There are a series of issues that can come up while you are using your iPhone or during your iPhone OS update; some of these issues include your iPhone being stuck on verifying updates or stuck in SOS mode. Funny enough most of these issues are what you can fix with mere discretion such as the iPhone stuck in SOS mode when your touchscreen isn’t responding or when your iPhone start giving this SOS sound that you can only control by exiting the SOS mode.
Soon you’ll notice that there is nothing wrong with the touch screen and that there is more to it than you imagined. And only for you to get to know that it’s because your Apple iPhone stuck in SOS mode.
However, since you are here, we will not deny you what you need to know about your iPhone being stuck in SOS and why it is stuck in SOS mode.
Why is my iPhone Stuck in SOS Mode
Knowing why your iPhone is stuck in the SOS mode will probably prevent it from future occurrences. While the reasons are not limited to what we listed below but what we have below can be a few of the reasons why your iPhone keeps stuck in SOS mode.
- Poor or bad network
- You mistakenly push the power button and volume button together
- Failed jailbreak
- You upgraded to the latest beta version of the iOS
- You turned on SOS mode via your iPhone settings.
If any of the above reasons occur then your iPhone will likely be stuck in SOS mode.
How to Fix iPhone Stuck in SOS Mode
The sole purpose of this article is to detail how to fix iPhone stuck in SOS mode. But, we think it’s better to know why your iPhone is in SOS mode before proving a solution to the problem.
And in summary, below are the steps to take to fix your iPhone stuck in SOS mode.
- Restart your iPhone by force
- Turn off the phone and charge it.
- Check if you do not enable SOS manually via the phone settings.
- Reinstall the OS update via iTunes
- Restore the iPhone to default or factory settings via the recovery mode option.
- Contact Apple for support.
We will hence explain in detail how to utilize these reasons to fix your iPhone stuck in emergency mode.
Restart your iPhone by Force
Force restarting is a basic troubleshooting step you should always consider if you are having any issues with your iPhone especially when the device is not responding.
It consists of a few steps and the process varies slightly based on the model of the iPhone you are using. While that shouldn’t be much of an issue, here is how to restart your iPhone
iPhone 6s and earlier:
- Press and hold down the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button at the same time.
- Don’t release it until you see the Apple logo again.
iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus:
- Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button along with the Volume Down button.
- Don’t release them until you see the Apple logo on the screen.
iPhone 8 and later:
- Press and release the Volume Up button.
- Press and release the Volume Down button.
- Now press and keep holding the side button until you see the Apple logo.
Turn off the Phone and Charge it.
Apart from performing a force restart, another fix you should try if you want to remove your iPhone from emergency SOS mode is to turn it off. After doing that, charge it for an hour and turn it back on to see if the issue has been resolved.
This step will work if it’s a minor hanging issue. However, if it isn’t, proceed to the next troubleshooting step.
Here is a repeat of the Steps
- If you wish to disable emergency SOS mode on your iPhone, firstly power it off.
- Once the device is turned off, allow it to charge for one hour.
- After the charging period, switch on your iPhone again and check if the problem has been resolved.
Restore the iPhone to Default or Factory Settings via the Recovery Mode Option
Using the recovery mode via iTunes could be another chance to get your iPhone out of the SOS mode it is stuck in. Although, doing this will perform a factory reset. So, if you constantly backup your iPhone to iCloud you can proceed to recover the iPhone via discovery mode and restore your backup files from the iCloud once your phone is out of the SOS mode.
Here are the steps involved
- Connect your iPhone to a computer that has iTunes or Finder on it.
- Now, use a USB-to-Lightning cable to connect your iPhone to the computer.
- Based on the method described in the first troubleshooting step, perform a force restart of the iPhone.
- Keep holding the buttons until the recovery screen appears.
- Once it does, a pop-up will appear on the iTunes or Finder app offering to update or restore the iPhone.
- Finally, select Restore.
Check if you do not Enable SOS Manually via the Phone Settings.
If you turned on the SOS mode on your iPhone that you’d have to turn it off manually for your iPhone to work except if you choose to restore your iPhone to the default settings.
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Tap Emergency SOS.
- Disable both:
- Call with hold and release
- Call with 5 minutes presses
Reinstall the OS update via iTunes
You can reinstall the OS update via iTunes if your iPhone is stuck during updating via your iPhone but this might wipe off your data. By following the steps below you will learn how to reinstall your iPhone OS via iTunes.
- Connect your iPhone to your computer using your lighting cable or USB or USB-C cable or a Wi-Fi connection.
- Launch the iTunes software on your PC and click on the “Device” button at the top left.
- Click on “Summary.”
- Tap “Check for Update.”
- Your iPhone will check for available updates.
- If there is an update available it will be downloaded and installed on your device via the iTunes.
Once you have successfully updated your iPhone OS via the iTunes software click on the “Eject” button to eject the phone from your computer so that you won’t complicate the issue by just removing the phone from iTunes when it’s still connected to it.
Contact Apple for Support
Apple could be of help if none of the above troubleshooting tips works. However, you want to make sure that your iPhone is covered by the Apple sales warranty. If your iPhone warranty has expired you will be charged for the service. But, if the warranty covers it, Apple would fix it for you if at all you will be charged it’d be at a discounted rate. For more information, you can visit the Apple support website to check your warranty status on this website.
iPhone Stuck in SOS Mode no Service
No service is not a new issue when you use your iPhone is Stuck in SOS mode. This state only means your cellular network is very poor or you didn’t insert your SIM correctly.
To fix it in no time, you might want to first move to a place where there is good service. If it doesn’t work, rest your network, and if that doesn’t work, then, try all the troubleshooting tips we highlighted in this article.
Conclusion
Figuring out how to fix your iPhone when you are faced with an iPhone stuck in SOS mode could be daunting, but after going through this article, you should be more informed about what is going on and what you can do to fix it.
If any of the steps above seem confusing or hard to figure out, feel free to drop your comment in the comments section.