Most Common iPad Problems and How to Fix Them

Your iPad may be the finest device you’ve ever used, a masterpiece of fine engineering, but that doesn’t mean it won’t have its share of problems. The good news is that many of these problems have very simple fixes, sometimes as simple as doing a basic restart. 

Just make sure you keep the hardware of your device well protected with an iPad Pro case, an iPad mini 6 case or whatever case is most appropriate for you! A shattered screen is not an easy DIY fix. A sluggish iPad, one that won’t turn on or a device that continually freezes can often be remedied at home, however.  Here’s a rundown of the most common iPad problems and how to fix them.

1. iPad Won’t Turn On

You’ve got to the point where you rely on your iPad for many of your daily tasks— and then, one morning, when you go to turn it on, it just won’t. You try to think of what could have happened—- is the battery completely drained, or did something happen last night after you went to bed?

• Your first try should be a quick reset— push both the  power and volume up buttons, and hold them down together till you see the Apple logo. The iPad should now start up with no issues.

• If the Apple logo never comes on, try plugging your device in. If there’s no response, try another charging cord: cords have a much shorter lifespan than do tablets. Leave it plugged in for a good half hour, then try starting again.

• If neither of these solutions work, do an iTunes restore. You may want to backup your data first if you haven’t done so recently. 

2. iPad is Running Slow

Your iPad brand new out of the box was a speedy little device, but over time it may have slowed down. How do you get it back to its former glory? Here are a few solutions:

• Restart your iPad. This clears out the cache and allows your iPad to stop any background processes that may be using Ram and  slowing your device down. 

• Close apps that are running in the background. These apps aren’t supposed to be using up processing power for background tasks, but sometimes they do. 

• Check your storage. Your iPad needs a certain amount of free space in order to work optimally. If you’ve got less than 2 gigabytes of free space, you’ll want to delete whatever unnecessary files you might have stored on your device. 

3. iPad Won’t Connect to Wifi

Your wifi is what connects you to the world, and it usually works so smoothy you almost forget it exists— until it doesn’t. Sometimes the problem may be with your iPad, sometimes it may be with your internet services provider.

• Turn Wifi off, then turn it on again. This may be all you need to get happily connected again.

• If that didn’t work, tell your iPad to ‘forget’ the network, then connect again. 

• Still not connected? Turn your device completely off, then start it up again.

If your iPad still can’t connect to wifi after a restart, it’s time to troubleshoot your wifi by checking if the connection works on another device. If it doesn’t, you may need to contact your internet service provider.  But if it does, try an update of the iPadOS— sometimes a old operating system causes problems with internet connectivity. 

Related Reading: How Long Will it be Till My iPad is Obsolete?

4. Your iPad Screen Freezes

 You’re right in the middle of something intense— and then, suddenly, your iPad screen freezes.  A frozen screen usually signifies a problem with an app, not the iPad itself, but you may need to address it on a iPad level.

• For a one time incident, turn your iPad off and then on again by holding down the power button. This forced restart will clear the freeze, but it might not keep the problem from happening again.

• If a certain app keeps freezing, consider deleting it from your iPad and reinstalling from the iTunes Store.

• If you can’t figure out which app is the culprit, make a backup of the data on your iPad and do a full restore and reset through iTunes. 

5. iPad Not Charging

That sliver of battery power is all that keeps your responsive, vibrant iPad from being a lifeless brick, and not being able to charge it up can be a fast track to frustration. 

• Most charging problems stem from the charge cord, so start by trying out a different cord. If that works, you know you can throw out the old one,

• If a new cord doesn’t solve the problem, try a different power adaptor (make sure it’s at least 12 watts!) or plug your iPad into your computer. 

• Still not working? Get a clean new toothbrush and clean out your iPad’s charge port. A piece of lint can easily hamper charging. If you’ve got caked in dirt in there, a toothpick may work— but dig gently so you don’t damage any important connections.

Is your problem not on this list? No matter what the issue may be, there’s one thing you’ll want to try before bringing it in to a service person: turn it off and turn it on. 

Simple though it may seem, this simple action is enough to clear away a lion’s share of iPad problems and get your device working optimally again. If that doesn’t work, do a hard restart and check again. To do this, press volume up, volume down, and then press and hold the power button.

There will always be moments when your iPad doesn’t quite work as you might wish, but with this knowledge under your belt you can be your own hero and fix all of your iPad’s most common problems.