iPhone 8 screen is not working, stays black even if the phone powers on, other issues

Hello Apple fans! Welcome to today’s #iPhone8 troubleshooting article. In this post, we cover three issues that some users reported last week. We hope that you’ll find our solutions helpful.

Before we proceed let us remind you that you can contact us by using the link provided at the bottom of this page. When describing your issue, please be as detailed as possible so we can easily pinpoint a relevant solution. If you can, kindly include the exact error messages you are getting to give us an idea where to start. If you have already tried some troubleshooting steps before emailing us, make sure to mention them so we can skip them in our answers.

Problem 1: iPhone 8 screen is not working, stays black even if the phone powers on

Hi. My new iPhone 8 won’t turn on when i woke up this morning to charge it. I bought it around a month ago on 20 December 2017. The phone had at least 20% battery before i sleep yesterday. The sound and vibration works but the screen is black. There are no noticeable cracks/scratches on the front, side and back of my iPhone. I am sure that no one dropped my phone when i was sleeping. The sound, power and control buttons are working but nothing is shown on my screen. I tried charging my phone using a different cable, outlet and on my laptop but my phone still doesn’t respond. Restarting and using the sound buttons to reboot the phone doesn’t work. Do i have to send my phone for repair? What is wrong with my phone? Is it a hardware problem due to my phone being defective? I have only dropped my phone once to my carpet and it survived the drop. I know that my phone is under the Apple Warranty until December 2018. — Sandy

Solution: Hi Sandy. Your phone has a black screen issue. This means that it’s not totally dead but the screen probably is. If you are positive that the device has not suffered any physical damage nor was it exposed to water, there’s a chance you may be able to fix the problem by doing basic troubleshooting.

Do a hard reset

The first troubleshooting step that you need to do is to see if hard reset will clear a possible software bug. If you haven’t tried it yet, here’s how it’s done:

Press the Home and Power/Sleep buttons together.
Wait until the Apple logo appears on the screen.
Once the Apple logo appears, release the buttons to allow the phone to restart.

Perform a factory reset thru iTunes

The next logical troubleshooting step that you can try is by using iTunes to wipe the phone clean via factory reset. This is the most that you can do in this case. Here’s how to do it:

In your computer, make sure that iTunes is up-to-date.
Connect your iPhone to the computer with the lighting cable that came with your device.
If a message asks for your device passcode or to Trust This Computer, follow the onscreen steps.
Select your iPhone when it appears in iTunes.
Once iTunes detects your phone, go to the Summary tab and click on and click on Restore iPhone … button.
Click Restore to confirm the action.
Wait for your iPhone to restore the phone and restarts itself. Your phone should be good as new. If the problem is caused by an unknown software glitch, the screen should be working again normally by now.

Contact Apple for support

Should the phone’s screen stays black after performing the two procedures above, you can assume the screen has malfunctioned. We suggest that you use the warranty of the device to have it fixed for free. If Apple service center can’t repair it in a day, they may mail your working phone after a few days.

Problem 2: iPhone 8 Mail app bug, not showing correct number of email messages

I just purchased an iPhone 8 Plus, an upgrade from my 6S. I backed up my 6S on my computer and restored the 8 plus from that backup. My email is giving me trouble. On my 6S, the following number of emails show up in the following mail boxes: VIP 13, Unread 171, Flagged 110, Attachments 24,Â on the 8 plus there are: VIP 13, Unread 171, flagged 22 and attachments 18.Â If i scroll down in the specific boxes on the iphone it updates and brings the number of emails in each box up to the correct amount but if I exit mail and go back in, the number decreases again.Â Is there a fix for this?Â Any help would be greatly appreciated. — Tanya

Solution: Hi Tanya. Looks like you got a bug in your email application. If you’re using the stock (Apple) Mail app, below are the things that you can try:

Solution #1: Quit and relaunch the Mail app

Closing and reopening an app is a proven tactic in fixing minor app bugs so be sure to do it in this case as well. Sometimes, stopping an app and letting it run for a few seconds afterwards clear up some bugs or features up. If you haven’t tried it, here’s how:

Access the Fast App Switcher by double-clicking on the Home button.
Look for the Mail app preview.
Once you find the app, swipe it up off the top of the edge of the screen. Once the app disappears, restart your iPhone.

Solution #2: Install app and iOS updates

Some bugs are fixed by simply installing updates so if you haven’t yet, make sure that you do. And no, we don’t mean updates for the Mail app only here. You need to install any avaialble update for all apps and for the operating system as well.

To check if there’s any available update for your apps, follow these steps:

Open the App Store app.
Tap Updates at the bottom.
If there’s an available update for apps, you should see a list of apps that have pending updates. Tap Update to install the new version of the app.

Sometimes, it can get annoying to regularly check App Store to update apps. If you want to let your device install updates on its own, you can do so by doing these steps:

Tap Settings app.
Tap iTunes & App Store.
Look for the Automatic Downloads section.
Move the Updates slider to ON position (green).
If you don’t want your device to install updates via cellular network, you can do so by moving the Use Cellular Data slider to Off (white).

Another way to update your apps, especially if you tend to spend a lot of your time in your computer, is via iTunes. Instead of waiting for your phone to install updates when you’re away from your computer, why not use your computer time to install app updates in your iPhone 8 as well? If you haven’t tried it yet, here’s what you need to do:

In your computer, open iTunes app.
Click the apps icon in the top left corner. You can also go via View > Apps.
Click Updates to open the list of apps with available updates. If you want, you can click on the app to get details about the update for it.
Click Update to start installing updates for an app.
If you want to install updates for all apps, click on Update All Apps button in the bottom right corner.

Solution #3: Install iOS update

Just as outdated apps can cause issues, older OS version can as well. Make sure that your iPhone 8 runs the latest iOS version at this time to see if it will make a difference. By default, your iPhone 8 is supposed to install iOS updates automatically. To check if there’s any available update for your device, follow the steps below:

Create a backup of your important files via iCloud or iTunes. This should be a routing step for you before you install any iOS update. Doing so will save you from a heartache in the event that something goes wrong with the update.
Unless you have an unlimited data plan, make sure that you are connected to wifi. iOS updates can take several hundreds of MBs so it surely will hurt your monthly data allowance bad. Also, make sure that your iPhone is connected to a charger, or has plenty of charge left as it can take a long time to download the instllation package.
Open Settings app.
Scroll down to General and tap on it.
Tap on the Software update menu so your iPhone will check for any available iOS update.
Tap Install or Download and Install.
If prompted whether you want to download over wifi, tap OK.
Tap Agree to agree to the Terms.
Wait for your iPhone to download the update.
Hit Install to start installing the downloaded updates.

Solution #4: Contact Apple

Mail app is developed by Apple so if the solutions above won’t help at all, make sure to let them know of the bug you’re experiencing.

Problem 3: iPhone 8 showing iTunes error 4013 when trying to update

Phone has the white screen and flashes black as well. When I hold the power button and volume down button it goes to restore mode and has the plug in to iTunes screen. Tried to update and then later restore the phone and it won’t do it. Hey the error 4013 message. I also know that the phone is out of memory. Which is probably why it won’t update but it should at least restore the phone. Would like to do a factory reset on it. — Dave

Solution: Hi Dave. Ideally, you should leave at least 1GB of available storage space to allow the operating system to create cache and perform other tasks without encountering storage-related errors. If your iPhone is severely out of storage space at this time, we recommend that you delete non-system critical data from it first. That means deleting photos and videos first. Unnecessary apps can go to. Once you have the at least 1GB of free storage space, you can then try the possible solutions detailed in this Apple link.

Engage with us

If you happen to have a problem with your own iPhone, let us know about it and we will do our best to post them and their solutions in our upcoming articles. You can use this link to contact us for assistance. We can’t guarantee an answer to every question but rest assured that we will exhaust everything on our end to help you.

Be as detailed as possible when describing your problem to help us diagnose your issue easily. If you can include error messages, popups, attempted troubleshooting steps, and circumstances leading to the problem, that would be very helpful.