When your iPhone shows Searching, No signal, No service or other relevant error on its status bar, it’s telling you that it’s unable to establish network connection. For some reason, something is barring the phone from getting a signal from cellular network. As a result, network services are likewise currently unavailable. While this may not be a big deal for those who are not relying on cellular services on their iPhones, this is definitely a burden to those who are as basic cellular services such as calling and texting aren’t working. That said, it’s a problem that requires prompt solution. Highlighted below are effective solutions to a similar issue on the iPhone 6 device. Read on to learn what to do if your iPhone 6 has no signal and is showing Searching error.
Before troubleshooting, make sure that you are in a place that’s within your network coverage. If you’re way too far from your network tower, then your iPhone is certainly unreachable. In that case, consider moving to a different location within the network coverage. If distance isn’t an issue, then you have to rule out software-related factors from the underlying causes. Feel free to try any of these subsequent solutions.
If however, you are looking for a solution to a different problem, drop by our troubleshooting page for we have already addressed the most common issues with this phone. Find problems that are similar with yours and use the solutions we suggested. If they don’t work for you or if you need more help, then feel free to contact us through our iPhone issues questionnaire.
First solution: Reboot your iPhone (soft reset).
There are times when the phone would just lose signal as indicated by its signal bars that are decreasing or worst, disappearing. This usually happens when the phone’s signal is very weak like when you’re too far from the network tower. But such problem can also be triggered by some random glitches on the iPhone software. To clear this out, performing a soft reset or rebooting the iPhone is recommended. Here’s how to soft reset an iPhone 6:
- Press and hold the Top or Side button until the Power off slider appears.
- Drag the slider to power off the phone completely.
- After about 30 seconds, press and hold the Top or Side button again to turn the phone back on.
Wait for your iPhone to finish booting up and then allow it to re-establish network signal. If it still shows Searching on its signal status bar, then you’ve got to try other options.
Second solution: Toggle Airplane Mode on and off.
Problems affecting wireless and cellular services can also be remedied by the old trick known as the Airplane Mode tweak. Many people have found wonders from carrying out this trick whenever they suddenly lost connection to Wi-Fi or cellular data. Should you wish to give it a shot, then here’s how it’s done:
- Go to the Home screen then tap on Settings.
- Select Airplane Mode.
- Then tap the switch to turn Airplane Mode on. Doing so turns off wireless radios on the phone. Thus Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and cellular connections are automatically disabled.
- While Airplane mode is turned on, restart/soft reset your iPhone.
- As soon as the phone boots up, head back to Settings-> Airplane Mode menu.
- Then toggle the switch to turn Airplane mode off again.
After you disabled Airplane Mode, enable Wi-Fi or cellular data to reconnect to the Internet. As for the cellular network signal, just wait for your iPhone to re-establish connection to cellular network. For as long as you are using your phone within your network’s coverage area, your iPhone should be able to get a signal. But if it doesn’t and still shows the same Searching error, you need to troubleshoot further and rule out other factors.
Third solution: Update carrier settings on your iPhone (if possible).
One of the many ways of carriers or network service providers to address network-related issues in mobile devices is by pushing updates. And this is why carrier updates are rolled out for each and every iOS device. Carrier updates usually offer security patches and network system enhancements. That said, updating carrier settings on the phone is also recommended.
Some carrier updates are mandatory, which means they are automatically implemented on the receiving devices. Other carrier updates on the other hand are optional, so it would be up to the user to update carrier settings on their phone or not. But in this case, I’ll tell you to do the first. Here’s how to check for new carrier update on your iPhone 6:
- Go to the Home screen then tap on Settings.
- Select General.
- Tap About.
Navigate to the Carrier section then see if there’s a new update to install. If there is, then just follow the onscreen commands to implement the carrier update on your phone.
Also try to update your iPhone software to the latest version available. Some fix patches to bug-inflicted errors including those affecting cellular services can also be addressed by an iOS update. Thus, keeping your iPhone system up-to-date is recommended. Here’s how to check:
- Tap on Settings from the Home screen.
- Tap General.
- Tap Software Update.
An update notification will show up if a new iOS version is available. Before you update your iPhone, create a backup all your important data for safekeeping. Also ensure that your phone has stable Internet connection, ample of storage space and battery life.
Then follow the onscreen instructions to download and install the update when ready. After installing updates, restart your iPhone to refresh its memory and to save the recent system changes. See if that fixes your iPhone 6 searching error.
Fourth solution: Reset network settings on your iPhone.
For network-related errors that could not be rectified by the previous methods, performing a network reset is usually needed. This reset clears out your current network settings including saved Wi-Fi networks, Bluetooth connections, APN settings, and other relevant information on the phone. But it does not affect saved data on the internal memory so your files should stay intact after the reset. Here’s how it’s done:
- From the Home screen, tap on Settings.
- Select General.
- Scroll down to and then tap on Reset.
- Select the option to Reset network settings.
- Enter your device passcode when asked to proceed.
- Then tap the option to confirm that you want to reset network settings on your iPhone 6.
After the reset, your phone restarts automatically and then loads up the default network options and values. To use online services, you will need to set up and reconnect to your Wi-Fi network or enable cellular data to make use of cellular data services.
Fifth solution: Erase your iPhone and restore its factory defaults.
You may have to resort to performing full system resets if the No searching error remains after performing the above procedures. This is usually needed if the underlying cause of the problem is a complex system error. Most symptoms inflicted by complex system errors are cleared out after erasing the phone and restoring its factory defaults. Thus, this can be the key to fixing the persistent Searching error on your iPhone 6, too. Before you proceed, back up all important files from your phone to iCloud or iTunes so that you will still be able to recover and use them later. Once you’re backup is secured, proceed with these steps to factory reset your iPhone 6 through settings:
- Tap Settings from the Home screen.
- Select General.
- Scroll down to and then tap on Reset.
- Select the option to Erase all content and settings.
- Enter your passcode to proceed.
- Then tap the option to confirm that you want to erase and restore factory default settings on your iPhone.
Allow the phone to finish resetting and then reboots itself. After it restarts, you can proceed with the initial setup processing using the start-up wizard. Your iPhone system should be error-free by then unless hardware damage is present.
Sixth solution: Reinstall (remove then re-insert) the SIM card on your iPhone.
because it can’t establish signal from the network. If all the above procedures are already applied but nothing’s changed, your last option would be to reinstall the SIM on your phone. Doing so will ensure that the SIM card is properly seated. If the SIM card is loose or damaged, the phone won’t be able to read it and unable to detect any network. So here’s what you should do then:
- Turn off your iPhone completely.
- While your phone is turned off, insert the SIM card ejector tool into the tiny hole on the SIM card tray located on the side of your phone.
- Gently push the ejector tool until the tray pops out.
- Remove the tray from the phone.
- Then take the SIM card out from the tray. Check and ensure no signs of damage (liquid traces or scratches) to the tray or SIM card itself.
- If everything looks good, place the SIM back into the tray in the same orientation before you removed it.
- Secure the SIM card in place then push the SIM tray back into the phone.
After re-inserting the SIM card, turn on your phone and wait for it to acquire a signal from your network base/tower.
Does your iPhone 6 still show searching error?
If your iPhone 6 is still not getting signal and showing “Searching…” on its signal indicator even after exhausting all applicable solutions, then it’s more likely a hardware issue. Some of your iPhone’s network components might have obtained some physical or liquid damage from previous incidents of dropping or liquid exposure. It’s also possible that the problem is with the SIM card in use like when it’s already damaged. At this point, you’re going to need a technician’s aid to assess your device thoroughly. You can visit the nearest Apple-authorized service center in your place and ask an iPhone technician to examine your phone and fix whatever there is that needs to be resolved.
Alternatively, you can report the problem to your network service provider and verify whether or not the problem is on their end. Temporary outages and scheduled maintenance in network bases can also result to the same issue in which network services are affected. And this is when pertinent symptoms including no signal or searching error occurs. Should this be a problem on the network base, all you have to do is to wait until the network engineers are done fixing it. Once the problem is resolved, network services should be restored and so that “Searching” error will no longer show on your iPhone 6.
Meanwhile, if the Searching error occurred after updating your iPhone 6 and that it persisted after performing the necessary troubleshooting procedures, then you can escalate the problem straight to Apple Support for further assistance.
I hope that we’ve been able to help you fix the problem with your device. We would appreciate it if you helped us spread the word so please share this post if you found it helpful. Thank you so much for reading!