I’ve had a pretty solid experience with the iPhone 16 Pro so far, but it certainly didn’t start out that way. My phone froze during the initial setup and I had to start over, fearing the possibility of data loss or a startup nightmare.
Over the next few weeks, I had recurring problems with the screen not responding, and I had to press the lock button and follow the unlock protocol to start again. Even though I switched to the stable iOS 18 channel from the beta, I still suffered from these stutters in a variety of places, from the camera app to the email app. Apparently I wasn’t the only one.
Digital Trends searched dozens of pages in the Apple community’s official discussion forums and tons of posts on Reddit. What we found was a recurring pattern of two big issues, especially in the camera app: overheating (apparently related to battery drain) and random freezes.
Restarts, delays, and app glitches
For some users, the core issue is unpredictable restarts, which can cause sudden headaches. In some cases, the phone may restart without any warning while charging, while others report that it only happens while using the phone. “While using it, it suddenly went black,” one user wrote on the Apple Discussions forum.
The random reboots don’t seem to have anything to do with running half-baked public or developer beta software. On the contrary, those running the stable version of iOS 18 are encountering problems. In particular, in an overwhelming number of cases, random restarts occur multiple times every day.
Another recurring theme is the general lag and buggy animations throughout the UI, which aren’t resolved by regular system restarts. However, as this report suggests, hardware shortcuts power + volume button In some cases the restart protocol also fails.
“It seems like I’m waking up every night, if not multiple times a day, and the notifications I receive don’t get pushed until I unlock my phone,” wrote another user in Apple Discussions. the complaint states. page. The issue of a completely black screen is frequently reported by users.
Is the camera app the real culprit?
But the more serious issue seems to be with the camera app. Multiple users have shared videos reproducing the strange behavior of the camera app freezing while dialing up the zoom level or simply looking for focus lock. For a few people, the app crashes even during the basic task of clicking on an image without applying any special tools.
“When you try to take a photo with your iPhone 16 Pro Max, you’ll notice that it won’t take a photo and the camera app will crash,” says one user complaint on the Apple forums. And the fancy new audio mixing features also seem to be causing problems for early adopters.
For some users, the problem isn’t limited to the camera app. In some cases, the in-app camera UI of other apps, such as Messages, will also stutter on your iPhone 16 Pro and trigger a screen lock. The issue also appears to extend to the Photos app and built-in editor system.
“[The] “The iPhone 16 pro’s camera app sometimes crashes when opened through the Photos app or other apps that are integrated with the camera,” says another report on the Apple Discussions forum.
I’m having some pretty annoying issues with the camera app, especially when editing Live Photos. The Photos app appears to automatically close in the middle of editing, discarding any progress the user has made. For some users, capturing 4K video is the culprit, while others are reporting that ultrawide video is causing their iPhone 16 Pro to behave strangely.
“So, I’m on my second iPhone 16 Pro in less than 5 days and I’m still having the same problem: I can’t edit Live Photos when I change the key photo,” another wrote. the bewildered owner wrote. In particular, a forced reset doesn’t seem to offer any reprieve.
Several other reports have mentioned that the camera app frequently crashes when trying to click photos at high magnification levels of around 5x or higher. A small number of iPhone 16 Pro owners underwent diagnostic testing through Apple Support, but analysis did not yield a resolution.
The problem doesn’t seem to be limited to just the camera app. Even Siri, Settings, and other native apps are causing problems for some users. Third-party apps like Amazon are also working for iPhone 16 Pro users.
“It’s been crashing constantly. The Settings app and the Calendar app are the worst culprits. The calendar just freezes and you can’t drill down to the day. The Settings app goes black and just crashes. The phone just freezes and you can’t drill down to the day. The whole thing restarts over and over again,” says another report on the official Apple forums.
There are also reports of lag caused by the built-in keyboard, which I can personally attest to. I’ve noticed several times that the keyboard simply refuses to type a word, even though the keycaps are recording my touch strokes.
“I type a lot of notes and documents on my phone, and this is definitely a glitch that’s slowing me down,” writes a user who encountered keyboard issues on Apple’s new flagship phone. It is claimed.
It is currently unclear whether this issue is due to an incomplete update or an app-related bug. Apple has yet to acknowledge the aforementioned iPhone 16 Pro issue or release a fix. We will update you as soon as the company provides a solution through a software update or releases advisory instructions.
