Some iPhone 17 Devices Won't Turn on After Their Batteries Run Out

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I strongly suspect the most desired smartphone attribute is longer battery life. After all, these are mobile devices, which means they're meant to be used on the go. The longer you can wait between charges, the more mobile your phone can be. But no matter how large your battery is, at some point, it's going to run out. The issue is, what happens if it doesn't turn back on, even after you've left it on the charger?

Some iPhone 17s aren't powering back on

I didn't know about these claims until coming across Benjamin Mayo's post on 9to5Mac. In a report on Monday, Mayo explained his iPhone Air's battery died, so he plugged the device into power, expecting the Apple logo to appear as it usually does. However, according to Mayo, nothing happened, even after his iPhone stayed connected to power for minutes. It was as if the phone wasn't plugged in at all. Mayo even tried a hardware reset, which involves quickly pressing the volume up button, then quickly pressing the volume down button, then holding the side button. This usually snaps a buggy iPhone back into place, but still, no dice.

Mayo found that his story wasn't unique. In his article, he highlighted multiple forum threads of users complaining about iPhone 17 models that wouldn't power back on after their batteries had totally run out. What's particularly concerning is how many users comment on these posts sharing similar experiences. This thread has 144 comments at the time of writing, and most appear to be users confirming the issue happened to them, or to someone they knew. It's not necessarily proof of a widespread issue, but it does suggest that something is going on with the iPhone 17's battery.

For full transparency, I've been using an iPhone 17 Pro Max since late last year and this is the first I'm hearing of this. In the months I've owned this iPhone, I've never experienced any of the issues highlighted here. (I've been frustrated by a slow Face ID experience, but that's a problem for another day.) That being said, I'm not sure I've ever actually let my iPhone completely die in the time that I've had it—and I'm not necessarily jumping at the chance to drain it now.

How to turn your iPhone 17 back on after the battery dies

Luckily, this isn't an issue without a workaround—and a couple, at that. Mayo's was particularly interesting: He said he hadn't been able to get his iPhone to power back on until he switched from wired to wireless charging. By throwing his Air onto a MagSafe charger, he was able to get his phone back up and running as if there had never been an issue in the first place.

Some users in the forums linked above found success leaving their iPhones plugged in for extended periods of time. One said that 30 minutes was enough, while another claimed that it took two to three hours of uninterrupted connectivity before the iPhone turned back on. This iFixit user was able to force the iPhone into DFU mode, which involves the same button combination as a hardware reset, but requires you to plug your iPhone into a Mac or PC. Perhaps something about DFU mode triggers the iPhone to respond in a way that a simple hardware reset cannot.

We don't know much at this time, but I'm hoping this is a software bug, not a hardware issue. These forum posts do span a number of months, suggesting this isn't tied to a specific iOS version. But if an iOS bug carried over throughout each iOS 26 update is the culprit, Apple could solve the problem in its next update. If it's something that affects the iPhone 17 hardware directly, or the A19 chip embedded in each, that's obviously a larger problem. Based on the many different workarounds users have found, however, my guess is still software more than hardware.

iPhone 17 (256GB)

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