix them.
The most common causes of an iPhone 14 not turning on include a depleted battery, letting go of the Power button too soon, or a glitch. Software problems are possible too, including firmware updates, bugged apps, or a faulty connection that means your iPhone can't sign you in.
Hardware issues can happen, too. This includes water damage, overheating, a broken screen, problems with the charging port or the power button, or even issues with the insides of your iPhone 14, meaning the chip that powers it.
If your iPhone is experiencing a software glitch, the best way to get rid of such problems is to force a restart. This can even work if your iPhone 14 is dead and won't turn on.
If your iPhone 14 Pro Max is dead and won't turn on, and the force restart didn't help, your next option is recovery mode. This applies to the rest of the iPhone 14 lineup and it's also useful if the phone freezes during startup or displays a red or blue screen when it restarts.
As a last resort, you can perform a device firmware upgrade (DFU). This will often be done for you at a reputable repair shop, but you can try to do it yourself too. Keep in mind that this, like the Restore option, erases all user data.
There is no need to stress when you find out that your iPhone 14 Plus won’t turn on. In most cases, it is an easy fix, and if not your local repair store can find the ideal solution for you.
Software problems
An app malfunctioned
The phone has overheated
If the problem was caused by software or a glitch in the system conducting a soft reset (holding down the volume up key then releasing, and doing the same for the volume down. After that you need to hold the side key and wait for the logo to appear). If this does not work, your phone may have overheated, so it will not start up and do its job until it reaches a safe temperature. Leave the phone in a cool area for an hour, then try to turn it back on again.
Always make sure you download reputable apps and games. If any are acting strange, delete them and restart the phone. Keep data to a minimum, as sometimes a phone with no room for the apps to function can cause it to shut off and not work.
A soft reset every now and again is a good way to keep things running smoothly.
If your iPhone 14 Pro died and won't turn on, it can be a worry, but whether it’s a big or small problem Simply Fixable will give you home remedies to try before bringing it into the specialists.
If your iPhone won’t turn on, it could be one of the following problems:
It is dead flat
It has overheated
The phone is old
You may not have been paying attention to the battery percentage, and the phone has turned itself off due to a flat battery. Simply charge it and see if it starts up.
An overheated phone will need an hour or more to cool down before you try to turn it on again
If the phone is an old, obsolete model then it may have simply just died of old age and general wear and tear. It may be fixable, but might be worth buying a new one.
You can try to prevent these issues by doing the following:
Keep an eye on battery percentage and turn on low power mode to remind you when the phone battery level is low
Keep the phone out of sunlight and away from heat sources
You cannot prevent old age and general wear and tear but be prepared that one day the phone may not work anymore
Unfortunately there are times when your iPhone 14 Pro max screen won't turn on it can be stressful, and you may worry about what you can do. We have the answers here to help you when the iPhone 14 Pro Max died and won't turn on problem occurs.
The battery is degraded and does not have enough power to start the phone up
There is an app causing problems
An update failed to install
If the battery is degraded unfortunately the only fix is a professional repair
A glitch in the system or an update that failed can be rectified in most cases by performing a soft reset on the phone.(Hold down the volume up key, then release, and do the same for the volume down. After that, you need to hold the side key and wait for the logo to appear)
If the phone still does not start up, then you may need to seek professional advice
Ensure you have a full battery and an internet connection before installing an update
Give the phone a restart often to reset everything fresh
Keep the battery healthy by only charging to 80% then removing from charger
The phone has overheated
The phone has been exposed to water
Your iPhone has been dropped
Assuming it's too warm, set it down in a cool, shaded place and let it rest for at least 30 minutes.
If it fell into the water, dry the exterior with a lint-free cloth and allow it to air dry for at least a day.
After a fall, there might not be much you can do to restore your iPhone. It's probably best to seek professional assistance from a repair service. Since Apple charges more for repair services if you don't have a warranty, it's better to find another repair store charging you less for iPhone repair.
Keep your phone away from water and liquid
Keep the phone out of moisture-prone areas like the bathroom
Avoid sitting the phone in direct sunlight or near heat sources
Keep a hardcover on the phone to help protect it after a fall
If you just transferred some data to your iPhone 14 Pro or another iPhone 14, but now it refuses to cooperate, the fix is usually fairly simple.
The phone has suffered a glitch
The iPhone has run out of battery
Wait it out. The phone may need up to 15 minutes depending on the amount of data you transferred—give it a little rest and then try it again.
Break the connection to the other device and then force restart your iPhone.
Charge up the device then turn the phone on
Ensure the phone has full battery before starting a data transfer
Restart the phone so it starts up fresh to remove any glitches before transferring any data
If your iPhone 14 won't charge or turn on there are a few things you can try first before sending the phone off to be repaired.
The charger is no longer charging the phone
The battery has failed
There is a glitch in the system
Your phone is flat and won’t charge because the port is dirty
Your first step should be to attempt to charge the phone. If the Apple logo appears on the screen, you're most likely just dealing with a lack of battery life. Leave the phone to charge for up to an hour.
If the phone doesn't respond to the charger, make sure it's plugged in, and try a different charger or Lightning cable if you can, as well as a different wall socket.
Inspect the charging port on your phone and make sure it's free of dust. Do not try to jam anything into the port to clear it out.
Gently clean out the charger port area to remove dust and dirt
If that doesn't help, you may have to use a professional repair service to inspect the battery condition and get it repaired if needed. However, you can first try our other suggestions.
Avoid overcharging the phone or using it while charging
Give the phone a fresh restart every now and again
Ensure the port is clean and free of dust and dirt
Replace the charger every 12 months as older chargers don’t work as well
The minor problems can be a charger that isn’t charging the phone properly which can be solved by using another charger or by cleaning out the charging port area. Always try a soft reset, and it can fix minor glitches in some cases.
Worse case scenario If you have dropped the phone and it won't turn on or charge you most likely have screen damage and internal damage. Sometimes the charging port area can become loose or broken with brute force. Unfortunately, this needs to be looked at by a professional.
Sometimes if you have a degraded battery the phone won’t actually charge or turn on. Firstly try charging the phone with a new charger or using that charger to charge another device. If that is not working it indicates a problem with the phone and most likely a battery issue. If the battery is severely degraded, it can prevent the phone from turning on and starting up. A new battery replacement is a fix for that problem.
Some users have problems with their iPhones where, if the device is left to charge overnight, it refuses to turn on in the morning. The fix is pretty easy.
Overcharging has degraded battery
Glitch in the system
The charger isn’t charging the phone
A degraded battery will need to be replaced
If the charger isn't working try using a new one and see if it works
If the damage is already done, don't worry—simply perform a force restart (press volume up, then volume down, then press and hold the sidebar). You may need to repeat this several times.
Try not to leave your iPhone 14 to charge for longer than necessary, as this can cause problems.
Restart the phone every few days to remove any glitches in the system
Always use an Apple-branded charger for the right model of iPhone that you have
If your iPhone won’t turn on after charging there are a few things that could be causing this problem. The first reason could be that the charger never actually charged the phone, so it is flat and won’t turn on.
The second possibility is a glitch in the system; the third is that your battery has failed.
Try using another charger and see if that starts to charge the phone. You must wait a few minutes for the charger icon to appear on the screen. If it does not, you can move on to conducting a soft reset to see if the phone will start. If that does not work, then most likely, the battery is to blame, and you will need a replacement from a professional repair person.
It can be frustrating when you try to turn your phone on only to discover after charging it all night it won't turn on. Let’s look at why this happened and what you can do about it.
Sometimes the battery can be slowly degrading, and the time you leave it charging overnight it has finally died.
It can be a hardware problem within the system somewhere, or you may have dropped the phone, and the screen has now gone dark due to the force. Avoid overcharging the phone as it can cause the battery to die. Try doing a soft reset and see if the phone starts up. Try charging the phone with a new charger and see if that starts charging the phone
Always delete apps that are not working properly as they may be corrupted
Always use a properly certified charger when charging the phone
Never use the phone while charging and avoid leaving on the charger for long periods
Never jailbreak the phone as it causes it to malfunction beyond use
Turn on optimized charging to keep your battery healthy
Keep a phone cover on to protect it if you drop it
You just picked up your shiny new iPhone 14 Plus, but it won't turn on? That's a highly unpleasant situation, but fortunately, your iPhone is still very much under warranty—after all, you'd only just bought it.
A fault with the phone
Your best bet at this point is to contact Apple or the store you bought it from and report this problem. You can always try a force restart, as mentioned in the steps above, but generally, a new iPhone shouldn't have any problems, so you're better off returning it and having it replaced.
Always ensure you buy brand new phones from a reputable company and test them, if possible, before leaving the store to ensure it works correctly.
Do you have an iPhone 14 black screen won't turn on problem? There are a few things that we recommend trying first before you book in to have the phone repaired.
The power button is sticky and won’t push down properly
The battery has died or is severely degraded
A glitch in the system
Charger is not charging the phone
To try and fix the problem first always start with a soft reset. To do this, just press and release the phone's volume-up button. Do the same for the volume down button then, you need to press and hold down the button on the side of the phone until the Apple logo appears on the screen.
If the button seems sticky, use a Q-tip and try to clean around the button.
Try using another charger as the charger may not be working therefore, the phone will not turn on, and you will end up with an iPhone 14 stopped working problem.
The ideal way to prevent this problem from happening in the future is to ensure you keep a cover on the phone to keep the on/off button clean
Avoid overcharging the battery as it can degrade the battery over time
Avoid using the phone while charging as it can also wreck the battery
Try to restart your phone every now and again to give it a fresh start and avoid the iPhone 14 stopped working situation.
There are some minor problems that can cause the phone to overheat and unfortunately more serious ones too. See what they are below:
You have left the phone sitting in the sun or near a heat source
You were using the phone while charging
The battery is failing
The hardware is malfunctioning
In most cases a phone will shut down when it’s overheating and it won't allow you to turn it back on until it has cooled down to optimal temperature. If the phone will not turn back on after a few hours of sitting in a cool area, you have may damage that only a repair professional can fix.
Avoid leaving the phone in direct sunlight or hot rooms
Refrain from playing with the phone while charging
Do not overcharge the phone as it degrades the battery
Get your phone looked at if it keeps getting very warm to touch to avoid further damage
There are a few common reasons why iPhone 14 screen won't turn on after an update and in most cases, it is an easy fix that we explain how to do below:
Most times the phone has died during installation of the update which can cause a malfunction within the system and secondly the problem can happen if there was a bug in the update.
You can try to conduct a soft reset which often fixes these problems. If the update did not completely install successfully you can go to the settings, then the general section, and the update should still be there, ready to install. If the update was corrupted you may need to seek advice from the repair store. You can try a hard reset yourself, but you will lose your data. It’s best to seek advice first before doing that.
You can help to stop this problem from occurring by ensuring the phone is fully charged before you start downloading and installing an update. You can check with Apple that the newest update is safe to download and whether any problems or corrupted files have been reported before downloading the update.
If you try to turn your phone on in the morning after charging it overnight you might find that it won’t turn on. We will tell you why and what you can do to fix and avoid the problem from occurring again.
It is most likely that your phone has overheated and malfunctioned. In some cases, it can overheat, and the battery can die. In most cases you will get a notification on your screen that the phone is overheating then you can unplug the charger before it gets to a dangerous heat level. When you’re asleep, you cannot see this warning so the phone remains connected to the charger getting hotter over time.
First of all, unplug the phone and leave it alone to cool. Try turning it on and with no luck try to do a soft reset. If the problem persists it is most likely overheated and actually done damage to the phone. If the phone is heat damaged it will need to be looked at by a professional to assess the iPhone 14 shut off and won't turn back on issue and see what damage has occurred.
The recommended thing to prevent the phone from overheating and malfunctioning is to take the phone off the charger and avoid charging it overnight. If you use a fast charger it will only take a little over an hour to fully charge.
Charging the phone overnight can actually cause the phone to overheat. It can be dangerous for those who keep the phone charging under their pillow. Use a fast charger and charge the phone in the morning or before going to bed to ensure the phone never overcharges which can degrade the battery and cause the phone to malfunction beyond repair in severe cases. Keeping the battery-optimized charging turned on can help to keep the battery healthy and avoid those my iPhone 14 Pro won't turn on situations.
My iPhone 14 Pro Max won't turn on, but what can be done about it? Phones are not designed to be charged overnight or for long periods of time. The perfect wya to charge a phone is to charge to 80% and then remove from the charger. You shouldn't charge the phone to 100% as that is classed as overcharging, and it can ruin your battery.
If a reset attempt after the phone has cooled down doesn't work the phone may need to be professionally repaired.
If the steps outlined in our guide didn’t help, you might need to contact a repair service for help. It’s always better to consult a professional than to risk damaging your phone or losing your data. Check Simply Fixable and its competitors' repair costs for iPhone 14 here:
Model name |
Simply Fixable iPhone repair cost |
Apple iPhone repair cost |
$144 |
$309 |
|
$157 |
$342 |
|
$192 |
$339 |
|
$173 |
$392 |
Table. iPhone 14 repair cost per model
*Data in the given table is based on Simply Fixable's market research and the official Apple website
The iPhone 14 is a pretty sturdy phone, so if things go wrong, don’t panic. If your phone is frozen, won’t turn on, or refuses to charge, the solution is often as simple as a forced restart. Remember that sometimes, you may need to repeat the required steps multiple times for it to work, so don’t be discouraged if it’s still unresponsive after a few attempts.
Reviewed by Monica J. White
Linkedin: Monica J.White
Expertise: Technology, PC Hardware, Software, Gaming
Monica is a journalist with a lifelong interest in technology. Monica attended King's College London and obtained her bachelor's degree in English Language and Linguistics. She then went on to get a master's at that same university, this time focusing on Global Media Industries. She first started writing over ten years ago and has made a career out of it, with a special focus on PCs and mobile devices. She enjoys the challenge of explaining complex topics to a broader audience, whether it's how semiconductors work or how to troubleshoot a tablet. Her work has previously appeared in Digital Trends, Tom's Hardware, Pay.com, SlashGear, Forbes, Springboard, Looper, Money, WePC, and more.
Expertise: Technology, PC Hardware, Software, Gaming
Linkedin: Monica J.White
Monica is a journalist with a lifelong interest in technology. Monica attended King's College London and obtained her bachelor's degree in English Language and Linguistics. She then went on to get a master's at that same university, this time focusing on Global Media Industries. She first started writing over ten years ago and has made a career out of it, with a special focus on PCs and mobile devices. She enjoys the challenge of explaining complex topics to a broader audience, whether it's how semiconductors work or how to troubleshoot a tablet. Her work has previously appeared in Digital Trends, Tom's Hardware, Pay.com, SlashGear, Forbes, Springboard, Looper, Money, WePC, and more.
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