One of two things is happening when you tap to open an iPhone app: Nothing happens at all or the app begins to load the opening screen, but immediately closes. Either way, you’re left staring at an iPhone full of apps that won’t open, and it’s starting to get frustrating. In this article, I’ll explain exactly why your iPhone apps won’t open and how to fix the problem for life.
Common ‘iOS app is not working‘ issues:
- an app won’t open
- An app won’t respond
- an app is crashing
Generally, iOS works smoothly, however sometimes, you may experience problems such as app crashing and much more. You may think that some or all of the apps installed on your iOS device feel sluggish or slow, if you experience this, these troubleshooting methods may help that as well.
Why is my iPhone Apps Not Responding?
Your iPhone apps won’t respond because your iPhone has a software glitch. When an app crashes, it usually doesn’t take the whole iPhone with it. Instead, you end up back on the Home screen, and the app terminates in the background. Most of the time, that’s enough to fix a software bug – but not always.
Sometimes, iPhone apps won’t open because of a problem with the iPhone operating system (iOS), not a problem with the app itself. Here are some reasons why Your iPhone apps won’t open::
- Insufficient memory
- bugs in your app
- App incompatibility
- bandwidth limitation
See also
iPhone cannot connect to App Store? fix
The unresponsive app can be (a) an Apple built-in app (for instance, Phone, messages, News, Safari, Videos, Photos and much more); or (b) an app you downloaded from the App Store, developed by third party developers.
How To Fix iPhone Apps That Won’t Open
I’ll walk you step-by-step through the process of troubleshooting an iPhone app that won’t open. Follow the steps below in order and check if your problem is fixed after each step. Let’s jump into it!
Solution #1. Turn Your iPhone Off And Back On
It’s simple, but restarting (turn off and turn on) may fix hidden software issues that may be preventing your apps from opening properly. When you switch off your iPhone, the operating system terminates all the little background programs that help your iPhone to run. When you turn it back on, they all start fresh, and sometimes that’s enough to resolve a software problem that had been preventing your apps from opening.
- To turn your iPhone off, Press and hold the on/off (sleep/wake) button until you see the power slider. Then drag the slider. Wait until your iPhone is completely off. This may take a few seconds. Then press and hold down the power button until you see the Apple logo.
Solution #2.Restart the app
If the app crashes, is stuck or is unresponsive, force quitting is likely the best option. This quits the app and when you open it again it loads up fresh. Any temporary issues you were experiencing with that app should be fixed.
The process of force quitting an app is different depending on an iPhone model.
- iPhone x, xr, XS, XS Max, and iPhone 11 models, swipe up from the bottom of the screen to reveal the app switcher and swipe up the app. Then launch the app again.
- iPhone 8 and earlier, double press the home button and swipe up the app. Then launch the app again.
Solution #3. Force restart Your iPhone
Sometimes forcing your device to restart is all you need to do to fix an iPhone app that won’t respond.
The method to force restart an iPhone depends on which model you have, so we’ve broken down the process for each device:
iPhone 6s, iPhone SE, & older
- Press and hold the Home button and the power button (Sleep/Wake button) together until the screen turns black and the Apple logo appears again.
iPhone 7 & iPhone 7 Plus
- Simultaniously press and hold down the volume down button and the power button. Don’t release the buttons until the Apple logo reappears on the display.
iPhone 8, iPhone X, iPhone XR, iPhone XS, iPhone 11
- Quickly press and let go of the Volume Up button. Then, quickly press and let go of the Volume Down button. Lastly, hold down the side button. Don’t release the side button until you see the Apple logo.
Solution #4.iOS updates
There may be system updates. These updates may fix this. To check and install iOS updates, go to Settings > General > Software Update.
Solution #5. App updates
One of the main reasons app developers release updates is to resolve software glitches that can cause problems like this one. Instead of updating one app at a time trying to pinpoint the problematic app, I suggest you update all your apps at once.
To update your apps, start the App Store app on your iPhone, tap my account in the top right-hand corner, and tap Update All. If you don’t see Update All, your apps are already up-to-date.
Solution #6. Uninstall and reinstall the app
Deleting and reinstalling the app in question from your iPhone is the first thing most experts will advice you to do. It’s the “unplug it and plug it back in” school of thought, and most of the time it resolves problems.
I think it’s a good place to start too, but I don’t want to get your hopes up. You need to as yourself, “Are all of my apps not opening, or it’s just a single app?”
- If only one of your apps won’t open, there’s a high possibility that deleting the app from your iPhone and installing a fresh copy of the app from the App Store will fix the problem.
- If multiple apps won’t open, deleting and reinstalling all of your appsis not likely to fix your problem. Instead, we’ll have to Fix the underlying cause, which in this case, is the iPhone’s operating system (iOS).
Solution #7. Is The App very old? check when an app was last updated
There are tons of apps in the App Store, and not all of them are kept up-to-date. The software code that runs iPhone apps changes each time the Cupertino based company releases a new version of iOS. Usually the changes aren’t too drastic, but if an app hasn’t been updated for ages, there’s a high possibility it’s not compatible with your version of iOS.
To check when an app was last updated, on your iPhone, start the app store app, search for the app, tap to open the app, scroll down to the section called Information, and look at the date next to Updated.
Another way to rule out this is to ask a friend with similar iPhone model and iOS version to download and open the app. If the app works on their iPhone, we know there’s a software problem with yours. If the app doesn’t open on their iPhone, there’s a problem with the app itself. Unfortunately, if an app is too old to run on a newer version of iOS, there’s nothing you can do to fix the problem. Your only option is to
contact the app developer
and ask if they’re planning to release an update. If I were in their position, I’d be thankful someone let me know about the issue.
Solution #8. Reset All Settings
To Reset All Settings on your iPhone: Head over to Settings -> General -> Reset. Reset All Settings doesn’t erase any of your personal data from your iPhone, but like the name suggests, it does reset all of your settings back to factory defaults. If you’ve taken the time to
optimize your iPhone to improve iPhone’s battery life,
for example, you’ll have to do it right from the start.
When an iPhone app won’t open, it’s a problem that can take 30 seconds, 30 minutes, or longer to solve. For your sake, I hope the fix was quick and easy. I’d like to hear from you about your experience with apps that won’t respond, and about how far you had to go to fix your iPhone. Thanks for reading and if you have any other question, let us know in the comments section below.