Troubleshooting iOS 10: The Ultimate Guide

iMessage Lasers
iMessage Lasers (Image credit: Rene Ritchie)

iOS 10 is now available on supported iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices. As with all new major operating system updates, there are issues with iOS 10. If you don't see your issue on this list, please let us know and we'll do what we can to figure out how to troubleshoot it.

I was trying to download iOS 10 and it "bricked" my iPhone! Help!

Technically, your iPhone or iPad isn't bricked. As long as it can eventually be recovered in some way, it's just temporarily out of commission. But, when you can't figure out how to get it working again, it sure does feel like a brick. A $749 brick. Ouch.

Lucky for you, I went through that exact problem when I tried installing iOS 10 on my iPad. After a few tries, I got it working again. I didn't even have to restore it to the Factory settings.

I hate iOS 10. I want iOS 9 back!

There is always going to be a few people that just can't live with the changes in a major software update. Whether Apple removed a feature that you loved or you just don't like the new bigger, bolder design, you can always return to an archived backup that you've saved (you did save an archived backup, didn't you?).

I just hate having to press the Home button to unlock my iPhone

I don't know about you, but I got used to not having to press down on the Home button to open my iPhone in iOS 9. Sure, Touch ID worked so fast that I would sometimes miss notifications, but I didn't have to press the Home button to unlock my iPhone like an animal. In iOS 10, Apple added an extra step to get into your iPhone. Why??!! If you want that zippy unlock back, you can have your way.

OMG! The battery drain in iOS 10 is killing my iPhone!

Did you notice by the end of the day that your iPhone's battery was sucked dry? Believe it, or not, that is not unusual when you install a major update to iOS. It has to do with your iPhone needing to index all of the new goodies. Typically, the battery drain issue will go away after a few days. Typically.

Why can't my friend see my slam animation on his iPhone?

The first thing I tried after updating to iOS 10 was sending an animated messages to my friend. I "Slammed" a greeting. The effect was lost on him, though. He hadn't updated to iOS 10 yet.

Things look a little different for those still on an older version of iOS or OS X. They will get a weird notification when you use something that they can't see yet, like "sent with Slam Effect."

I'm on iOS 10 but I can't see the Bubble effects?

Did your buddy send you a Bubble effect, but it doesn't look like anything on your iPhone? That might be because you have Reduce Motion enabled. The accessibility feature uses the same physics engine that Bubble effects in Messages does.

What else?

Are you dealing with iOS 10 woes? Rest your head on our shoulders and let us find a fix for you. Tell us your problems in the comments section.

Lory Gil

Lory is a renaissance woman, writing news, reviews, and how-to guides for iMore. She also fancies herself a bit of a rock star in her town and spends too much time reading comic books.  If she's not typing away at her keyboard, you can probably find her at Disneyland or watching Star Wars (or both).