iPhone 14 Pro might ‘freeze’ while transferring data from old iPhones

Apple is reportedly investigating an iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max “freezing” problem where the handsets become unresponsive. The problem occurs when users transfer data from an old iPhone to the new model, a process that long-time iPhone users must be more than familiar with.

The problem supposedly appears when users transfer the data from iCloud backups or use the iPhone-to-iPhone Quick Start process.

iPhone 14 Pro freezing issue: The temporary fix

Apple is “aware of this issue happening and is investigating,” per MacRumors. Apparently, Apple issued a memo on the matter.

The memo explains that some iPhone 14 Pro or iPhone 14 Pro Max models have been freezing and becoming unresponsive. The issue occurs after an iCloud data restore or after using the Quick Start data transfer process that lets you move data wirelessly from your old iPhone.

Apple already has a fix in place, but it’s only temporary. The company tells users who experience the problem to force restart the iPhone if it’s frozen for more than five minutes. This support document will teach you how to force restart any iPhone model.

It’s unclear whether the freezing issue impacts the data transfer process. You’ll want to ensure that all your data is there once you’ve rebooted.

The issue differs from the iMessage and FaceTime activation issues iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max users discovered on launch day. There’s an update to fix that problem, the iOS 16.0.1 release that Apple made available last week.

A different solution

Apple will probably offer a permanent fix soon enough for the freezing issue. But if you’re just about to purchase your iPhone 14 Pro or Pro Max, there might be a different solution for the problem.

Before performing the data transfer, you can back up your old iPhone on a Mac or PC. It would help if you also went for a password-protected (encrypted) backup, which ensures that you move all your data to the iPhone 14 Pro or Pro Max. That includes logins for all your apps.

Then, hook up the new iPhone to the Mac or PC, and restore your new iPhone using your encrypted backup. This solution will prevent freezes.

We’re just speculating here, based on the Apple memo that MacRumors saw. It only mentions iPhone 14 Pro freezing via iCloud and Quick Start data transfers. Therefore, restoring from Mac/PC backups seems to be safe.

Also, the problem doesn’t seem to impact iPhone 14 Pro buyers moving to iOS from Android. Moreover, the regular iPhone 14 doesn’t seem to be affected.

More iPhone coverage: For more iPhone news, visit our iPhone 14 guide.