They call it – the white screen of death. You are using your iPhone without any issue, and suddenly when you try to access the App Store, the screen turns completely white. This white screen app issue for iPhone/iPad is nothing new to iOS users, and it’s pretty frightening for anyone experiencing it for the first time.
However, if you are only facing this problem while trying to open the App Store, there’s no need to worry. It’s a simple glitch that can be solved by following a few easy solutions. Today, we are going to break it down for you.
Why Is My iPhone Stuck on A White Screen?
So, why is my iPhone stuck on a white screen? Well, there should be plenty of reasons behind it, but two common reasons are widely assumed.
Software issue: A common reason is the software malfunction that is caused by a failed update process of the iOS. If the iOS update process is hampered in any way, thus not complete, you will probably experience this white screen of death more often than usual.
A failed jailbreaking attempt can cause another software glitch. Users usually try to jailbreak the iPhone/iPad to get access to different apps. But a failed jailbreaking process can result in the white screen problem.
Hardware issue: If there’s no software issue to blame, then the white screen is most likely to be caused by a hardware failure. This is something you can diagnose once you visit the Apple service centers.
How To Fix the App Store White Screen Issue?
Okay, so now that we know why and how the problem occurs, let’s jump into the solutions. If you want to find out how to fix the app store white screen issue, you may need to try out multiple solutions at the same time. So, here’re some of the simple ways you can get rid of this annoying white screen of death!
- Check If the App Store is Down
First of all, do not try to be hasty and try to solve the problem without understanding what caused it. The first thing you need to do is find out if the App Store is actually working globally or not. Apple sometimes runs some maintenance and upgrading works for different services, and this may cause relevant apps to be inactive for a specific period.
How do you know? Well, there’s a dedicated page from Apple that gives you the update. You can visit this page to see if the App Store is running fine or under maintenance. Interestingly, the App store is the first service to be listed here.
A green light on the left side of the name of the service means that the service is not down and can be run easily. However, the yellow light on the left would mean that the service is currently down and is going under a maintenance process. Sometimes, it may even turn red to signify some serious issues going on with it.
So, if you visit the page and find out that the App Store is currently showing with a yellow light, you should understand the service is under maintenance. So, all you need to do is be patient and wait for the service to resume.
- Is the Magnification Turned on?
Sometimes, the problem is not a problem at all! Yes, you may have accidentally zoomed into something totally white, which has been magnified to look like the screen is white. If that’s the case, tap on the screen with your three-finger tips, and you will be headed back to the regular screen size.
On the other hand, you can easily turn the magnification option off so that this doesn’t happen again. To turn off the zoom option, go to the Settings > Accessibility > Zoom.
Now, turn it off by tapping on the toggle button. This will make sure that the screen will never be zoomed either intentionally or accidentally.
- Check Your Internet Connection
Another common reason for the issue can be a poor internet connection. If the internet access from your iPhone or iPad cannot be correctly established, the App Store may not work properly. That’s why you need to check if your internet connection is okay or not.
If you are using a Wi-Fi connection, check if the Wi-Fi signal is okay in your area. If the Wi-Fi connection is okay, you need to reconnect the wireless signal to your phone. On the Control center, simply tap on the Wi-Fi icon to disable Wi-Fi. Then wait for a few seconds and tap again on the icon to activate it. This will reconnect the Wi-Fi to your phone with a better signal.
If this doesn’t work, you can also try turning the Airplane mode on. Similar to the Wi-Fi signal, simply tap on the Airplane mode icon from the control center. Wait for a few seconds, and then turn it back on. This will reset your network signals, and you can check the connection again.
In the case you are using mobile data, you need to make sure that the mobile data has access to the App Store. To check the access, go to Settings > Cellular.
Now scroll down to find the App Store app. Make sure that the button on its side is toggled on and made green. If it is not turned on, it’s the reason why you are not getting access to it with the mobile data on.
- Restart App Store
Now, if you have found out that the App Store is not down, you need to check again if the App Store is working or not. If you see that the App Store is still not working, you need to terminate and restart it.
To close the app, simply pull up the background app list from the bottom of the screen. If you are using an iPhone with a home button, just double-click on the hope button to pull up the list.
Now, tap and hold the App store app and drag it upwards. Leave it when the app is on the top of the screen. This will shut the app down. Now, go back to your app drawer and tap on the App Store icon.
Hopefully, you won’t see the white screen anymore.
- Sign in to Your Apple ID Again
There’s a nifty solution that you can adopt when there’s nothing that seems to work. Simple log out of your Apple ID from your iPhone/iPad and sign back in. This way, you can reset the app settings on your phone and hopefully get the white screen removed.
To sign in to your Apple ID again, go to the Settings and click on the Apple ID shown on the top of the screen.
Then, simply scroll down to the bottom of the screen, where you can find a Sign Out option.
Simply tap on the Sign Out option, and you will be signed out of the ID from this device. Now, you need to enter the ID and password again to log in. After you log in, check the App Store to see if it’s working properly or not. This hack may solve the problem right away.
- Restart Your Device
This is a no-brainer that a reboot in the system can solve many problems. That’s true for this issue, as well. If you fail to resolve the white screen of death issue, you can try restarting the device to make it work.
To restart the device, you need to shut it down and then turn it on manually. There are two ways you can do it. First, go to the Settings > General. Now scroll down to the bottom of the screen, where you will find the Shut Down option. Click on it, and the device will start to shut down.
Another way to shut down the device is to press and hold the upper volume button and the sidebar together. After a couple of seconds, you will find a ‘slide to power off’ option. Simply slide it to the right, and the device will be turned off.
Either way, once you turn the device off, press the sidebar for a few seconds, and you will see the Apple logo show up. At this time, release the button and wait for the device to reboot completely. There you go, the handset is restarted, and you will be able to use the App Store app without any issues.
- Hard Reset Your Phone
If restarting the phone doesn’t seem to solve the problem, you’ve got another way to make it work – hard reset. Well, don’t freak out already! It won’t remove or delete any data from your phone. It will simply bring back all the phone settings when it was just brought out of the factory.
The hard resetting process for different models can vary. Here’re some quick methods for multiple iPhone models.
For iPhone 8, SE (2nd Gen), X, and above:
- Press and release the Volume Up button
- Press and release the Volume Down button
- Hold on to the Side button and let it go when the Apple logo shows up
For iPhone 7:
- Press the Volume Down button and the Wake/Sleep button at the same time
- Release the buttons when the Apple logo appears on the screen
For iPhone 6 and SE (1st Gen):
- Press the home button and the Sleep/Wake button at the same time
- Release the buttons when the Apple logo appears on the screen
Once you hard reset the device, there’s a huge possibility that the white screen of death issue will be resolved completely.
- Try Recovery Mode
Although this process is a bit tricky, and you need to have some prior idea of how recovery mode works, it can be useful to solve the problem. You need to have iTunes on your computer and a USB to lightning cable to connect your iPhone to your computer.
What recovery mode does is it reinstalls the iOS on your iPhone and recovers the data simultaneously. This way, it can easily solve all the software issues on your phone, and you can start with a fresh setup device.
To start your phone on recovery mode, do the following.
Step 1: Turn the phone off
Step 2: Plug the phone into your computer using the USB to lightning cable
Step 3: Perform the act according to the iPhone model you have
- For iPhone 8 and above: Hold the side button while you connect the cable to your computer
- For iPhone 7: Press and hold the volume down button while connecting the cable to your computer
- For iPhone 6 and earlier models: Press and hold the home button while connecting the cable to your computer.
Do not release the buttons until you see a recovery mode display appears on the screen. If you see the screen turned black from white, you have entered the recovery mode. Now, simply follow the instructions on the screen to update your OS and restore your data from backup.
Now, turn on the iPhone, and the white screen issue will be solved.
Another way to solve the software glitch is to update the iOS on your iPhone simply. To do this, go to Settings > General > Software Update.
This will show you the available versions that you can upgrade to. Simply tap on the download and install option, and you will find the phone updating itself!
- Visit Apple Service Center
If you have been properly following all the instructions of the solutions we have piled up here, you might have solved the issue by this time. However, if nothing is working, you can visit the Apple service center to check if there’s a hardware problem that needs expert help to solve.
Fina Words
Keep your patience when you run into the white screen of death all of a sudden. Bookmark this page and follow one or more techniques mentioned here, and you will be solving it in no time! In the case you fail yourself, the Apple service center is there to save your back!