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Home / iPad / iPad Frozen, not responding, how to fix

iPad Frozen, not responding, how to fix

Last Updated on August 2, 2012 by SK

Is your iPad frozen? The iPad occasionally stops responding for various reasons. If you experience this, try these tips to resolve your issue:

Try restarting your iPad. To do this, simply press and hold the Sleep/Wake button until a red slider appears; then slide the slider. To turn back on, press and hold the Sleep/Wake button until the Apple logo appears.

If tip above does not work, try resetting your iPad. To do this, press and hold the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button at the same time until you see the Apple logo.

If above tips do not work, the issue could be that the battery is fully depleted. Plug it into a wall outlet for a while and see if your battery holds a charge. Please note that it can take up to 20 minutes of charging before the iPad will start up.

If you are still having problems, try connecting the device to your computer and launch iTunes. Then select Restore.

Related: iPad troubleshooting, How to fix your iPad problems

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Filed Under: iPad Tagged With: iPad

Comments

  1. sola says

    July 13, 2012 at 7:41 PM

    My Ipad not booting showing Itunes logo, was trying to update the software. what do i do?

    Reply
    • Anghs says

      October 16, 2015 at 9:39 AM

      worked for me thanks

      Reply
    • Rubi says

      November 21, 2015 at 6:57 AM

      I have another IPad Air 2 and it froze on the home screen so I can’t do anything except talk to Siri and try to restart it. When I hold the on off button it shows the slider and I can’t slide it. When I talk to Siri I ask her to take me to an app that on that iPad and she asked me for my password and when she shows me the keyboard for typing in my password I can’t type it in. Someone PLEASE help

      Reply
  2. Harb says

    July 19, 2013 at 3:39 AM

    Pressing button in the middle does nothing. When top sleep/walk pressed red slider screen appears. If I press cancel the screen goes blank. If red slider pressed iPad turns off. This is all that’s happening every time. Please help. iPad bought in jan 2013.

    Reply
    • hacker says

      December 26, 2013 at 11:57 AM

      have to tryed ejecting ur ipd ona computer and restoring . it then back up to ivoud . then all wil be fine

      Reply
    • Madison Potts says

      October 2, 2015 at 6:19 PM

      All fixed after restarting the Ipad Mini Thanks Apple!!! I now can get back to Minecraft PE!!!

      Reply
  3. Russ says

    August 23, 2013 at 1:48 AM

    Frozen 20 minutes don’t turn off not responding to any off your suggestion . Less then a year old.

    Reply
    • Lorna says

      May 12, 2015 at 3:06 PM

      ThaNKS IT WORKED MINE WAS FROZEN ALSO….

      Reply
      • Caitlyn r says

        August 15, 2015 at 7:58 PM

        Nothing is working for me,it doesn’t show up on iTunes,doesn’t work when I charge it for more than an hour!!!! Help me please!!!!!

        Reply
      • Caitlyn r says

        August 15, 2015 at 7:58 PM

        Nothing is working for me,it doesn’t show up on iTunes,doesn’t work when I charge it for more than an hour,and it doesn’t work when I hold the sleep/wake and home butting help me please!!! I bought this with my own money I don’t want to have to rebye it

        Reply
    • Susan says

      February 4, 2016 at 11:53 AM

      iPad Frozen for hours — none of the suggestions work,

      Reply
  4. Keena says

    September 20, 2013 at 11:25 PM

    Thanks!!!! this worked!

    Reply
    • Shanice says

      August 9, 2015 at 3:11 AM

      My ipad was working fine yesterday and all off a sudden It froze so I pressed the sleep home button and it wouldn’t respond what do I do?

      Reply
      • Alia says

        September 20, 2015 at 2:53 AM

        Same thing happened with me happened this morning so not fare I can’t use it know I need to fix it it is the same what happened to you on my iPad mini

        Reply
  5. Yulia Sushkina says

    October 4, 2013 at 11:50 AM

    Resetting worked ! Thanks!

    Reply
  6. arun jain says

    October 5, 2013 at 9:10 AM

    The home button nd the touch of my up as isn’t working!
    Can u expect some solutions!?

    Reply
  7. arun jain says

    October 5, 2013 at 9:10 AM

    *I pad

    Reply
  8. jsjdjx says

    October 22, 2013 at 10:28 AM

    My ipad.is not working I did loke yo said but it didn’t work each time i put in the charge it gives a blue light than its turns off again

    Reply
    • walter pasifull says

      April 26, 2015 at 10:39 PM

      My ipad air was changed for a new one at your apple store in stratford last week
      but not it keeps going to a all red screen and switching off
      it then starts again then red screen again and off

      Reply
  9. jsjdjx says

    October 22, 2013 at 10:31 AM

    Plz answer cos if my parents know that I broke it they will kill me

    Reply
  10. Tonya says

    November 30, 2013 at 11:35 AM

    my Ipad has a voice telling me that the curtain is down? what is this and how do I get it backup? all I have is a black screen and this voice? help please

    Reply
  11. Jia says

    December 11, 2013 at 6:47 PM

    My iPad screen is black and when I press the turn on. Jetton it won’t turn on it is still black but when I hold the home button Siri comes up so it can’t be no battery I also tried holding the home and silent but it still did not work what do I do???

    Reply
    • Moriah says

      July 15, 2014 at 8:00 PM

      THATS WHAT MINE IS DOING! I dont know what to do

      Reply
    • Katlynn says

      October 17, 2015 at 6:52 PM

      Hold the power and home button till the apple comes up

      Reply
      • oliver says

        March 4, 2016 at 5:30 PM

        holy sheet thank u

        Reply
  12. Janine says

    January 4, 2014 at 6:00 AM

    My iPad was not responding at all. I plug into computer and opened iTunes. My iPad was showing so I tried running update. I was then able to press the Wake button & home button at same time and it came on! All good now!

    Reply
  13. Kalle says

    January 17, 2014 at 11:27 PM

    Thank You! I was surfing a lot of sites to find this easy solution…

    Reply
  14. Deepak says

    February 20, 2014 at 10:31 PM

    It’s simple! I was suffering from the same problem as well. But I myself found a good solution. Here it is….
    1) Connect Ipod/Ipad to Itunes on the computer.
    2) Go to Organize> Folder & Search Options> View> Show Hidden Files & Folders.
    3) Now open My Computer. Select your device and open it.
    4) Go to Ipod/Ipad_Control> Device>
    5) In Device folder you can see _Locked file. Just Delete it.
    6) Now Disconnect the device and Enjoy…

    Reply
    • Faith says

      October 30, 2014 at 6:28 PM

      will apps,pictures, and etc. not be deleted?

      Reply
      • Faith says

        October 30, 2014 at 7:02 PM

        is organize located in Itunes? i cannot find it in Itunes the organzie where is it located all I can see is organize library

        Reply
  15. Glenn says

    May 6, 2014 at 12:37 AM

    I was minimizing the screen shot and iPad 2 froze, both buttons do not respond. Fully charged battery, no black screen, only half minimized screen. Will not reset, no apple logo, no slide bar, do you have any suggestions, please?

    Reply
  16. shaylee says

    June 16, 2014 at 1:03 AM

    this acctually works thank peps

    Reply
  17. Mark Villanueva says

    July 12, 2014 at 2:10 AM

    Im so thankful of your advice, i thought my ipad is going to fuck up hehehe

    Reply
  18. Moriah says

    July 15, 2014 at 7:59 PM

    I dont know what to do. When i go to turn on my ipad it lights up but the screen stays black. I have tryed all of these things but it doesnt work. I dont have an apple store near me either

    Reply
    • Cookie says

      March 6, 2015 at 7:27 PM

      Is frozen white my I pad for the last 2 hrs

      Reply
  19. Ina says

    October 22, 2014 at 5:44 AM

    I tried to reset my iPad Air and it frozed. What should I do???

    Reply
  20. Vic says

    November 2, 2014 at 5:11 AM

    Thank you. My ipad froze up and I tried holding both buttons down as you suggested and it worked. Very grateful for the help.

    Reply
    • Larissa says

      February 13, 2015 at 9:56 AM

      Me to
      YES IT DID THANK YOU VERY MUCH THANK THE LORRDDD

      Reply
      • Aradhana says

        December 29, 2015 at 7:48 AM

        Thank you for the help …saved my day

        Reply
  21. Taylor says

    November 8, 2014 at 9:26 PM

    My iPad won’t sence my touch, randomly it does this atleast 2 times a week, I’m getting very frustrated to the point I want to smash it to pieces with a hammer! Wtf do I do?! I’m loosing my patients!!!!!

    Reply
  22. Neil says

    December 24, 2014 at 6:27 AM

    Just replaced screen on iPad now nothing is working done full restore and only Sri is working anyone help??

    Reply
  23. ashley says

    January 3, 2015 at 9:05 AM

    I tried to update a game and then it froze.Thank you so so so much. I had no clue what to do. It worked wonderfully. Will doing this hurt anything on the iPad?

    Reply
  24. kwasib says

    February 11, 2015 at 12:40 PM

    I was using my iPad then it suddenly froze when then I pressed de sleep button then it turn black but when I press de home button siri answers what should I do

    Reply
  25. Laura says

    February 12, 2015 at 3:57 PM

    I was using my iPad mini as it was charging (at about 68% charge) in the wall, left it for a few minutes, then when I went to use it again the screen was black, it was off. I left it charging hoping it would eventually come back on and it didn’t I tried turning it on using the button at the top – didn’t work. I tried resetting it by holding the home button and the power button at the top – didn’t work. I tried plugging it into my macbook, but it doesn’t show up in iTunes at all and still won’t respond when I try turning it on/resetting it. I’ve had this iPad mini for just over a year and have never had a problem with it. I use it almost daily. What is the problem? How do I fix this?

    Reply
    • Allan jones says

      September 8, 2015 at 7:40 AM

      My iPad suddenly went black with 65 percent power. Dose not appear to charge. Appears dead what can I do

      Reply
  26. Fatoumka says

    March 5, 2015 at 1:09 AM

    Hi all,
    I bought my Ipad Air 2 in January 2015. Last night i plugged it to charge, when i woke up this morning, the IPAD was completely dead! Black screen, inresponsive, wont turn on. I tried a different charger and plugged it to a different power socket, same result. Please advice.
    Thanks

    Reply
  27. Evan Demos says

    March 8, 2015 at 9:29 AM

    Good tips. Thank you. I tried restarting (hold sleep/wake button) several times. No luck. I tried resetting (hold sleep/wake button and home button simultaneously). No luck. After reading your article, I decided to try resetting again, except this time I held and held and held the sleep/wake button and home button. It took almost thirty seconds, but the Apple logo finally showed up. I let it go. It took almost 60 seconds to restart. Some process must have been eating up all the processor’s time, but it seems to be working fine now. So, again, thanks.

    Reply
  28. Mika Piirto says

    March 16, 2015 at 7:05 AM

    Iused iPad mini at evening. Put it into charger. In the morning it didnt start at all. Backside was warm like 50′ c. Battery dead? Battery life has been going down fast.

    Reply
  29. Jose Sandoval says

    March 16, 2015 at 11:35 AM

    Thanks SERHAT KURT,
    Issue: IPAD FROZEN, NOT RESPONDING, HOW TO FIX

    I Try this tip:: If tip above does not work, try resetting your iPad. To do this, press and hold the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button at the same time until you see the Apple logo.

    It worked.

    3/16/2015

    Reply
  30. Nikhil says

    April 21, 2015 at 8:48 PM

    thanks for your idea my ipad is now safe

    Reply
  31. Brigit says

    May 1, 2015 at 6:00 PM

    My iPad has a white box on screen stating
    iCloud backup
    This iPad hadn’t been backed up in 27 weeks. Backups happen when this iPad is plugged in, locked, and connected to WIFI

    Now, my iPad is always connected to wifi, I always slide the lock as it asks when I plug it in .
    It will not let me shut the system down. I can’t do anything!!!!
    Can someone help me out?

    Reply
  32. Ron says

    May 29, 2015 at 8:09 AM

    iPad won’t turn off hold both buttons it switches between home and search about every 10 seconds What can I do?

    Reply
  33. Kayode says

    June 16, 2015 at 9:34 AM

    I had iPad (32GB) purchased from cousin. It was not reset when I purchased it. I later purchased iPad2 (64GB). I do serious work on it (iPad2) and don’t want my daughter messing things up, so I left her the iPad (32GB). It came to a head when the memory became full and I also could not upgrade the iOS. I could not delete my cousin’s pictures, music, films and games (because I don’t have his password). I gave it to him recently to reset. He did, but I haven’t been able to restart it. When I connected it to my PC (Lenovo Core 13), 3 ports out of 4 report that the USB malfunctioned and windows does not recognize it. The 4th port says nothing and the iTune logo and USB cable images remain on the iPad’s screen. I’ve tried all the combinations of HOME and RESET botton options, nothing works. Pls help.

    Reply
  34. Joie says

    July 10, 2015 at 7:20 PM

    I was fully freaking out and going into panic attack mode! It wasn’t working, the regular stuff was not responding and then I tapped it on the back while it was upside down and pretwnded like I was taking a screen shot but holding both buttons down. IT CAME BACK ON! This was after a full day of not working! Thanks so much for the help!

    Reply
  35. V says

    July 21, 2015 at 3:11 PM

    It worked!!!

    Reply
  36. andrew says

    July 31, 2015 at 4:20 AM

    my iPad has a glitched front screen and is frozen need help

    Reply
    • andrew says

      July 31, 2015 at 4:21 AM

      i ment to say front screen is frozen

      Reply
  37. Swaby says

    August 5, 2015 at 5:15 PM

    I have tried these steps numerous times and did the update through iTunes. Now it just shows the apple on the screen and won’t restart. Occasionally if I do the hard reboot, the home screen will flash and then it disappears quickly and it is back to apple. I don’t want to do the restore with iTunes because I don’t want to lose my files. I have tried the update through iTunes and was very hopeful, but still no luck. Please help.

    Reply
  38. Ieuan says

    August 11, 2015 at 12:59 AM

    Worked first time *****

    Reply
  39. jackie says

    September 19, 2015 at 1:19 PM

    Ok so im stuck on siri my home button in the middle is doing nothing my sleep button will not let me restart it just turns black thing is siri works fine i just cant press anything on my screen like its not responding to touch how can i fix this myself i have a windows xp

    Reply
  40. Denis says

    September 22, 2015 at 3:29 PM

    My i-pad isn’t working now. I was trying to update my i-pad to iOS9, it’s an i-pad 2. And after a successful download, it requested for and upgrade and the screen just goes blank. Its all white and frozen. Presently my i-pad isn’t working.

    Reply
  41. Bill says

    October 1, 2015 at 3:42 AM

    I reset my settings on ipad2 after iOS 9 because running very slow. Well it got to the logo and about 5% on the progress bar and just hangs there. I hooked it up to the computer and performed an update. Everything normal here but it goes back finishing the reset and shows logo with progress bar again and cannot get past 5%. I hope I don’t have to restore it since u have funeral pics in it not backed up. Any suggestions

    Reply
  42. Betty Brown says

    October 1, 2015 at 9:03 AM

    I was doing the IOS update and my ipad got frozen. After about 30 minutes, I tried turning it off and back on. Is now stuck on the iTunes icon screen with an icon of the power cord. Opened iTunes on my computer, plugged usb into computer, then held the home button and plugged into ipad. ITunes does not recognize my ipad. Tried using find my ipad on my iPhone, but it says the ipad is offline. I have tried numerous times using the home button and the power button at the same time. Always comes back to the iTunes icon screen. Any suggestions of anything else I can try?

    Reply
    • Mike says

      October 11, 2015 at 6:31 PM

      My iPad does the same thing. Did anyone help you on this?

      Reply
  43. Anoymus says

    October 2, 2015 at 11:17 PM

    thanks helped me alot

    Reply
  44. fun303 says

    October 4, 2015 at 7:40 AM

    OMG thank u so much!!!

    Reply
  45. Jenny says

    October 4, 2015 at 8:41 AM

    Thank you holding the two buttons together worked.

    Reply
  46. hailey says

    October 6, 2015 at 1:22 AM

    Thankyou for all your help it worked!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Reply
  47. nimra mir says

    October 8, 2015 at 7:04 PM

    Thank you. It worked.

    Reply
  48. Exportedfish55 says

    October 9, 2015 at 11:08 AM

    I was using my IPad around 12:00 P.M. I turned it off and went to eat some lunch when I came back and turned it on I couldn’t slide to unlock so i tried to turn it off by holding the sleep button and power it all the way off but it wouldn’t even respond to slide the power button off. I have owned this IPad for roughly around 2 years and it worked perfectly till now so if someone could please help me it would be very well appreciated.

    Reply
  49. Sam says

    October 13, 2015 at 4:41 AM

    My ipad air is dead. Tried all the suggestions re holding buttons etc. Nothing! Just a black screen.

    Reply
  50. Juby brilata says

    October 18, 2015 at 6:55 PM

    My ipad mini ‘s right side is freezing,no matter how many times i restored it,It didnt work,what should i do!!?? Pls oh pls

    Reply
  51. zah says

    November 22, 2015 at 7:59 AM

    None of the suggestion works for me. I hold both button, does not work. I connect to my laptop and turn on the itune, Nothing shows up about the ipad. I charge it for an hour. It does not work. Help me what to do.

    Reply
  52. emmanuel says

    December 5, 2015 at 10:22 AM

    Thanks it worked, by holding sleep/wake and home button at the same time….

    Reply
  53. Dilshan Fonseka says

    December 10, 2015 at 8:37 PM

    Thank you so much..
    It was worked for me….

    Reply
  54. Kendra Marshall says

    January 19, 2016 at 5:00 PM

    I was playing Minecraft and my iPad mini froze and I tried to power it off and it didn’t work it has been like this for 24 hours and when I finally am able to turn the screen on I can only slide up and down and I can’t use any apps at all I got it on Xmas in 2014

    Reply
  55. Ju says

    February 8, 2016 at 12:24 PM

    I pad 2 froze so pressed on/off and home buttons together. When to blank screen then shows iTunes logo and lead.

    Reply
  56. Kaity says

    February 14, 2016 at 9:29 AM

    This doesn’t help its frozen will not move at all

    Reply
  57. Che says

    March 3, 2016 at 1:12 AM

    Work for me thank u…

    Reply
  58. chandra banerji says

    April 2, 2016 at 12:48 AM

    my i pad is enabled ? i cant restart it. it wanted password after update.i gave them .it did not match.now it is totally stopped .please help?

    Reply
  59. Patricia says

    April 2, 2016 at 8:06 AM

    Apple iPad air frozen with an iTunes logo and arrow , happens when Up dating I don’t even use iTunes . Any help.please

    Reply
  60. Emily Sans says

    June 5, 2016 at 5:22 AM

    My iPod isn’t turning on , and the apple logo isn’t coming up . I tried holding down the home button and on/off button but it doesn’t work , please help

    Reply
  61. Leila Arbuthnot says

    June 29, 2016 at 4:52 PM

    I accidently hit the home button twice and now I have this weird voice that keeps repeating the date or some other phrases. I can’t access the main screen I have turned it off and back on and the ‘voice’ is still there and I can access anything. Please help!

    Reply
  62. Praveen says

    July 12, 2016 at 7:25 AM

    Thanks, Hold down the Home and Power buttons at the same time works fine.

    Reply
  63. mary says

    July 25, 2016 at 8:43 AM

    my I pad is frozen it says it is charging but its not. before it froze it wouldn’t let me go into apps or send messages and its not turning on or off. I got it Christmas 2016.

    Reply
  64. Bella says

    July 27, 2016 at 3:15 PM

    it worked! thanks alot. I tried resseting it by pressing the sleep/ wake and home button at the same time, but it took alot longe rthan usual. try pressing it down for about 30 seconds. Maybe this will help.

    Reply
  65. Ruchi says

    August 4, 2016 at 7:18 AM

    This morning suddenly our ipad stopped responding. We Tried to force restart , didn’t work.

    We were thinking to take our ipad to apple store . Or else thinking to wait till it totally shuts down.

    But while searching i found ur post. 2nd step worked for us. Thank you

    Reply

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