8 Ways To Fix The iPhone’s Always Loading (Spinning Wheel) Internet Connectivity Indicator
As long as the wheel is continuing to spin and you stopped using apps, that could have caused data transfers, you are tempted to think that something went wrong and a process got stuck. Some apps might use overloaded servers and the Loading icon might be around for a couple more seconds after you finish using them. However, if time passes and the indicator continues to circle you might want to look a little closer.
How To Fix The iPhone Spinning Wheel Issue
1. Check Recent Apps: First of all, check out the most recent apps that you’ve used before the problem started to appear. If you don’t notice anything faulty, double-tap the Home button and use the App Switcher to swipe and close the apps in question. Try closing one app at a time. This will allow you to pinpoint the software that causes the issue.
2. Close All Apps: If the wheel continues to circle, return to App Switcher and close all apps that are currently lingering in the background. Do the same as with Step 1. Go one app at the time, to allow yourself to detect the faulty application. Does this solve your problem? If it doesn’t move on to Step 3.
3. Restrict Background App Refresh: Open Settings and browse for General, tap on Background App Refresh and turn the feature off. This option allows apps to automatically refresh when your iPhone is connected to a Wi-Fi network or has an active mobile data connection.
Tip: You can also bring your iOS device in Low Power Mode. This move automatically disables background app refresh to save battery.
4. Software Update
Make sure that you or the automatic Software Update feature isn’t pinging Apple’s servers and downloading a new firmware upgrade. Some packages are really big and the Loading icon could appear there for a long period of time.
5. App Store Updates
The network status indicator tends to appear whenever App Store app updates run in the background. You can allow your iPhone to automatically update applications when new versions are available. Switch for the manual update option and this could solve your problem.
Tip: Use the Update All shortcut available in App Store to confirm that you want to perform all available updates, instead of downloading new versions one by one. Do make sure that you have enough storage space available on your iPhone.
6. Kill Internet Connectivity
Disconnect from the Wi-Fi hotspot and disable Mobile Data connectivity, wait for a few seconds and re-connect to the web. Check if the Loading network status has disappeared from the Home screen or not.
7. Flush RAM Memory
A poorly coded third party app might have left a loop within a process on your device. Clear the RAM Memory and see if it helps. Use this button combination to instantly free up your iPhone’s Random Access Memory.
8. Reboot Device
The last resort is to Force Restart your iPhone. This will surly make the spinning circle go away, but it might only be a temporary fix. Then again, it’s really important to go through the steps described above. The network connectivity status might be something genuine, like Software Update and a hard reset would only bring you back to zero.
Fact: The “Spinning Wheel” can appear next to the battery indicator as shown above, or wen there is enough room, next to the Wi-Fi, 3G or 4G symbols, as shown below.
Is The Spinning Wheel Draining My Battery?
A frequent question asked by iOS users that encounter this issue is that if there’s any problem with leaving the glitch unattended. First, as explained before, the network loading sign might not be a glitch at all. Secondly, notice how often and how long the Loading indicator is present. Third, yes a process that implies data exchange with outside servers is prone to draining more battery because it permanently keeps your iPhone’s data connectivity active. More than that, if you want to go even deeper, it also increases your RF Exposure because SAR value increases when data exchange is ongoing. Be careful, especially if you own an iPhone 7, the highest radiating iOS device, so far.
Can you please give me step by step directions to get the loading sign off my phone
I just had this same problem with it spinning next to my wifi symbol when I got a new Iphone 6…for 3 days I figured it was normal…I then decided to reboot my phone and now it is gone and has not come back….do a reset and hopefully it should be gone.
use Siri once and it goes away….wahlah!
I did all the things. Then I read your comment and said hi to Siri. YOURS actually works. ????
I did the Siri thing…I’m freaked out
Thanks! I said “hi Siri” and that solved my problem
Indeed. I’ve discovered the problem starts when I use voice dictate within an app (like text). Activating Siri must reset and stop the dictate server connection?
Amazing, that worked.
Genius!
Wow! Tried EVERYTHING! Using Siri stopped it…. scary.
Yes, it worked!
HO. LEE. CRAPP!
Thank you so much!
YEAH! The Siri solution works!!! Thank you mate!
You’re welcome! Glad that we could help!
Siri thing worked for me too! So weird
A Re-Boot on my iphone 4 (I know..Old :) worked a treat, no more spinning wheel.
Jeez. It worked. Lets see if it stays that way since ill be turning off Siri again.. not a fan. Regardless, thanks for the scoop. Cant believe that worked. I’d love to know why that was causing an issue
yes g8 siri the culprit
Saying hi to Siri worked for me too! Weird. Thanks!!
I can’t believe it! Saying hi to Siri worked for me too! That’s crazy!!!
nothing is working for my constant spinning wheel, not even saying “hi Siri”. Even if i force restart, it will go away but as soon as I use voice recognition for texting it comes back on and stays on infinitely. Please help, this is maddening!
Same problem here. iPhone 7 which is a week old and in constant wheel-spin mode.
Nothing work for me, have tried EVERYTHING. I sat down this morning and my battery was 100%, spinning wheel had it down to 74% in about 20 minutes, iPhone 7+. I have watched 10 videos and read 30 articles on this and absolutely nothing works more than an hour.
I think what fixed mine, I noticed one of the default apps “books” on the home screen would always be loading/updating or whatever .. even though i never used the app. i just deleted it, problem solved
Big dog, thanks for sharing this tip. We’ll update it in the main content of the article and see if it will help others too.
That did it wooohoooo!!! Thanks!
You’re welcome. Glad we could help!
I get this on a new iPad Pro. Two terabyte and it has sixteen gig of ram I thought it was cpu related but if it’s my internet that makes sense
Thanks for the feedback. Have you updated to iPadOS 15.2.1?