Many Siri interactions and requests submit anonymized audio recordings to Apple servers in order to process, review, and to ascertain for accuracy and quality. For example, if you ask Siri on iPhone for the weather, that request may be recorded as audio and processed on Apple servers. While this data is anonymized from an Apple ID, it is apparently associated with a specific iPhone or iPad.
Some users may wish to delete any stored Siri audio history and dictation history that is associated with their devices, whether for personal, professional, or privacy reasons, and that’s what this article will show you how to do.
How to Delete Siri Audio History from Apple Servers for iPhone & iPad
Because this feature is device specific, you may want to repeat the same removal process with other iPhone and iPad hardware that you have used Siri with. Here’s how the Siri data removal process works :
Open the “Settings” app on iPhone or iPad
Go to “Siri & Search”
Choose “Siri & Dictation History”
Choose “Delete Siri & Dictation History”
Confirm that you want to remove all Siri and Dictation data associated with that device from Apple servers by choosing “Delete Siri & Dictation History”
You’ll then get an alert stating that the request was received and that your Siri and Dictation history data will be removed from Apple servers.
Note that deleting Siri Audio History has absolutely no impact on the ability of Siri commands and tricks to work, it only removes any recordings that are made from Siri and that particular device.
Remember you can also disable Siri completely on iPhone and iPad, and turn it off on Mac too, if you find yourself either never using the feature, or for any other reason.
The ability to delete Siri audio recordings is available in iOS 13.2 or later and iPadOS 13.2 or later, earlier versions of system software do not contain this ability.
This data removal and privacy feature may be in response to a Guardian story, which claimed:
“Apple contractors regularly hear confidential medical information, drug deals, and recordings of couples having sex, as part of their job providing quality control, or “grading”, the company’s Siri voice assistant, the Guardian has learned.”
In response to that Guardian article, Apple told the Guardian:
“A small portion of Siri requests are analysed to improve Siri and dictation. User requests are not associated with the user’s Apple ID. Siri responses are analysed in secure facilities and all reviewers are under the obligation to adhere to Apple’s strict confidentiality requirements.”
Since Apple promotes data privacy as a feature, the company introducing a new feature to allow users to delete any of these Siri audio recordings from Apple servers makes sense as it gives users more control over their personal data.
Another separate and new feature in the latest iOS and iPadOS versions allows you to opt out of Siri audio recordings storage and review in general. That setting can be accessed through Settings > Privacy > Analytics & Improvements > turn off “Improve Siri & Dictation”
Now that iPadOS 13 (well, 13.1.2) is in the wild, you might be wondering what some of the most compelling features are for the latest and greatest operating system for iPad.
Whether you have an iPad, iPad Pro, iPad Air, or iPad mini, read on to learn some of the new must-know features and tips to try out in iPadOS 13.
1: Try Dark Mode
Dark Mode changes the entire interface of iPadOS to be much darker (unsurprisingly as the name implies) which can make the visual appearance easier on the eyes for some users, and others may just prefer the way it looks in general.
You can change from Dark Mode (and Light Mode) appearance themes at anytime by going to:
Go to Settings > Display & Brightness > Choose “Dark”
Some people may want to use Dark Mode all the time, but otherwise Dark Mode works particularly well when set on a schedule to turn on and off automatically from sunset to sunrise.
2: Get Home Screen Widgets with Today View
The Today section can now be pinned to the iPad Home Screen, letting you get a quick glance on the Home Screen for things like weather, Reminders, upcoming appointments in Calendar, stocks, Shortcuts, and so much more. If it’s a widget available in the Today section, you can now have it always visible on your Home Screen with the latest iPadOS.
Go to Settings > Display & Brightness > Set “Keep Today View on Home Screen” to the ON position
3: Change Home Screen Icon Size
You can now change the size of app icons on the iPadOS Home Screen. Currently there are only two options available; smaller / “More” and “Bigger” / fewer, but if you’ve ever felt like the iPad home screen icons were too small or too big, now you can adjust them.
Go to Settings > Display & Brightness > under Home Screen Layout choose “More” or “Bigger”
4: Use a Mouse with iPad
One of the best features of iPadOS for many power users is the ability to connect a mouse to iPad. This works best with a Bluetooth mouse, though if you have a USB cable and appropriate adapter you can use a USB mouse with iPad now too.
But first you have to enable this feature (be sure the mouse you want to use is in Bluetooth discover mode):
Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch > AssistiveTouch > Devices > tap on the Mouse to add it to the iPad
5: Learn How to Update Apps
Many users who have updated to the latest iPadOS and iOS releases are wondering how to update apps, or if the ability is no longer available. Updating apps in iPadOS 13 is still done through the App Store, but now it’s tucked into a different section of the app.
Go to App Store > tap your profile icon in the upper corner > scroll down to find available app updates
6: Connect to File Shares & Servers in Files App (Mac, Linux, Windows PCs!)
You can now connect to remote file servers on the same network and browse network shares directly through the Files app. Any SMB share can be connected to:
Files app > tap the triple dots button > choose “Connect to Server” and enter the destination IP and login credentials
7: Access External Storage in Files App
Got a USB storage device, SD card, a USB flash drive or external disk, or some other storage medium you want to access directly from Files app on iPad?
Now you can, just connect it to iPad and it’ll show up in the Files app.
Note you may need a separate Lightning to USB cable to USB-C to USB adapter, depending on what your storage device is.
8: Try the New Image & Video Editing Tools in Photos App
Photos app has revised powerful capabilities for making quick adjustments and edits to images and videos.
Go to Photos app > choose a video or photo > tap “Edit” > make the adjustments as needed to things like Brilliance, Saturation, Brightness, Contrast, Sharpness, Tint, and much more.
9: Take Full Webpage Screenshots
Now you can easily take full screenshots of an entire webpage right from Safari. Here’s how it works:
Go to Safari > open a website (like Sydneycbd.repair ) > take a screenshot as usual > tap “Full Page” at the top of the preview screen
10: Download Files from Safari to iPad iCloud Drive
Now you can easily download files directly from Safari to the iPad and iCloud Drive.
Tap and hold on any linked item you want to download, then choose “Download” and confirm that you want to download the file.
Or, if the file is something like a PDF document that is already open, tap the Share icon (box with an arrow flying out of the top of it), then locate and choose “Save to Files” in the list.
You can find the file(s) you download from Safari on the iPad by opening the Files app, going to “iCloud Drive” and then looking in the “Downloads” folder.
If you launched Mail app on iPhone or iPad after updating to iOS 13 or iPadOS 13 and now discovered new emails are showing up as “No Sender” and with “No Subject”, then you’re certainly not alone. This appears to be a known bug impacting a fair number of iPhone and iPad users after updating their devices to the various new iOS 13 and iPadOS 13 software releases, including iOS 13, iOS 13.1, iOS 13.1.1, iPadOS 13.1, and iPadOS 13.1.1.
If you’re impacted by the annoying Mail app “No Sender” and “No Subject” email bugs, then read on to learn how you may be able to troubleshoot and resolve the issue.
Troubleshooting “No Sender” & “No Subject” Mail Bugs in iOS 13 & iPadOS 13
The following steps may resolve the Mail bug where new email messages show up as having “No Sender” and the emails also show “No Subject”.
1: Force quit Mail app
First you’ll want to force quit Mail app.
How you do this depends on the iPhone or iPad model and whether or not it has a Home button.
To force quit Mail app on iPhone & iPad models with Face ID and without home buttons, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and hold the swipe until the App Switcher shows up. Navigate to the Mail app and then swipe up on Mail app to push it off the top of the screen to force quit Mail app.
To force quit Mail app on iPhone and iPad models with Home buttons, double-click the Home button to bring up App Switcher, then navigate to Mail app and swipe up on it to push it off the top of the screen to quit.
2: Force Restart iPhone or iPad
Next you’ll want to force restart the iPhone or iPad.
Again how you force restart the device depends on the iPhone or iPad model:
For iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone XR, iPhone XS Max, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPad Pro (2018 or later): Press Volume Up, press Volume Down, press and hold POWER / WAKE button until you see the Apple logo on the screen
For all iPad models with Home button, iPhone 6s, 6s Plus, iPhone SE: Press and hold Home button and Power button until you see the Apple logo on the screen
After the iPhone or iPad has force restarted and booted back up again, re-open the Mail app and you should find that at least new emails arriving will no longer show up as “No Subject” and “No Sender” in Mail app. Some interim emails may still appear to show as “No Sender” and with “No Subject” however, which appears to show some persistence of the bug for emails that were already downloaded and labeled that way.
3: Update to the latest iOS version
If possible, update to the latest iOS release in Settings app > General > Software Update
Updating to the latest version of iOS available may or may not resolve the Mail app “No Sender” and “No Subject” bug for some users.
For some users, updating from say iOS 13 or iOS 13.1.1 to iOS 13.1.1 may resolve the issue, but for others (like myself) the “No Sender” and “No Subject” bug didn’t appear in Mail app until after updating to iOS 13.1.1. For example, my personal iPhone did not experience the “No Sender” and “No Subject” Mail bug until after I updated to iOS 13.1.1.
Nonetheless, presumably a future iOS update will resolve the “No Sender” and “No Subject” Mail app bugs, so checking for available iOS updates and installing them is always a good idea.
As always, be sure to backup your iPhone or iPad before installing any system software update.
Some iPad Pro users report the touch screen is unresponsive at random. This can mean sometimes iPad Pro is not responding to any touch at all, or sometimes it may intermittently ignore touches or swipes or gestures, or the screen may appear to stutter or freeze after a touch, or even drop deliberate touches like typing letters on the onscreen touch keyboard of iPad Pro.
If you are experiencing random unresponsive touch screen issues with iPad Pro, try the tips below to see if they can help to improve or resolve the problem for you.
1: Clean the Screen
Before doing anything else, clean the iPad Pro screen. Press the screen lock button so that you don’t accidentally tap on anything you don’t want to, and then you just need a simple cloth and a tiny amount of water.
You can use a lightly damp cloth, don’t use any abrasive chemicals or cleaner products.
Sometimes gunk, grease, or food smudges on the iPad Pro screen can make the screen unresponsive to touch, thus cleaning the screen can be an easy solution to resolve this problem.
2: Remove the Case and/or Screen Protector
Many iPad Pro users use a case with their iPad Pro to protect it, and often those cases either include a screen protector or have a screen protector built in.
Lock the device screen, then try removing the case and screen protector from iPad Pro and seeing if the unresponsive touch screen issue continues.
Oftentimes simply removing an ill-fitting case or screen protector will resolve touch screen issues.
It’s worth pointing out that iPad Pro users with both glass and plastic screen protectors report this issue, so it’s not entirely clear if either type of the screen protector makes the problem any better or worse, or is even related at all, because there are reports of users without screen protectors that also have the randomly unresponsive iPad Pro touch screen issue.
3: Update System Software on iPad Pro
Back up to iCloud (or a computer with iTunes, or both), and then install any system software updates that are waiting on the iPad Pro by going to Settings > General > Software Update.
It’s possible that the intermittently unresponsive touch screen issue is a bug or some other issue specific to some versions of iOS / iPadOS, so updating to the latest version of system software on the iPad Pro may help.
4: Turn on Touch Accommodations
If the iPad Pro screen is still randomly unresponsive to touch, you can try enabling a system setting option called Touch Accommodations.
For iPadOS 13 and later: Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch Accommodations > turn on “Touch Accommodations”
For iOS 12 and earlier: Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Touch Accommodations, then turn on ‘Touch Accommodations’
Apparently you don’t need to enable or toggle any other setting within the Toufh Accommodations section, simply turning the feature on can resolve the unresponsive touch screen issue for some iPad Pro users. Thanks to a user on Apple discussions forum for offering this particular suggestion.
5: Turn Off Tap to Wake
Some users report that disabling Tap to Wake has improved their unresponsive touch screen problems on their iPad Pro.
Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > find “Tap to Wake” and turn that OFF
6: Forcibly restart the iPad Pro
Some users have reported that forcibly rebooting the device will temporarily resolve the unresponsive touch screen issue with iPad Pro. If you’re not familiar with the procedure, here’s how you can do this:
Force restarting iPad Pro (new models without Home buttons): Press and release Volume Up, press and release Volume Down, press and hold Power button until you see the Apple logo on the screen.
Force restart older Home button models of iPad Pro: Press and hold the Power button and Home button until you see the Apple logo on screen
When the device boots back up again, the touch screen should be responsive and work as expected again, at least for a while.
7: Have an Apple Pencil? Disconnect and Reconnect it
Curiously, some users have reported that disconnecting and reconnecting the Apple Pencil to their iPad Pro can improve the unresponsive touch screen issue.
Of course if you don’t have an Apple Pencil, this will not be relevant to you.
8: Backup and Restore
Backing up and restoring may resolve the issue as well. I know this is the lamest advice for troubleshooting, but it’s also a step that Apple will require of you before you have a device serviced through warranty programs, so whether you want to do it or not, you should. Just backup your iPad Pro to iCloud or iTunes, then restore it from iTunes, or reset it and restore from backup using iCloud.
Misc other tips to try resolving unresponsive touch screen
issues on iPad Pro
If the touch screen problem only happens in some apps, try deleting those apps and reinstalling them on ipad Pro
Make sure the iPad Pro has sufficient storage available on the device, if the iPad Pro is completely full performance may suffer
Make sure the iPad Pro display is not cracked or damaged
Inspect the entire iPad Pro for physical damage, as any physical damage may impact the performance of the device and would have to be fixed before regular behavior may resume
You can also try some of the other tips and solutions for when iPhone touch screen is not working and there is some crossover between the two, like cleaning the screen, updating system software, and so on.
iPad Pro touch screen still unresponsive randomly? Consider contacting Apple Support
If you have tried all of the above solutions and the unresponsive touch screen problem still persists on your iPad Pro, then you may want to contact official Apple Support directly and have them try and work the issue out with you.
Need to convert a Numbers file to an Excel spreadsheet file from iPad or iPhone? This is a common task for many work and educational environments where Excel is commonly used, and fortunately this process is easy to accomplish thanks to the Numbers app Export features.
This article will show you how to convert a Numbers document to an Excel spreadsheet file using an iPad or iPhone, the end result will be an Excel file in XLS / XLSX file format.
Note this is specifically for iPhone and iPad, but if you’re on a desktop or laptop then you can learn how to convert a Numbers file to Excel spreadsheet on Mac too.
How to Convert a Numbers File to Excel File on iPhone & iPad
Open the Numbers app on iPad or iPhone, then open the Numbers file or spreadsheet document you wish to convert
Tap on the (…) three dots button in the top right corner of the screen
Select on “Export” from the menu
Choose to export the file as “Excel” from the export options
Select the method you wish to save or share the converted Excel file as: save to Files app, iCloud Drive, send with AirDrop, send with Email, share with Messages, etc
Repeat this process with other Numbers files to convert them to Excel files as needed
The resulting exported Excel file can be opened by any app that opens Excel documents, whether that’s Microsoft Excel, Google Docs, LibreOffice, StarOffice, or Numbers on iPad, iPhone, or Mac.
Note that if you share the file directly from the Numbers app, say by exporting it as an Excel document and emailing it to someone, the original file will stay in the Numbers app in the Numbers file format. If you want to have physical access to an Excel file on iPad or iPhone, you’ll need to save it locally to the Files app or to iCloud Drive.
As mentioned earlier, if you’re on a Macintosh then you can also convert Numbers files to Excel spreadsheets in Mac OS too using a similar export process. You can even use iCloud.com to convert these documents too, but that’s a topic for another article entirely.
Want to disable Camera access for an app on iPhone or iPad? At any time, you can easily revoke camera access for any application on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. By turning off camera access for an app, that app will no longer be able to use either the front or rear cameras on an iPhone or iPad.
How to Stop Apps from Using Camera on iPhone & iPad
You can prevent apps from being able to access and use the camera on your device by going through the following steps:
Open the “Settings” app on iPhone or iPad
Go to “Privacy” in the settings
Choose “Camera” from the privacy settings list
Locate the app(s) you want to disable camera access for and toggle the setting corresponding to their name OFF to disable camera for that app
Repeat with other apps to turn off camera ability as desired
All apps that have requested camera access on the iPhone or iPad will appear in this list. If an app does not appear in this list, the app has not requested camera access before (or yet).
Obviously some apps will require camera access to function properly, like a video chat app, so be mindful about what apps you disable camera access for and which you allow.
On the other hand, there are many apps that don’t need to access the camera for the app to work at all, they just request camera access for some other reason, and turning off those apps camera access may be beneficial to privacy or security. Think logically about what an app is and what the apps purpose is when deciding what apps to grant camera access to. Does a camera app need camera access? Probably. Does a social network need camera access? Maybe, or maybe not. Does a game need camera access? Probably not. If you never use the camera in a particular app, you can likely turn it off without consequence to that apps functionality. Be discerning!
Similarly, you can also control what apps have microphone access on iPhone and iPad. If you’re going through and auditing app access to camera for privacy or security purposes, you’d probably want to do the same for the microphone too.
Of course once you have taken pictures with the camera, there are apps that also want to access the photos on your iPhone or iPad too. Accordingly, separate from controlling camera access for apps you can also control what apps can access Photos on iPhone and iPad too. You’ll often find apps that want to have photos access that simply don’t need it.
It’s worth mentioning this is not the only time you can manage what apps have camera access on an iPhone or iPad. Usually when you first launch an app that wants to use the camera, a pop-up screen appears on the iPhone or iPad that says the app is requesting camera access. For example if you freshly install Instagram or another camera app you will find this request when you launch the app for the first time. Whether you choose “Allow” or “Disallow” at that screen will control access for that particular circumstance, but beyond that you can always find the apps which have requested camera access in this privacy list within the device Settings. And of course you can then adjust each app individually as to whether you want that app to have access to the device camera or not.
This obviously allows you to manage what apps can access and use the camera on an iPhone or iPad, but you can go further if you’d like to and disable the Camera app itself as well.
Need to archive an iTunes backup of an iPhone or iPad for safe-keeping? Creating an archived backup in iTunes is helpful because it allows you to preserve a specific device backup while still allowing for backing up to iTunes on Mac or PC, without those new backups overwriting the archived backup.
Creating routine backups of iPhone and iPad are important in general, but if you ever plan to try a beta release of system software like iOS public beta or iPadOS public beta, you’ll want to go a step further and archive an iTunes backup as well, since it makes it easier to revert to a prior release (like downgrading iOS 13) if necessary.
How to Archive iTunes Backup of iPhone or iPad on Mac & Windows
This obviously focuses on archiving backups in iTunes, but in MacOS Catalina these same actions are performed in the Finder, where device management occurs, rather than in iTunes.
Open the iTunes application if you have not done so already on Mac or Windows
Optionally, start and complete a new encrypted backup to iTunes if you wish to create a fresh backup to archive then proceed when finished
Pull down the iTunes menu and choose “Preferences”
Go to the “Devices” tab in iTunes Preferences
Under the Device Backups list locate the device backup you want to archive, then right-click on that backup and choose “Archive”
Ensure that the iPhone or iPad backup has been archived by checking for the lock icon and date stamp on the backup name, when finished click on “OK” to exit out of iTunes Preferences
Archiving a backup essentially locks that backup so that it is not overwritten by subsequent device backups made to iTunes.
Again, iCloud has no impact on backups in iTunes. You can backup to both iCloud and iTunes if desired.
Identifying Archived Backups in iTunes
In the device list this is easy to identify because there is a lock icon and a time and date stamp on when the backup was archived.
You can un-archive a backup by right-clicking on it from within the same Devices settings list, and of course you can also delete backups from iTunes there as well.
Remember that in iTunes it’s important to encrypt backups so that all Health data and sensitive data is also backed up, because without the backup encryption feature enabled that data will not be backed up to iTunes. Backing up iPhone or iPad to iCloud is encrypted by default and does not require the manual encryption setting.
Note you can not currently archive iCloud backups, so if you wish to preserve an iPhone or iPad backup you must use iTunes and archive the backup there, or a Mac with at least Catalina and archive the backup there.
Wondering how long an iCloud backup restore to an iPhone or iPad will take to complete? Restoring an iPhone or iPad from an iCloud Backup can take a while, depending on the size of the iCloud backup, and the speed of the internet connection the iOS device is connected to.
If you want to check on the progress of an active iCloud Restore, you can do so in modern versions of iOS.
How to Check Progress of iCloud Restore from Backup on iPhone or iPad
Open the “Settings” app in iOS
Tap on “Your Name” at the top of the Settings
Tap on “iCloud”
Tap on “iCloud Backup”
Locate the data remaining information on the iCloud backup restore process under the ‘Stop’ button to get a rough idea of how much longer the restore will take
The data remaining information will be shown in megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB).
It’s best to let the iCloud Restore process complete, however long it may take. Failure to let the iCloud restore from backup process complete can lead to permanent data loss.
Optionally, but not recommended, you can stop an iCloud Restore from backup to an iOS device. Stopping an iCloud Restore can result in data loss and is therefore not recommended unless there is a compelling reason to do so.
While the iCloud Restore process is ongoing, you may notice notably poor battery life on the iPador iPhone as the devices “Ongoing Restore” background activity and downloading of data uses more energy than usual. Letting the iCloud Restore process complete will return the device to normal expected battery performance.
Note that much earlier versions of iOS do not support this feature.
By comparison, checking the restore progress of an iTunes backup restore is much more obvious because the iTunes window has a progress indicator showing the current progress and how long it will take to complete.
Sometimes, an iPad Pro must be placed into DFU mode as a troubleshooting step before being able to restore the iPad Pro. DFU stands for Device Firmware Update and DFU mode is basically a lower-level device restore state than regular Recovery Mode for iPad Pro.
Placing an iPad Pro into DFU mode is for advanced users and for specific troubleshooting scenarios where an iPad Pro is unable to recover or restore through regular methods.
This approach for entering into DFU mode covered here applies only to newer iPad Pro devices of the 2018 model year and later, meaning those without a Home button and with Face ID as the primary unlock mechanism, including the iPad Pro with 11″ screen and iPad Pro with 12.9″ screen. Other iPad models with Home button can enter DFU mode with these instructions instead, which uses a different method.
To use DFU mode properly, you’ll need the iPad Pro a USB cable, and a Mac or Windows PC with iTunes, or macOS Catalina.
How to Enter DFU Mode on iPad Pro
Warning: Restoring a device with DFU mode will erase the iPad Pro and may cause permanent data loss. If you do not have a backup of the iPad Pro available you will have no data to restore to the device.
Connect the iPad Pro to the computer by using a USB cable
Open iTunes on the Mac or Windows PC (this is not in MacOS Catalina)
Press the Volume Up button and release it on the iPad Pro
Press the Volume Down button and release it on the iPad Pro
Now press and hold the Power button until the iPad Pro screen turns black, this can take 10-15 seconds or so
While still holding the Power button, now press and hold both the Power and the Volume Down button for another 5 seconds
Release the Power button, but continue to hold the Volume Down button for another 10 seconds
At this point iTunes should pop-up an alert message stating that “iTunes has detected an iPad in recovery mode. You must restore this iPad before it can be used with iTunes”, this indicates the iPad Pro is successfully in DFU mode
After the iPad Pro is in DFU mode it can be restored or updated as necessary.
If on the computer you do not see an “iTunes has detected an iPad in recovery mode. You must restore this iPad Pro before it can be used with iTunes” message, then start the process of entering DFU mode over again. Following the steps exactly is necessary to properly enter DFU mode.
If the iPad Pro screen turns on, or if you see an Apple logo on the iPad Pro, or if you see an iTunes logo on the display of iPad Pro, then the iPad Pro is not properly in DFU mode. If you see the iTunes logo on the screen it likely means the iPad Pro is in Recovery Mode instead, which sometimes is sufficient to restoring a problematic device, but generally people aim to enter DFU mode because Recovery Mode fails.
Usually you can simply restore the device from iTunes or MacOS to whatever the latest available version is, but you can also use firmware to restore from if desired. You can get iOS IPSW firmware files here if needed. To use an IPSW file you must be sure you are using the proper version for the particular device, and it must be actively signed by Apple. You must use an iOS firmware file that is compatible with the iPad Pro model, and the iOS IPSW file must be signed by Apple in order to use and restore from.
How to Exit DFU Mode on iPad Pro
Exiting DFU mode can be achieved by successfully restoring the device, or by rebooting the iPad Pro with the following steps:
Press and release Volume Up button
Press and release Volume Down button
Press and hold the Power button until the Apple logo appears on screen
This effectively force restarts the iPad Pro, causing it to leave DFU mode. Of course if an iPad Pro is ‘bricked’ and must be restored through DFU mode, then exiting DFU mode this way is not going to solve anything because the device must be restored through iTunes or macOS.
Every iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Apple Watch, and Apple TV can enter into DFU mode (as well as recovery mode), though how to do so depends on the particular device and model. Other DFU mode instructions are as follows:
Ultimately using DFU mode with iPad Pro (or any other device) is rarely needed, because with almost all regular troubleshooting scenarios you can restore an iPad Pro either directly through iTunes, macOS, or by using Recovery Mode.
Rarely, an iPad may get stuck on an Apple logo screen when the device is booting or restarting. Getting stuck on the Apple logo usually happens during a failed software update, whether it was interrupted or incomplete, but it can sometimes happen during restores and during other operations as well.
If an iPad, iPad Pro, iPad Air, or iPad mini is stuck on an Apple logo screen, you can use the tips below to troubleshoot the problem and resolve the issue.
How to Fix an iPad, iPad Pro, iPad Air, iPad Mini Stuck on Apple Logo
This guide will aim to review troubleshooting solutions to resolve an iPad, iPad Pro, iPad Air, or iPad mini that is stuck on a black Apple logo screen. Follow in the order presented, and be sure to use the advice specific to the iPad model, as the troubleshooting steps differ between iPad with Face ID and iPad with Home buttons.
0: Wait! Does the Apple logo screen on iPad have a progress bar?
If the Apple logo screen has a progress bar underneath the Apple logo, then that likely means the device is installing a system software update, or is being restored. In that situation, you will not want to interrupt the system software update process.
If you see the Apple logo screen on an iPad and it has a progress bar underneath the Apple logo, let it sit for a while with the device plugged into a power source.
If a software update is being applied, the iPad will complete the installation and restart itself normally when it has finished.
You may pick up an iPad and notice it’s on the Apple logo screen seemingly out of nowhere if you have automatic iOS / iPadOS software updates enabled on the iPad. Just let the update complete, do not interrupt it.
If the iPad remains unresponsive and stuck on the black Apple logo screen for an extended amount of time, say after an hour or so, it may be stuck and need further troubleshooting. When the iPad is truly stuck on the Apple logo screen, use the troubleshooting tricks below to resolve the issue.
1: Force Restart the iPad
Sometimes simply forcibly restarting the iPad will resolve being stuck on an Apple logo screen. Forcibly rebooting an iPad varies on the iPad model and the iPad model year, use the instructions below depending on the specific iPad, iPad Air, iPad mini, or iPad Pro.
Force Restart iPad Pro 11″ and iPad Pro 12.9″ (2018 and newer)
You can force restart iPad Pro with Face ID (2018 and newer) including the iPad Pro 11″ and iPad Pro 12.9″ models, with the following instructions:
Press and release Volume Up, press and release Volume Down, press and hold Power button until the iPad Pro restarts
Force Restart iPad, iPad Air, iPad mini, and older iPad Pro
You can force restart an iPad with a clickable Home button, including iPad, iPad Air, iPad mini, and older iPad Pro models, with the following instructions:
Hold the HOME button and POWER button concurrently until the device screen turns off to black and back on to an Apple logo screen appears
Occasionally, force rebooting works and the iPad returns to the lock screen or home screen as usual. If not, carry on for more troubleshooting.
2: Update iPad with Recovery Mode (or Restore)
The next troubleshooting trick is to update the iPad using Recovery Mode. Using Recovery Mode requires the use of a computer (Mac or Windows PC) with a modern version of iTunes, and you will need a USB cable to connect the iPad to the computer. Much like force rebooting, entering Recovery Mode varies per iPad model.
Update iPad Pro with Face ID via Recovery Mode
If the iPad has Face ID and no Home button, you can enter Recovery Mode on iPad Pro (2018 and newer) with the following instructions:
Open iTunes on the computer (or Finder if Mac is running Catalina)
Press and hold the Power button and Volume Up button until the “Slide to Power Off” screen appears, then drag that slider to turn OFF the iPad Pro
Next, hold down the POWER button and connect the iPad Pro to a computer with a USB cable. Continue holding the POWER button until iPad is in Recovery Mode
Choose “Update” when the alert message appears on screen
Updating the iPad in Recovery Mode may take a while so be patient and let 20 minutes or so pass. If this is successful, the iPad Pro will update the system software and then reboot itself eventually back and work as normal.
If this fails, you will need to repeat the steps above, but at step 4 choose to “Restore” the iPad instead of ‘update’ (Important note: by restoring the iPad it will reset it as new and erase all data on the iPad, however if you have a backup you can restore from that backup when complete).
Update any iPad with Home button via Recovery Mode
If the iPad has a Home button, you can enter Recovery Mode on iPad, iPad Air, iPad mini, and older iPad Pro with the following instructions:
Open iTunes on the computer (or Finder if Mac is running Catalina)
Press and hold the Power button until the “Slide to Power Off” screen appears, then slide to turn OFF the iPad
Hold down the HOME button while connecting the iPad to a computer using a USB cable
Continue holding the HOME button until the iPad is in Recovery Mode and detected by the computer
Choose “Update” when the alert message appears on screen
Updating the iPad can take a while, give it at least 20 minutes to see if this works. If updating is successful, the iPad will reboot and become usable as usual.
If this fails, you will need to repeat the steps above, but at step 5 choose to “Restore” the iPad rather than update. (Important note: restoring the iPad will erase all data on the iPad and set it up as new, however if you have a backup you can restore from that backup during the setup after restore).
3: Erase & Restore iPad with DFU Mode
If the above Recovery Mode methods fail to resolve the issue, you can try to use DFU mode to restore the iPad or iPad Pro instead. DFU mode is a lower restore method that may work when Recovery Mode fails. Using DFU mode will erase the iPad completely, meaning all data on the iPad will be lost. If you have a backup of the iPad, you can restore the iPad backup to the iPad when DFU restore has finished.
Restoring iPad, iPad Air, iPad mini, older iPad Pro with DFU Mode
You can enter DFU mode on any iPad with a Home button with these instructions:
Connect iPad to a computer (Mac or PC) and launch iTunes (or Finder if Mac is running Catalina)
Hold down the POWER button and the HOME button at the same time, and continue holding both of those buttons for 10 seconds
After 10 seconds, release the POWER Button but continue to hold the HOME button for another 5 seconds
Choose to Restore the iPad with iTunes, this will erase all data on iPad and set it up as new
Connect iPad Pro to a computer and launch iTunes (or Finder if Mac is running Catalina)
Press and release Volume UP, then press and release Volume DOWN, then press and hold the POWER button for 10 seconds
While still holding the Power button, also press and hold Volume DOWN button for another 5 seconds
Release the Power button but continue to hold Volume DOWN for another 10 seconds
When you see an alert on the computer that a device has been detected in recovery mode, choose to Restore to erase the iPad and set it up as new
When the iPad Pro has successfully restored you can either set it up as new or then restore it from an available backup during the setup.
Fortunately getting stuck on a black Apple logo screen is a pretty rare occurrence for iPad, and while the same thing can happen on an iPhone it’s also not particularly common to run into with that device either. Usually the troubleshooting steps outlined above will resolve the issue. Let us know in the comments below what worked to resolve your problem.
Tried all of the above and still stuck on an Apple logo screen? Something else may be going on, so the next best option is to contact official Apple Support or an Apple Authorized Repair Center for further assistance in repairing the iPad, iPad Air, iPad mini, or iPad Pro.
