iPhone 16 Pro not turning on

My wife’s iPhone 16 Pro is not turning on. Several times I have had to push the top volume, bottom volume and then hold the right power button until the Apple came on. And it took much longer than 10 seconds and instead of it coming on by itself, the Apple would show only after I held and released the power button. Did she get a lemon or are others having this problem? She gets a new phone every year so this is not an operator error.

iPhone 16 Pro

Posted on Sep 27, 2024 5:04 PM

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Posted on Oct 3, 2024 6:54 AM

This happened again to my wife's iPhone 16 Pro. She could never get it to start. I tried 3 or 4 times with the force restart and it again would not start. I then plugged it in as a last resort, did the force restart a few time and finally it started. The battery was at 100%. It took quite a long time holding the start button after the volume up and down buttons for it to finally start. I will do a force restart on my iPhone occasionally and it never takes that long. She has had almost every iPhone since the 3G, so this is definitely not operator error.


I am responding here in hopes that it gets pushed to the top of iPhone questions in hopes that others may either respond that they too are having this issue and what the resolution is.

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Dec 7, 2024 9:05 AM in response to Manullascard488

Manullascard488 wrote:

Tech support agents never do nothing to give us a real fix. All they know is the reset mantra that never sorts out things.
I’m having issues with Spoken content and the Siri neural engine text to speech in my iPhone 11 after reinstalling iOS 18, I spoke with 3 agents and absolutely none of them were willing to help me. I speak Spanish as my native language and the voices that i’m having issues with are in Spanish, so the agent told me that nobody from the accessibility support speak Spanish, so he refuced to continue helping me.
If there are millions of iPhones around the world, I’m sure that a vast majority of them are having an issue, doesn’t matter if it’s hardware or software, and Apple never does nothing to correct them unfortunately

You last sentence is a guess at best and at worst, not a good one. Please don't make claims you can't backup with any tangible evidence. Sure, you may be having an issue, but that doesn't mean the vast majority of users are also have an issue. I've had no issues on either our 16 Pro or 16 Pro Max. I know several people with 16 Pro models and none of them are having issues.

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Dec 8, 2024 12:07 AM in response to Lilisbuddy

I have a new iphone 16 pro max it would not start in the morning, after i turned it off the night before, finally got it going by plugging it into the computer. So I took it to Apple after having it for a month, they turned it off in store and could not restart it, so they replaced it with a new one, which was a real bore as we live a long way from a store, and the whole experiece takes a while.

Then today guess what its happened again. Nightmare. An expensive nightmare as these phones aren't cheap. This time i cant get it to work at all, any ideas?

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Dec 11, 2024 7:06 AM in response to Lilisbuddy

Same here. I bought an iPhone 16 Pro 256GB off the Apple Website on Nov 28, 2024. This morning Dec 11, it would not power up after charging all night. As I placed it on the wireless charger last night I turned it off while charging because I did not want it on all night. In the morning it would not power up.. I placed it again on the wireless charger and it would not turn on. I tried all the power up sequences with the volume control key plays ..but no luck. I left it with the USB cable and charger plugged in and decided to enter my story on this discussion board ..but two factor identification was needed. For some reason or other when I made the two factor identification request the iPhone suddenly came to life displaying my two factor identification number. I am almost afraid to power it down again.

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Dec 14, 2024 6:15 AM in response to Lilisbuddy

I am using an iPhone 16 Pro. I recently turned it off, and when I tried turning it back on, it initially wouldn't power on. After some effort, I managed to get it working. However, today (14-Dec-2024), my phone is not turning on at all.


Additionally, I am experiencing issues with my Apple Watch Ultra. Incoming calls are not functioning properly, and callers are informed that my number is not responding.


I have been an iPhone user since the iPhone 4, but this year, I feel that Apple's quality standards have declined.

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Dec 14, 2024 1:58 PM in response to ReidKHesterPh.D.

I did. BUT , my second IPHONE 16 has same issue!!! For starters, on both my IPHONES 16's it takes 6 to 20 Seconds to start regularly. This is slower than any iPhone I have ever had in the past. In addition, after being TURNED OFF and Recharged overnite, this morning I could not turn on no matter how long I held down the Power button.


I finally did the 1second Volume Up and Volume Down button and then got it to start up after about 12 seconds.


Apple clearly has a problem and they seem to be ignoring it. Mine started in September.


Apple itself recommends Turning your phone off at night and restarting in AM as a way to get rid of any programs meant to take over your phone.


This is something that is very annoying to anyone this is happening to and should be seriously addressed by Apple!!!!! All on this forum have had iPhones for years, we KNOW how to start our phones. It never before required hitting the Volume up and down and then pressing Power button for 10 - 20 seconds!!!!

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Dec 18, 2024 4:50 AM in response to Lilisbuddy

I had the same thing happen to my 16 pro max over night and I cannot get it to come back on at all. I have tried the forced restart and I'm getting nothing at all from it. I'm using the charging cord provided with my phone and it's still not turning back on at all. I've plugged it into my macbook to see if it would recognize it and nothing at all.


Has Apple support replied to anyone at all on this issue?

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Dec 18, 2024 6:59 AM in response to Lilisbuddy

Adding my name to the list of people experiencing this. We have two iPhone 16 Pro Max's in the family. One is experiencing the issue were after a power down, only way to turn on is the reset option. Support did a diagnostic test, nothing showed up. My next option is to reinstall the OS via a Mac. Will attempt that this weekend. This problem occurs once every 1-2 weeks, but if you're not savvy I understand why this would be a problem. Nothing worse than a $1200 brick.

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Dec 20, 2024 8:57 AM in response to Seininya

Seininya wrote:

So I have the iPhone 16+, which I bought and set up on December 8, using the side by side method from my iPhone 11. I had my battery down to 7% last night before I plugged it in to charge (using the USB c cable that it came with and a 12V adapter) before turning it off for the night to let it charge. My iPhone 16+ is on iOS 18.2.

This morning I could not turn the phone on, so I had to keep trying using the reboot method - I plugged it into charge further thinking perhaps my charger didn't work, eventually it just randomly turn back on, I couldn't even set up a Genius Bar call since I couldn't turn on my phone for it to receive 2 factor authentication at first.

After looking at the responses here, it seems like:
1) I should not turn off my phone and charge overnight
2) I should get a 20V charger?
3) Set optimized charging to less than 100%

I will try these solutions and see what happens, luckily I'm still in warranty and now I think I need to get the additional one year AppleCare for an extra $200.

I agree with everything except #3. You can use Optimized Charging and wake up to a phone charged to 100% everyday. It is NOT necessary to set your iPhone on Charge Limit to less than 100%. However, DO use Optimized Battery Charging.

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Dec 21, 2024 7:12 AM in response to Lilisbuddy

I had the same problem with my iPhone 16 today. I shut it off last night and left it plugged into the charger cable. Would not turn on this morning. I did the volume up and volume down buttons and power button combo numerous times. It finally came on after about 20 minutes of trying. I purchased the phone two weeks ago and I upgraded to iOS 18.2 a couple of nights ago. Can someone at Apple let us know if this is a hardware or software issue? In the meantime, I'm never going to shut this phone off.

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Dec 27, 2024 10:20 AM in response to ScotchMellow

ScotchMellow wrote:

What’s alarming to me is that this post/issue was posted back in Sept and I’m experiencing the same problem in DECEMBER !! Hey Applestiltskin - wake up!

This is a user to user only forum. Apple isn't here and won't see your wakeup call.


  • Have you updated your iPhone to the latest iOS 18.2?
  • Have you forced restarted your iPhone --> Force restart iPhone - Apple Support (CA)
  • Do you routinely power your phone off to charge it? It's not necessary to power off an iPhone. In fact doing so prevents it from backing up while plugged into charge with Wifi on at night?


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iPhone 16 Pro not turning on

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