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 8, 2024 6:55 AM

Bought two new iPhone 16 Plus. Did update to iOS 18.0.1. When one phone was turned off and charged overnight, it would not turn on this morning. So far I am trying the force restart multiple times and I have plugged it into a different charger no beeps. Also I plugged it into my MacBook and no beep and not showing up on Finder. This is bad. This has never happened with multiple iPhones over the last several years. Phone $1000 and it does not work after a few days. Ugh. Afraid to shut down the other phone and fear that it will also not be able to be turned down.

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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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Dec 29, 2024 11:26 AM in response to Lilisbuddy

I got a new phone replaced in Sept. still with issue. Intermittent. Key to having it happen is turning phone “Off” and charging overnight.


clearly reproducible enough to correct with software update.


trouble is, they don’t read this forum.

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Jan 1, 2025 7:26 PM in response to Lilisbuddy

Hello, Iphone 16 user here! Last night my iphone 16 died and took a really long time to power back on, which was scary because i couldn't even see my dead battery screen or anything. I tried to factory reset it and it just did not work. I also tried connecting it to a computer using itunes but that didn't work until hours later. You would probably want to wait 12 hours + before trying to do anything to it because you would be waiting your time but no worries it is less than 24 hours. I connected it to my computer using the iTunes app and restored my phone it finally worked and turned back on. I also tried the volume up volume down and power button while it was connected to my computer so that could have helped too, hope you all find this well and i explained it good enough good luck out here!

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Jan 5, 2025 9:37 AM in response to Capemimi

I own iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max and never once has either phone shut down unexpectedly. Are you updated to iOS 18.2? Many reported their shutdown issues stopped with the most recent update. Are you powering your phone off to charge it? If yes, it's not necessary to do that.


Apple almost never admits there is an issue. For the vast majority of people there isn't one. but if there is one, they work behind the scenes to resolve things and when updates are rolled out, while a specific issue may not be reference, they almost always say bug fixes. So make sure to keep your iPhone updates when new updates are released.

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iPhone 16 Pro not turning on

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