Fix: iPhone and iPad Reboots Randomly Due to Date/Time iOS Bug

After the various issues on the brand new iPhone X, a growing number of iPhone and iPad users reported serious respring and reboot issues. The problem is widely spreading on Twitter and Reddit for a few days, and again iPhone X is not excluded from the fiasco. But, what the issue mainly affect?

According to affected owners, the problems first appeared when the time changed to 12:15 AM on December 2^nd in their local area. Once the iPhone or iPad made the time and date change, it starts respringing unexpectedly. If you are not familiar with the term “respringing,” here is the explanation. Respringing is basically a soft reboot of the iPhone. The device doesn’t fully shut down, but the home screen (springboard) is reloading itself. However, there are also cases where iPhones and iPads fully shut down and reboots. And some users even experienced continuously boot loops. If your iPhone performs a similar behavior, check the following part and find out the cause of your problem.

What is the Cause of This Issue?

First, let me tell you that this issue affects many iPhones and iPads running 11.1.2 and maybe other versions. Though this does not sound good at all, there is still some good news in here. And that is: The problem is software-related, and can fix without going to any official  Apple’s repair service.

The issue seems to come from apps which use the local notification system, and the relation with iPhone’s time and date system. This includes applications which send daily notifications for things like reminders and tasks. If you haven’t heard of local notifications before, here is Apple’s explanation:

Local notifications are ways to inform owners when new data is available for your app, even if the app is not running in the foreground. While using local notifications, your app configures the notification information locally and passes that information to the system. Then the system handles the delivery of the notification while your app is not in the foreground.

If you are using an app that has local notifications with repeating settings, it will crash the iOS Springboard of your iDevice. This includes apps that do not rely on a server in order to notify you. (e.g., Calm, Headspace, or any other app that uses notifications that work in airplane mode)

However, if you are interested in solving the random reboots issue on your iPhone, take a look at the rest of the article.

What Does NOT Work

Before you start performing the methods for fixing the rebooting problem due to Date and Time iOS bug, let’s first take a look at what users tried so far, and what doesn’t work.

• Restarting the iDevice does not fix the problem.
• Reinstalling apps also does not fix the problem.
• Hard Resetting the iDevice does not fix the problem.

So, do not waste your time trying these tricks.

What Does Work?

Method #1: Setting Time and Date to Fix the Rebooting Issue

If you are experiencing rebooting problems on your iPhone due to Date and Time iOS bug, the first thing you should do is to set the time and date to particular date (December 1^st). Here is how.

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap on General.
3. Navigate to Date & Time.
4. Disable the toggle Set Automatically.
5. Use the slider to set the date back to December 1^st.
   

Note: If you are using this method, be aware that an incorrect date and time may affect many other aspects of your iPhone or iPad. You may experience authentication errors in Safari with SSL-enabled sites and issues with the alarm app.

Method #2: Disabling Notifications for Affected Apps

This method helped many users out there, and if you want to try it out, follow these steps.

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap on Notifications.
3. Choose the app in question.
4. Disable the toggle Allow Notifications.
   

If you do not know the app that occurs the problem, turn them all off. Additionally, if you cannot disable the notifications, then temporarily roll back your Date and time. Set it to 1 week ago, and that will allow you to disable your notifications. After turning them off, you can return to the current date and time without any problems.

Method #3: Update your iDevice to iOS 11.2

Apple just released iOS 11.2 which may be the permanent fix for the repeated crashes due to Date and Time iOS bug.

To get the latest iOS 11.2 update on your iPhone, go to Settings, tap on General and open the section Software Update. Now, wait for the system to refresh and tap on Download and Install to install it. First, make sure your iDevice has at least 50% battery and is connected to a Wi-Fi network. According to Apple, this should fix the problem. However, you should always feel free to let us know if it worked or not.

Our Readers Recommendations

1. Try changing your timezone to Honolulu. That may fix the issue.
2. Delete the Deadspace app (if you have it installed on your iDevice)
3. Disable Background App Refresh (Go to Settings, tap on General, open the section Background App Refresh and tap on it again to turn it off)

Final Thoughts

Whatever you decide to do, we highly recommend making a full backup of your device via iTunes if possible. If your device resprings but does not reboot, then you can back it up even while it is performing a continually resprings. Here you can find more details about the backup procedure How to Start iPhone X in DFU Mode.

If your iDevice is getting too hot, turn it off completely. That’s how you will avoid any damage. Additionally, keep an eye on this article for any upcoming updates.

Let us know which of the methods noted above was helpful for you in the comment section below.