How to fix an iPhone 11 Pro Max that keeps restarting on its own

Apple devices are known to be sturdy — in both hardware and software aspects. Nonetheless, it isn’t a guarantee that these devices wouldn’t succumb to some random flaws. In fact, you have heard a lot of iPhone owners complaining about various types of problems even after a few days, weeks of months of usage. And one of the dreaded issues any iPhone owners could bump into is what’s tackled in this post. Read on to find out what to do if your iPhone 11 Pro Max suddenly keeps restarting on its own. 

Before moving on, feel free to browse through our troubleshooting pages to find potential solutions to other problems with your other Apple devices. If your iPhone is in the list of our supported devices, then you can visit its exclusive troubleshooting page and find the problem that you need help dealing with. You can refer to or use our provided solutions and workarounds if needed. In the case where you’d prefer to get direct assistance from us, simply fill up our iOS issues questionnaire and hit submit to contact us.

Troubleshooting an iPhone 11 Pro Max that keeps restarting on its own 

Random restarts usually emerged among other performance issues in iPhones. The occurrence of these symptoms are usually attributed to memory issues, data corruption, malwares, update bugs and worst, hardware damage. To rule out software-related triggers, you can try the following solutions to fix your iphone 11 Pro Max that keeps restarting on its own.

First solution: Manage internal memory.

Although insufficient storage space is not likely the underlying cause given that what you’ve got is a new device that has a lot of storage space, it wouldn’t hurt if you’d verify the current memory status. This is a must-do, especially if you already have downloaded and installed many apps on your phone. Here’s how to view the memory status of your iPhone 11 Pro Max:

1. From the Home screen, tap Settings.
2. Scroll to and tap General.
3. Select iPhone Storage.

View the given information to find out the available memory space of your iPhone as well as the memory consumption by individual applications. If necessary, you can free up some space by deleting unwanted contents.

Second solution: Manage your apps to fix your iPhone 11 Pro Max that keeps restarting on its own unexpectedly.

Random restarts can also be attributed to some rogue apps on your device. Usually, apps that are prone to becoming rogue are those that aren’t updated. If your iPhone doesn’t have any trouble connecting to the internet, then you can follow these steps to check for pending app updates and then install them on your device:

1. From the Home screen, tap on the App Store icon to open the application.
2. Tap on Today tab at the bottom. 
3. Then tap on the user profile icon (Apple ID header) on the top right corner of the screen. You should see the account details. 
4. Scroll down to the Available Updates section. 
5. Tap on Update next to the name of the app to install pending update for the app individually. 
6. If multiple app updates are available, tap on Update All to update all apps at once.

App updates also embed necessary patches to fix existing bugs and errors on third-party apps. You can set apps to auto-update or just update them manually.

If the onset of the random restart problem on your iPhone 11 Pro Max was after installing a new app, that app is more likely the trigger. To rule that out, you can try deleting the suspected application and see how your iPhone behaves without it. Here’s what you should do to problematic app(s) from your iPhone 11 Pro Max:

1. Go to the Home screen to get started.
2. Scroll to and find the icon of the app you’d like to delete/uninstall.
3. Tap and hold on the app icon for a few seconds. Keep holding the app icon when the pop-up menu appears and then release when the app icon starts to jiggle.
4. Tap Delete from the warning message. 
5. Finally, tap Done on the top-right corner of the screen once you’re done deleting the app.

If the problem is gone after deleting the suspected application, that denotes problem solved. Otherwise, try other options to troubleshoot further and eliminate other possible triggers.

Third solution: Check and install available iOS update for your iPhone.

Another important updates you shouldn’t miss implementing are those coming from Apple itself. Software updates released by Apple usually embed some dedicated fix patches to address widespread iOS problems and errors. All that’s needed to get started is a stable internet connection on your iPhone as well as sufficient battery life. Then you may proceed with these steps when ready:

1. Tap Settings from your Home screen.
2. Select General.
3. Tap Software Update.

You can also use iTunes to manually check for available iOS update and update your iPhone manually through a computer.

1. Connect your iPhone to the computer using the original USB or Lightning cable.
2. Open iTunes on the computer and wait for it to recognize and sync with your iPhone.
3. Select your iPhone 11 Pro Max when it appears on the computer.
4. Navigate to the Summary section and then click the button to Check for Update.
5. If an update is available, click the button to Download and Update your phone.
6. Enter your passcode, if prompted to continue. 
7. Then follow the rest of the onscreen prompts to finish installing the new update on your iPhone 11 Pro Max.

Don’t forget to reboot your iPhone after updating. This is necessary to ensure that all new system changes and bug fixes from the update are properly applied.

Fourth solution: Reset all settings on your iPhone.

Invalid system settings on the phone may also result in similar issues and trigger your device to misbehave. To clear this out, you can try carrying out a system settings reset. This reset will erase your current system configuration including personal preference or device customization along with some critical errors that trigger the phone to restart on its own. You don’t need to back up your iPhone data beforehand because this reset does not affect any saved information on the iPhone storage. Just follow these steps whenever you’re all set:

1. From the Home screen, tap on Settings.
2. Select General.
3. Scroll down and tap on Reset.
4. Tap Reset all settings from the given options.
5. Enter your passcode if prompted to continue.
6. Confirm action by tapping the option to reset all settings on your device.

Allow your phone to finish resetting and then restarts when done. As soon as it’s done rebooting, you can start re-enabling necessary features so that you can use them again on your iPhone.

Fifth solution: Use iTunes to wipe your iPhone data and restore its factory default settings.

A factory reset is usually needed to address recurring symptoms on an iPhone. This reset will erase everything from the iPhone system including stubborn bugs and complex system errors. That said, you may deem it among the last options if none of the prior methods is able to solve the problem and that your iPhone continues to restart on its own. Just be sure to back up all important files from your iPhone storage beforehand, if possible. 

If you wish to resort to this method, then I’d recommend you do it through iTunes. Should the random restart is inflicted by a bad battery or abnormal power drain, you can keep your device’s power up by connecting it to a computer. Just get your computer ready and proceed with these steps:

1. Open iTunes on your computer, if you haven’t already. Be sure to use the latest version of iTunes app to avoid bumping into some system conflicts.
2. Connect your iPhone to the computer with the USB cable or Lightning cable that came with it.
3. Wait for iTunes to recognize your device and when it does, you should see your iPhone’s icon in iTunes.
4. Click to select your iPhone 11 Pro Max when it appears in iTunes.
5. Then navigate to the Summary section.
6. Click on the Restore [iPhone] button.
7. If prompted, click on the Restore button again to confirm.

Follow the rest of the onscreen prompts to finish resetting and restoring factory default settings on your device.

Last resort: Restore your iPhone in iTunes (via recovery mode).

For iOS problems that could not be remedied by a factory reset, performing a recovery mode restore can be considered as the next potential solution to try on. This will put your device in a recovery state and then use iTunes to repair any critical system errors and restore system functions. This process will result in permanent data loss, thus creating backups of your iPhone data is recommended before you begin. Since you will use iTunes on a computer to carry out a recovery mode restore, you can use iTunes to back up your iPhone data too. Then you may begin the system restore through these steps:

1. Connect your iPhone to a computer using the original USB cable or Lightning cable that came with it.
2. Open iTunes on your Windows and/or earlier Mac computer or Finder on your Mac running macOS Catalina.
3. While your device is connected, quickly press and release the Volume Up key. 
4. Then quickly press and release the Volume Down key.
5. Next, press and hold the Side button until the Connect to iTunes or recovery mode screen appears. Do not release the button if you  see the Apple logo as you’ll need to boot your phone in recovery mode.

Follow the rest of the commands to restore and fresh install the firmware on your iPhone through iTunes.

The deepest type of system restore you can do on your iPhone is a DFU mode restore. DFU or Device Firmware Update mode restore is typically used to deal with major system flaws that could not be remedied by a factory reset or recovery mode restore. Like a recovery mode restore, DFU mode restore also requires the use of iTunes on a Windows PC or earlier Mac computer. 

Does your iPhone 11 Pro Max still keep restarting on its own unexpectedly?

Resorting to some third-party iOS recovery and restore system can also be deemed among the last options if none of the given procedures is able to fix your iPhone. 

Among the most trusted and widely used tools that serve this purpose are Tenorshare ReiBoot, Dr. Fone Repair, iMyFone iOS System Recovery, and FonePaw iOS System Recovery, to name some. These tools can be downloaded and installed for free or via one-time purchase (full versions). If you wish to try your luck in any of these alternative iOS repair tools, be sure to read previous users’ reviews to gauge the efficacy and reliability of the prospect tool to use.

For further suggestions and assistance, you can escalate the problem straight to Apple Support or contact your iPhone carrier. If you’re living in an area where an Apple-authorized service center is available, then setting up a service appointment can also be a better option.

Connect with us

We are committed to helping our readers fix the problems with their phones as well as learn how to properly use their devices. So, if you have other issues, you may visit our troubleshooting page so you can check by yourself the articles we’ve already published that contain solutions to common problems. Furthermore, we do create videos to demonstrate how things are done on your phone. Visit our Youtube Channel and please subscribe to it. Thanks.