14 DAY TRIAL // A growing number of iPhone models seems to be affected by a critical bug pushing devices into an infinite reboot or respring loop, with some complaining that in rare cases it all ends up with a complete shut down.
Judging from user reports, it all started on December 2 at 12:15 AM, with this particular time and date causing a respring for no clear reason. Some believe the issue is being caused by local notifications issued by a number of apps like Headspace and Calm, which are tied to the date and time information provided by the operating system.
While very little is known how the bug ended up causing devices almost impossible to use, one user revealed on reddit that Apple support said a fix is on its way, though it’ll be a challenge for iPhones to install it since they can’t run for more than 30 second without a reboot or respring.
“Just spoke to a senior Apple rep and they too suggested manually setting the date to 1 day before the problem started – this was 1 Dec for me and it worked (I’m on an iPhone X running iOS 11.1.2 (15B202)) – or resetting all settings to default,” the user said, adding that Apple is being “flooded” with calls on this problem.
iPhone X also affected
At this point, several iPhone models are said to be affected, including the iPhone X, though all the apps that are causing the problems are yet to be identified.
Apple is reportedly recommending users whose iPhones were rendered useless by this bug to set the date back by one day, but as an alternative solution, notifications can also be blocked entirely to make sure the issue is no longer triggered.
To set the date back, go to Settings > General > Date & Time > Disable Set Automatically > December 1. To disable notifications you need to head over to Settings > Notifications > Select app > Disable Allow notifications.
UPDATE: iOS 11.2 is said to be fixing the issue and users are recommended to install it ASAP, as the bug appears to be limited to iOS 11.1.2.