How to fix an iPhone 8 Plus that is stuck on black screen of death, won’t turn on (easy steps)

All of a sudden, your iPhone 8 Plus powers down and never turns on again as if it’s stuck on black screen of death. There are three possible reasons as to why this happens. First possibility is that your iPhone battery might have been completely drained and therefore needs a recharge. Second is a more complex system error affecting the iPhone’s power system, causing it to crash and get stuck on black screen. Third and the worst among the possible causes is hardware damage. Either your battery is busted thus your device won’t charge or your iPhone itself has acquired some sort of physical or liquid damage from either accidental drops or liquid exposure.

If your iPhone 8 Plus started to get stuck on black screen after you dropped it or got it wet, then it is most likely a hardware damage that you’re dealing with. This denotes your iPhone needs service. But if it just occurred suddenly without any prior instances of dropping or exposure to liquid on your device, then the problem is attributed to a major software issue. Should it be triggered by a faulty software, you can try fixing it on your end with the following workarounds.

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Drop by our iPhone 8 Plus troubleshooting page if you have other issues with your phone as we’ve already addressed the most common problems. If you need more help, fill up our iPhone issues questionnaire and hit submit to contact us.

First solution: Force restart.

A force restart means performing a soft reset with the hardware keys. It’s a recommended alternative solution to a soft reset when dealing with stuck issues in mobile devices. It is a simulated battery removal for unresponsive devices win non-removable internal batteries like your iPhone 8 Plus. And here’s how it’s done:

  1. Press and quickly release the Volume Up button.
  2. Press and quickly release the Volume Down button.
  3. Press and hold the Side/Power button until the Apple logo appears.

A force restart won’t affect any data stored on your phone’s internal storage so you don’t have to worry about data loss.

Second solution: Force your iPhone to restart while charging.

To make sure that your iPhone doesn’t run out of power so won’t turn on, plug it into a wall outlet and let it charge for a few minutes. If your iPhone charges or you see a charging indicator when it’s plugged into the charger, try to do a force restart while your phone is charging. This will help clears up any error that might have caused your phone to abruptly run out of power. Just refer to the above steps on how to force your iPhone 8 Plus to restart but this time do it while your phone is connected to the charger. Be sure to use the original charger to charge your device and if possible from a wall outlet.

Third solution: Use iTunes on a computer.

If the first two workarounds failed to fix the problem and that your iPhone is still stuck on black screen, try to connect it to a computer and use iTunes to access your phone system. You may opt to carry out a standard restore, recovery mode restore or DFU mode restore in iTunes for that matter. In order to get started, you would need to secure a computer, either Mac or Windows PC with the latest version of OS and iTunes software installed. Once you have that ready, connect your iPhone to your computer using the supplied USB cable then follow these steps to carry out a standard iOS restore or iOS reset in iTunes:

  1. With your iPhone connected, open iTunes on your computer.
  2. Wait until iTunes recognizes your iPhone.
  3. If it’s recognized in iTunes, backup your data to iTunes on your computer or to iCloud.
  4. Click the option to Restore your iPhone to factory defaults or from a previous iOS backup file.
  5. Follow the rest of the onscreen instructions to complete the iOS backup and restore process.

If that doesn’t work, try performing a recovery mode restore in iTunes as demonstrated by the following procedure.

Recovery mode restore on iPhone 8 Plus

With your iPhone connected to your computer, force restart it with these steps:

  1. Press and quickly release the Volume Up button.
  2. Press and quickly release the Volume Down button.
  3. Press and hold the Side/Power button when you see the Connect to iTunes screen. Do not release the buttons when you see the Apple logo since you’ll need to enter recovery mode.
  4. On the next screen, you should see the option to Restore or Update.
  5. Select Update first to update iOS. Otherwise, select the option to Restore.

Wait for iTunes to attempt to reinstall iOS without erasing your data. iTunes then downloads the software for your device. If the download takes more than 15 minutes, your iPhone exits the Connect to iTunes screen. If this happens, allow the download to finish then go back to the previous steps to enter recovery mode again.

DFU mode restore on iPhone 8 Plus

Your very last resort of all else failed to get your iPhone 8 Plus back to life is a DFU mode restore. It’s regarded as the deepest type of system restore you can do on your iPhone. When you put your device in DFU mode, it is able to communicate with iTunes on a computer without activating the bootloader or operating system. Here’s how to activate this mode on your iPhone 8 Plus:

  1. Close any running programs on your computer.
  2. Connect your iPhone to your computer using the Apple-supplied USB connector or Lightning cable.
  3. While your phone is connected, press and hold the Side/Power button for about 3 seconds.
  4. Keep pressing on the Side/Power button then press and hold the Volume Down button for about 10 seconds. If the Apple logo appears, it means you’ve held the buttons too long and that you’ll have to start all over again.
  5. If you see no logo, release the Side/Power button but keep holding the Volume Down button for another 5 seconds.
  6. If the screen stays black afterwards, it means that you have successfully entered DFU mode. At this point, you will be prompted with an alert message on your computer saying that iTunes has detected your iPhone. If you see that message, follow the onscreen prompts to complete the DFU mode recovery process.
  7. If you see the Plug into iTunes screen, it means you haven’t entered DFU mode and that you will need to start all over again.

Note that entering DFU mode requires timing so if you failed on your first attempt, don’t hesitate to try again from the start until you get there.

What to do if iTunes still doesn’t recognize your iPhone 8 Plus even when it’s connected?

If iTunes doesn’t recognize or failed to detect your iPhone, check and ensure your connections are secured. You can try removing and re-inserting both ends of the USB cable or Lightning connector or switch between different USB ports on your computer. If that still failed, then your iPhone needs service.

Repair options

Your iPhone 8 Plus requires service if none of the previous methods is able to fix the problem or your iPhone remains stuck on black screen. Having said that, you will need to take your device to a Genius bar and have it checked and/or repaired by an Apple technician. Don’t forget to avail for service warranty if your device is still under warranty.

Connect with us

If you need more help with the use of certain functions and features of the new Apple iPhone 8 smartphone, feel free to visit our Tutorial Page. There you can find a list of how-to contents, step-by-step tutorials, as well as answers to FAQs regarding iPhone 8. If you have other concerns or encountered some troubles while using the phone, you can reach us through this form. Just be sure to tell us more details of the problem or device issue(s) you may have and we will be more than happy to assist you further.

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