8 Ways To Fix The iPhone’s Always Loading (Spinning Wheel) Internet Connectivity Indicator

iPhone spinning wheel next to battery indicator

Spinning wheel next to Battery Indicator on iPhone Home Screen.

Yes, I’m talking about the spinning wheel that appears right next to the Battery Percentage indicator, in the top-right corner of your iPhone’s screen. This “Loading” icon signals that your device is involved in an Internet data exchange with Apple’s servers or any other third party web machine. You can check this active Internet connectivity status in the print-screen published nearby.

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?
always loading data exchange indicator 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.