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Kevin Shaw

Kevin Shaw is a tech writer at iPhoneArena covering news, how-tos, and user guides about iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch.

iPhone Flashlight Not Working? Here’s The Real Fix

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Don’t fumble in the dark when your iPhone flashlight isn’t working. Follow these troubleshooting tips to fix it instead.

Many users have faced the frustrating issue of their iPhone flashlight not turning on. For example, you might have seen problems like your iPhone flashlight not working after an iOS update, the flashlight button grayed out, or your flashlight not turning on while the iPhone is overheated or locked.

So, how can you fix the flashlight and get it working again? Follow this troubleshooting guide to find out.

1. Charge Your iPhone

If your iPhone’s battery is almost empty, the flashlight may not work. So, the first thing you should do when your iPhone flashlight is not working is to charge your device.

Simply plug your iPhone into power. The flashlight feature should start working again once your iPhone has sufficient power.

2. Disable Low Power Mode

On an iPhone 15 or later, go to Settings > Battery > Power Mode and turn off Low Power Mode. On an iPhone 14 or earlier, go to Settings > Battery and turn off the Low Power Mode toggle. If you don’t see it in Settings, you can also check for the Low Power Mode tile in your Control Center and tap it to turn it off.

Screenshot showing Low Power Mode settings on iPhone

Low Power Mode kicks in automatically when your battery drops below 20%, and you can tell it’s on because the battery icon in the status bar turns yellow. While the flashlight is supposed to keep working in this mode, it doesn’t always cooperate — especially on older devices or after an iOS update that introduced a bug. Turning it off restores full power to all your iPhone’s features, flashlight included, and it only takes a couple of seconds to rule this out as the problem.

3. Check Your iPhone Isn’t Too Hot

When your iPhone gets too hot, the flashlight may stop working. It’s not advisable to continue using an overheating iPhone. If your device exceeds a particular temperature limit, it will eventually shut down until it cools off. You’ll also see a warning appear on your screen if the temperature gets too high.

To allow your device’s temperature to drop naturally, place your iPhone in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight. Do not attempt to put your device into the fridge, though, as this will cause damage to it. Just find somewhere that’s naturally cool and shady. Once your device cools down, your iPhone flashlight should start working again.

Extreme cold can cause flashlight issues too. If your iPhone has been sitting in a freezing car or outside in winter temperatures, bring it indoors and let it warm up to room temperature before you try the flashlight again. Apple rates iPhone operating temperature between 32° and 95° F (0° and 35° C), and anything outside that range can temporarily disable features like the flash.

4. Close the Camera App

If your phone’s camera app is open, the flashlight won’t be able to take control of the LED.

Swipe up and hold on the center of the screen, then swipe up to close the Camera app.

This also applies to any third-party app that uses your camera. Apps like Instagram, Snapchat, FaceTime, WhatsApp, and even QR code scanner apps all take control of the LED when they’re running, and sometimes they hang onto it even in the background. If your flashlight icon is grayed out and the Camera app isn’t open, swipe through your recent apps and close anything that might be using the camera — that’s almost always what’s going on when the button won’t respond.

iPhone App Switcher

5. Remove Your iPhone Case

Take off your iPhone case, any lens attachment, or camera film and try the flashlight again. Some cases (particularly thicker rugged ones or cases with sliding camera covers) can physically block the LED flash.

It sounds too obvious to be the fix, but it’s worth ruling out before you dig into software troubleshooting. If the flashlight works fine without the case and stops working when you put it back on, you’ve found your problem — and it’s a cheaper fix than a trip to the Apple Store.

6. Turn On Your Flashlight Using the Camera Flash

If you can’t turn on your iPhone flashlight from the Control Center, a workaround is to turn it on in the Camera app by activating the flash function. Here’s how:

In the Camera app, go to Video mode. Swipe up from the bottom menu (on the word, Video) to bring up more options. Tap the Flash icon. Select On.

7. Toggle the Flash in Your iPhone’s Camera App

To get rid of glitches that stop your iPhone flashlight from working, you can also try turning your camera flash on and off. The steps are the same as the workaround to turn on your iPhone’s camera flash, as discussed in the previous solution. But instead of leaving the Flash set to On, toggle between On and Off a few times.

8. Ask Siri to Turn On Your iPhone’s Flashlight

If your camera flash doesn’t seem to be working either, there’s another way to enable your iPhone flashlight: Siri. Siri can help you turn on your iPhone flashlight even if the icon is grayed out.

Activate Siri by long-pressing the Side button on your iPhone or saying, “Siri” or “Hey Siri.” When Siri starts listening, say, “Turn on the flashlight.” Your flashlight should turn on instantly, and Siri will also say that it’s on now.

9. Adjust the Flashlight Brightness

Long-press the Flashlight icon on your Lock Screen or in the Control Center to bring up the brightness slider, then drag your finger from the bottom of the slider all the way to the top.

Your iPhone remembers the last brightness level you set for the flashlight, and if you accidentally dragged it all the way down to zero at some point, the flashlight will look completely dead the next time you tap it — the icon lights up like it’s on, but no actual light comes out. This trips up a lot of people (and honestly, it’s easy to do by accident when you’re adjusting the slider in a hurry). Pulling the brightness back up to maximum should fix it right away.

10. Update Your iPhone’s iOS

iOS updates usually come with fixes for performance bugs and various glitches. So, perhaps all you need to do to fix your iPhone flashlight is to update your iPhone to the latest version of iOS.

Go to Settings > General > Software Update to see if an update is available for your iPhone. Make sure your iPhone is charging or has more than 50% battery before you proceed with the update process.

On the other side of this, an iOS update can sometimes be what caused the flashlight to stop working in the first place. Apple Community threads are full of reports from users whose flashlight broke right after updating to iOS 16, iOS 17, or iOS 18. If your flashlight was fine before the update, and none of the fixes above have helped, you may be dealing with a software bug that Apple hasn’t patched yet — in which case a follow-up update is usually the only real fix, and you’ll want to keep checking Settings > General > Software Update every few days until one arrives.

11. Restart Your iPhone

If the above methods don’t solve the problem and your iPhone flashlight still isn’t working, the next step you should try is restarting your iPhone.

You can restart your iPhone by going to Settings > General > Shut Down > Slide to power off. Then, hold the Side button to restart your iPhone once it powers off.

12. Force Restart Your iPhone

If a regular restart didn’t help — or if your iPhone is frozen and you can’t get to Settings at all — try a force restart instead. On an iPhone 8 or later, quickly press and release the Volume Up button, quickly press and release the Volume Down button, then press and hold the Side button until the Apple logo appears.

A force restart is different from a normal restart because it clears out temporary memory and forces every background process to shut down completely, which can break a stuck app or service out of whatever loop it’s caught in. It won’t delete any of your data or settings. If a regular restart feels like closing and reopening an app, a force restart is more like pulling the plug and starting fresh — and for stubborn flashlight glitches that survive a normal reboot, it’s often the thing that finally works.

13. Restore Your iPhone to a Previous Backup

Besides updating and restarting your iPhone, you can also try restoring your iPhone to a previous backup from when the flashlight was still working as usual. However, when you use this method, keep in mind that you will also lose any new data that was added to your device since you made that backup.

14. Reset All Settings on Your iPhone

If your iPhone torch still isn’t working, the last solution you can attempt is to reset your phone’s settings by going to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone. Tap Reset and choose Reset All Settings from the pop-up menu. You won’t lose any data from your iPhone; all this does is revert your iPhone’s settings to factory default values.

Take note that the reset process can take a long time, especially if you have a lot of data on your iPhone. So, if you’re stuck in the dark and urgently need a flashlight, don’t rely on resetting your iPhone right there and then!

Make sure you don’t accidentally choose Erase All Content and Settings from the Reset menu. Doing that would delete all the data on your device.

Effective Solutions When Your iPhone Flashlight Is Not Working

If you’ve been stuck wondering why the flashlight won’t work on your iPhone, we hope this list of fixes has helped you resolve the problem effectively.

If you’ve tried every fix on this list and the flashlight still won’t turn on, there’s one more thing worth checking before you contact anyone. Open the Camera app, switch to Photo mode, turn the Flash to On, and take a picture in a dim room. If the LED doesn’t fire at all — no flash, not even a flicker — that points to a hardware problem with the LED module itself rather than a software glitch, and no amount of restarting or resetting will fix it.

However, if the issue persists, it’s best for you to contact an Apple Authorized Service Provider. You can also visit your nearest Apple Store. Just make sure to book a genius bar appointment first. A technician will then examine your device and determine the potential hardware repairs that are needed.

Auto-brightness Not Working on iPhone? Here’s The Real Fix

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Auto-brightness means you shouldn’t need to change your iPhone screen brightness yourself. Here’s what to do if it isn’t working.

Auto-brightness ensures your iPhone’s screen brightness levels adapt automatically according to the light around you. For example, when you step out in the sun, the brightness increases. And inside a room, it decreases. When your iPhone auto-brightness feature doesn’t work, it can spoil your user experience and even consume more battery.

If auto-brightness isn’t working on your iPhone, you can use these solutions to fix it. Once that’s done, it should be more comfortable to use your iPhone during the day, night, and any other times.

  • Clean the ambient light sensor at the top of your iPhone screen
  • Restart your iPhone, or force restart it if a regular restart doesn’t help
  • Toggle Auto-Brightness off and back on in Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size
  • Update iOS in Settings > General > Software Update
  • Turn off Low Power Mode in Settings > Battery > Power Mode
  • Turn off Night Shift and check True Tone in Settings > Display & Brightness
  • Disable Attention Aware Features in Settings > Face ID & Passcode (Face ID iPhones only)
  • Let your iPhone cool down if it’s been running hot
  • Remove a thick screen protector or case that covers the sensor area
  • Reset All Settings in Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone

1. Clean Your iPhone’s Front Screen Area

The ambient light sensor is at the top of your iPhone screen. Body oils, sweat, and other such gunk may stick to this sensor when holding the phone to your ear during long calls. Due to this, it may stop your iPhone’s ambient light sensor working, which is what’s responsible for adjusting the screen brightness according to your surroundings.

To fix this, use a clean, dry cloth to wipe the top portion of your iPhone screen. After this, auto-brightness should work fine. If not, move on to the next solution.

2. Restart Your iPhone

If you haven’t turned off your iPhone in a while, it can cause a few problems, like auto-brightness not working correctly. To fix this, simply restart your iPhone. After the device powers on, everything should work as well as it usually does.

If a regular restart doesn’t fix it, try a force restart. Press and quickly release Volume Up, then press and quickly release Volume Down, then press and hold the Side button until the Apple logo appears on screen.

3. Enable and Disable Auto-Brightness

Another quick solution to fix the auto-brightness problem on your iPhone is to turn this feature off and on. Here’s how to do that:

  1. Open the Settings app.
  2. Tap Accessibility.
  3. Tap Display & Text Size.
  4. Turn off Auto-Brightness.
  5. Restart your iPhone.
  6. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size and enable Auto-Brightness.

Screenshot showing auto brightness settings on iPhone

4. Update Your iPhone

Auto-Brightness is a native iOS feature, so it’s also important to make sure that the iPhone is running smoothly. The best way to do this is to install the latest iOS software.

To update your iPhone, go to Settings > General > Software Update. If an update is available, tap Update Now.

Software update screen on iPhone

5. Turn Off Low Power Mode

Go to Settings > Battery > Power Mode and check that Low Power Mode is switched off. When it’s on, iOS automatically caps your screen’s maximum brightness — and that happens even if the auto-brightness feature is otherwise working correctly.

Screenshot showing Low Power Mode settings on iPhone

This one catches a lot of people off guard. Annoyingly, it kicks in automatically when your battery hits 20% (and again at 10%, whether you meant it to or not) — so you can end up running around for hours with a dimmed screen and never connect the dots. It stays on until you manually switch it off, or until your battery climbs back to 80%. Worth a quick check.

6. Try Turning Off Night Shift

We’ve heard from people who said they had success fixing iPhone Auto-Brightness problem by turning off Night Shift. Here’s how to turn off Night Shift on your iPhone:

  1. Open the Settings app.
  2. Tap Display & Brightness.
  3. Tap Night Shift.
  4. Turn off Manually Enable Until Tomorrow and Scheduled.

Screenshot showing Night Shift settings on iPhone

7. Check True Tone

Go to Settings > Display & Brightness and toggle off True Tone. This feature adjusts both the color temperature and the brightness of your screen based on the light around you, which can make it look like auto-brightness has stopped working when True Tone is actually the one changing things.

On iPhone 8 and later — meaning every current iPhone model — True Tone switches on by default. It’s great, usually. Adjusting your display’s color temperature to match the room is what it was built for, and under normal conditions you barely notice it running. When something goes wrong with the sensors it reads from, your screen can end up looking warm and dim all the time — which a lot of people mistake for auto-brightness breaking on them.

8. Disable Attention Aware Features

If your iPhone has Face ID, go to Settings > Face ID & Passcode, enter your passcode, and turn off Attention Aware Features. This feature uses the TrueDepth camera to detect whether you’re actually looking at the screen, and when it thinks you’ve glanced away, it dims the display to save battery.

Attention aware of features on iPhone

At first, you might not notice. Attention Aware was designed as a battery-saving measure, and for most people it works fine, but there are iPhones — especially older ones, or iPhones that have been through a screen repair — where the camera sensor reads “not looking” far more often than it should, leaving the display stuck at a lower brightness than you set. Turning it off removes one more variable from the equation.

9. Let Your iPhone Cool Down

If your screen has gone dim and none of the previous steps have helped, set your iPhone down in a cool, shaded spot and leave it alone for about five minutes. Overheating is often the culprit. When the iPhone detects that its internal temperature has climbed too high, it dims the screen automatically as a protective measure — and that can happen during long GPS navigation sessions, extended gaming, or even wireless charging in warm weather.

Apple doesn’t let you disable this behavior — it’s a hard limit built into iOS. Running Apple Maps with the screen at full brightness in direct sunlight is probably the most common trigger (especially in summer, or if the iPhone is also charging at the same time), but gaming, video streaming, and long FaceTime calls can push things to the same point. Let it cool down for five minutes and the screen should come back to normal on its own. If it’s still dim after that, or if the phone feels warm even when it’s been sitting idle, that’s a sign something else is going on and it’s worth a trip to the Apple Store.

10. Remove Any Thick Screen Protectors

iPhone displays are very sensitive. If you are using an abnormally thick screen protector on your iPhone, it’s possible that it’s causing problems with the smooth working of the ambient light sensor. To address this, consider removing your screen protector. If you must use one, opt for a screen protector that’s thinner, or medium thickness, instead.

Similarly, if you have a case that covers the entire front of the device, or even partially blocks the top sensor area, remove that as well.

11. Reset All Settings

When you reset all settings, personal data like downloaded apps, music, photos, videos, and such won’t be deleted. However, all the settings you have customized to your liking will reset and return to the default options. This includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, VPN configurations, Home Screen layout, keyboard settings, and more.

After you reset all your settings, several problems such as auto-brightness not functioning should be fixed. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Open the Settings app.
  2. Tap General.
  3. Tap Transfer or Reset iPhone.
  4. Tap Reset.
  5. Tap Reset All Settings.
  6. Enter your device passcode to confirm.

Once it completes, your iPhone should adjust the screen brightness correctly based on the light around you.

Problems With Third-Party iPhone Displays

Did you break your iPhone screen and get it replaced at by an unauthorized service provider? If yes, it may cause multiple problems, like Face ID not working correctly, True Tone not functioning, and possible auto-brightness issues.

Reach out to Apple support for repair options. Apple offers mail, phone, online, and in-person help. Make sure to schedule an appointment if you plan on going into your local Apple Store!

Auto-Brightness Makes Your iPhone Easier on the Eyes

After following the above fixes, your iPhone display should automatically adjust the screen brightness to match your environment, ensuring that the screen is always comfortable to look at.

If auto-brightness still doesn’t work on your iPhone, you may want to turn off auto-brightness and adjust it manually until you get your device inspected at an Apple Store instead.

If none of the above have solved it, reach out to Apple Support before booking an in-person visit — they can run a remote diagnostic on your device and determine whether the ambient light sensor is even responding. Go to support.apple.com to get started. Persistent auto-brightness issues that survive a Reset All Settings and a software update almost always point to a hardware fault with the sensor, and that’s something only Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider can properly diagnose and repair.

Apple Pay Not Working on iPhone? Here’s The Fix

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  • If Apple Pay is not working on your iPhone, make sure the terminal works with Apple Pay.
  • If it does, try removing your phone case and selecting the credit card manually from your Wallet app.
  • Other tips include restarting your iPhone, updating iOS, and checking your Face ID and Apple Pay settings.
  • You can also try replacing your credit card in the Wallet app and signing out and back into your Apple account.

Apple Pay stands among the most advanced, widely used modern payment processing technologies. It executes transactions entirely from your iPhone. Also, since Apple Pay is accepted at over 85 percent of retailers in the U.S., you can likely use it wherever and however you want carrying nothing but your phone.

To use Apple Pay on your iPhone, first look for the contactless payment symbol at checkout. Next, double-click the side button. When your default card appears, authenticate with Face ID or your passcode. Finally, hold the top of your iPhone near the card reader until you see Done or a checkmark on the screen.

Although using Apple Pay on the iPhone is easy, the feature isn’t without its flaws. While the feature rarely crashes, it can happen. And you don’t want to be caught at the till when it does—especially if you don’t carry cash around anymore.

Fortunately, most Apple Pay issues are easy to fix. Here are seven ways you can fix Apple Pay when it’s not working on your iPhone.

Make sure the point-of-sale terminal works with Apple Pay

The first thing you should do when Apple Pay is not working on your iPhone is to verify that the POS (point-of-sale) terminal accepts Apple Pay payments. Although mobile wallets are widely recognized payment methods accepted by most major retailers in the US, you still can’t automatically assume that all merchants accept them.

If the POS system accepts Apple Pay, ask the store clerk if they frequently encounter similar issues with mobile payments. They might know some quick fixes. For instance, they might need to check the POS internet connection or change a setting at the checkout. They could even advise you to take off your phone case or hold the phone at a specific angle to improve NFC connectivity.

Remove your phone case

Take your iPhone out of its case and try the payment again. The NFC antenna on your iPhone sits near the top of the device (around the rear camera area), and bulky, metal, or magnetic cases can block the signal from reaching the card reader.

This is one of those fixes that sounds too obvious, but it trips up a lot of people — and I mean a lot. Heavy-duty shockproof cases, wallet-style cases with credit cards tucked inside, and cases with magnetic mounts for car holders are the worst offenders. If Apple Pay works fine without the case but fails with it on, you’ve found your problem and it might be time to shop for a thinner, NFC-friendly case. Even some MagSafe-compatible cases from third-party manufacturers have caused intermittent NFC failures, so don’t assume a pricey case is safe just because it has the MagSafe logo on the box.

Try choosing a card manually

When Apple Pay and the terminal are working normally, the Apple Pay wallet launches automatically with your default card selected when you bring the phone near the terminal. Although this feature streamlines checkouts, the NFC chips on POS terminals don’t always read Apple Pay properly.

In these instances, you’ll need to select your preferred card manually and then try the terminal again:

  1. Open the Wallet app on your iPhone.
  2. Choose the card you want to use for the purchase.
  3. Hold the top of your iPhone near the contactless reader.

Wallet app on iPhone

If the reason why Apple Pay wasn’t working on your iPhone involved NFC connectivity, your transaction should finally push through. When this happens, you should see Done and a checkmark appear on your iPhone’s display.

If you have more than one card in your Wallet, it’s also worth checking whether the default card you’ve been using has expired or been flagged by your bank. An expired card or a card your bank has temporarily blocked for suspicious activity won’t process a payment through Apple Pay, even though it still shows up in your Wallet. You can check your card details by tapping the card in the Wallet app and then tapping the three-dot menu in the top-right corner.

Check the System Status of Apple Pay

If you’ve already tried choosing a card manually, it’s time to check the system status of Apple Pay. Apple Pay depends on an online service to be up and running, and if Apple Pay is offline, you won’t be able to complete the transaction. Of course, Apple Pay has a very high uptime and it’s unlikely to not be working. But if you want to know if the problem is at your end or at Apple’s end, visit the Apple System Status webpage and see if Apple Pay & Wallet has a green status light. If it doesn’t, nothing you do at your end will fix it, so you should make a purchase the old fashioned way.

Restart your iPhone

If you’re still unable to use Apple Pay, you should try restarting your iPhone. A quick restart refreshes your device’s memory and clears the temporary cache, which might be interfering with the Apple Pay feature. If you are not in a hurry (this will take several minutes), get out of line and restart the phone, then try again after the phone is back up and running.

To restart, press and hold the side button and either volume button until the power-off slider appears. Slide to power off, wait about 30 seconds, then press and hold the side button again until you see the Apple logo. A regular restart usually does the trick, but if Apple Pay still won’t respond after that, try a force restart instead — press and quickly release the volume up button, press and quickly release the volume down button, then press and hold the side button until the Apple logo appears.

Update your iPhone

Go to Settings > General > Software Update and install any available iOS update. Apple and card issuers periodically release updates that patch bugs affecting Apple Pay, and running an outdated version of iOS is one of the more common reasons the feature stops working — particularly right after a major release.

If you’ve been putting off an update for a while (and honestly, most of us have at one point or another), that pending update could be exactly what’s breaking your payments. Some users reported widespread Apple Pay and NFC failures after upgrading to iOS 26, and Apple addressed several of those issues in follow-up patches like iOS 26.0.1 and 26.0.2. Keeping your iPhone on the latest version won’t guarantee that Apple Pay never acts up, but it rules out a whole category of known software bugs that Apple has already fixed.

Check your Face ID and Apple Pay settings

Open Settings > Face ID & Passcode (or Touch ID & Passcode on older models), enter your passcode, and make sure Contactless & Payments is toggled on under the “Use Face ID For” section. While you’re there, scroll down and confirm that Wallet is enabled under “Allow Access When Locked.”

Allow Access for Wallet When Locked

These settings can get switched off after an iOS update without any warning, and when they’re off, Apple Pay either won’t authenticate your payment or won’t even appear when you double-click the side button at checkout. You’ll also want to check one more thing: go to Settings > Wallet & Apple Pay, tap Apple Pay Defaults, and verify that Double-Click Side Button is turned on. If that toggle is off, double-clicking does nothing and you’ll just be standing at the register wondering why your cards aren’t showing up.

Replace your credit card in Apple Pay

From here on out, the potential fixes are increasingly inconvenient and time-consuming, so try them if nothing else works and you don’t want to enlist the help of Apple’s customer support.

The easiest of these more involved fixes is removing and replacing the cards in your Apple Wallet. This is especially likely to fix your problem if you have several credit cards in your wallet but only one of them fails to work. By removing and replacing that problematic card, you may be able to fix a glitch in the way that card was stored or accessed.

  1. Open the Wallet app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap the card that isn’t working properly.
  3. Tap the More button (⋯), then tap Card Details.
  4. Scroll down and tap Remove Card. You will need to confirm this choice.
  5. Restart your phone.
  6. Open the Wallet app again and tap the Add button (+).
  7. Tap Debit or Credit Card and follow the directions to add that same card back again.

When you re-add a card, your bank goes through a fresh verification process, which can clear out old token data or provisioning errors that built up over time. If Apple Pay shows the card as “Not Verified” or “Verification Required” after you add it back, tap the card and follow the prompts — your bank may send a verification code via text or ask you to call in.

Sign out and back into your Apple Account

It’s possible that something has gone awry with the way you are signed into your Apple account, so in the same way that you might have tried to restart your iPhone or replace your credit card, you can sign out of your Apple account and sign back in again.

  1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
  2. At the top of the page, tap your name.
  3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and tap Sign Out. You’ll need to confirm that you want to do this. Sign out settings on iPhone
  4. Restart your phone.
  5. Return to the Settings app and sign back into your Apple account.

Signing out resets the authentication link between your Apple account and the payment tokens stored on your device. It’s a heavier fix than a restart, and you’ll need to re-enter your Apple account password and possibly go through two-factor authentication again, so make sure you have access to your trusted device or phone number before you sign out. Once you’re signed back in, your cards should reappear in the Wallet — though in some cases you may need to re-add one or two of them.

Contact Apple customer support

If Apple Pay is still not working on your iPhone, you should reach out to Apple customer support for further help. It’s possible that you have a hardware problem — for example, the NFC chip used to communicate with the point of sale terminal might not be working. This isn’t something you can easily test or troubleshoot on your own, so enlist the help of Apple.

Before you go to an Apple Store, call Apple Support at 1-800-MY-APPLE (or use the Apple Support app) and ask them to run a remote diagnostic on your iPhone. The diagnostic can check whether your NFC module is functioning properly, and it saves you a trip if the problem turns out to be software-related after all. If the diagnostic points to a hardware failure — and NFC chip failures are more common than you’d think, especially on iPhones that have been dropped — you may need an in-person repair at an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider. In some cases, a damaged NFC module requires a full board replacement, which Apple may cover partially or fully if you have AppleCare+.

If you’d rather exhaust every software option before calling Apple, you can also try resetting your network settings as a last resort. Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Network Settings. This won’t erase your photos or apps, but it will wipe all saved Wi-Fi passwords, VPN configurations, and cellular settings, so you’ll need to reconnect to your Wi-Fi networks afterward. VPN apps in particular have been known to interfere with NFC payments — if you have a VPN installed, try deleting it completely (not just turning it off) and testing Apple Pay again before you reset everything.

If you decide to visit an Apple Store, make sure to book a genius bar appointment first.

5 REASONS to Buy an iPad in 2026

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There are many uses for the iPad, but in this article, I narrowed down my top five reasons why you should consider buying an iPad.

So, without further ado, let’s get into it.

An iPad Air in space gray, starlight, pink, blue, and purple.,

Reason #1: iPad is a great decision for school

I’ve used an iPad for school for the past three years. And honestly, upgrading to an iPad from a notebook was probably the best decision I ever made for college. So if you have the means to do it, go ahead and do it, because it was the best decision I ever made.

So, why do I think an iPad is a great purchase for school? Well, i used the iPad for a bunch of things—from taking notes to watching lectures to taking notes while watching lectures on the same device. It eliminated the struggle of not having enough space for my laptop and my notebook on the same table. It also got rid of the fact that I had to buy notebooks, pens, highlighters, and all that school stuff every year.

Yes, I spent a pretty penny on my iPad. But after the first year of school, it basically paid for itself due to the fact that I’m saving money because I can buy an ebook version of the overpriced textbooks for my classes. And those ebooks are like a quarter of what a regular textbook costs. Seriously, the most that I’ve ever been asked to pay for a textbook was over $450. Some schools have books that are up in the thousands. And that same year, I had two other classes that told me I needed other textbooks that were both $200 each. That’s over $850 in textbooks, and the iPad was $700 with Apple’s education discount, and it came with a free set of AirPods.

But you don’t have to be like me and buy the iPad Pro. You can go with a regular iPad and still use one of the Apple Pencils that they have. Apple sells an Apple Pencil for iPads that don’t support magnetic charging like the older generations of iPads. This Apple Pencil, instead of plugging into the bottom of the iPad and looking like a weird antenna, you just pull on the top of the pencil, and it reveals a USB type C plug for you to charge with the same cord that you use to charge the iPad.

Reason #2: iPad is a great tool for creatives

The second reason that you should purchase an iPad is because it is a great tool for creatives, especially for people not like me who can draw and paint, as well as people who are like me who like to edit photos on the go. The Apple Pencil is what makes this fact shine the most, with features like being able to make fine-tune adjustments without your finger getting in the way and the ability to press harder to make darker or bigger marks when you’re drawing. Also, being able to double tap on the pencil to switch to the eraser, taking out the multiple-step process of going to the tool menu of whatever app you’re using and picking the eraser tool, is a plus.

I wish to mention that I’m not a drawer, as previously stated, but I have friends who do draw, and the apps that they use to take advantage of the Apple Pencil’s features are apps like Procreate, where you have endless brushes to take you wherever your imagination can take you.

Aside from the portability, if you’re a photographer like myself, it’s a great tool too. Adobe’s made apps that work great on the iPad. Apps like Lightroom and Photoshop are a breeze to use and edit with. Sometimes when I’m editing photos, I like to specifically edit photos on my iPad. It’s great because when I’m done editing whatever photo I’m editing, I can save it directly to my iPad. And because of iCloud, the photo will automatically sync to my iPhone and is ready to post on Instagram or Facebook or whatever app that keeps me up at night.

Reason #3: iPad is a great streaming device

The third reason for purchasing an iPad is the fact that it is a great experience for streaming on. Mostly, everyone has turned to streaming for their entertainment needs, and the iPad just makes that better. Using it to watch your favorite YouTuber or watching your favorite show on Netflix or any other streaming service is great. Yes, you can do that on your phone and on your laptop, but with the iPad, you have a bigger screen. It’s more portable than having to bring around a laptop, and you can always get an iPad that’s hooked up with your cell service provider and not have to worry about finding access to Wi-Fi.

Also, most of the models of iPad have stereo audio, meaning that they have speakers at the top and bottom of it. So when you turn it on its side, you have speakers to the left and right of you, making the audio experience top-tier. Or you can always go with how I listen to whatever I’m watching on my iPad and use my AirPods.

Reason #4: iPad can be a great alternative to a laptop

The fourth reason is that it can be a great alternative to a laptop. There are loads and loads of accessories that you can get to enhance the experience that you can have with the iPad—keyboards, mice, a screen protector that makes it feel like you’re actually writing on paper. And with the fact that the iPad comes with USB type C now, you can use external hard drives without a dongle to unload or, in my case, load things like scripts onto it. So I can use it as a teleprompter.

Apple does make its own keyboard that doubles as a case that effectively turns your iPad into sort of an all-in-one computer. The keyboards from Apple range from $159 to $299 depending on the features and the type of iPad that you decide to purchase. And don’t worry, there are cheaper options that you can choose from on Amazon. If you’d like to read a review of cheap iPad keyboards, please let me know down in the comments.

Now, maybe an attached keyboard isn’t necessarily your style. You can always use any wireless keyboard that has a Bluetooth connection with the iPad. Personally, whenever I don’t feel like writing my notes, I’ll connect my Logitech MX keys to the iPad and use that. I like the feel of a full-size keyboard because of the 10-key number pad, but they have the MX keys mini that comes without the 10-key as well. Side note: they also have a mechanical keyboard, and it’s pretty cool.

Reason #5: iPad is an excellent gaming device

The fifth and final reason why you should buy an iPad is because of gaming.

What?

Yes, you heard me right. I said gaming in the context of an Apple product, but it’s true. Apple has a list of games that are being offered to play on the iPad. Titles include Minecraft, Call of Duty Mobile, Resident Evil Village, and Mario Kart, with more titles to come to the Apple ecosystem, according to Apple. The gaming experience is enhanced due to the fact that you can use a gaming controller like the one you might use for your Xbox One or PlayStation 4 to play games if you don’t want to use the touchscreen. This also makes it so that you no longer have to hold onto the iPad when you’re using it—just play. I can imagine sitting at an airport with a long layover, throwing in my AirPods, connecting my controller, and just passing the time.

That’s it for this article. As always, I’m going to throw it back to you. Do you use the iPad? What kind? And what’s your favorite feature? Let me know in the comments below.

How to go caseless with iPhone

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I have a case on my iPhone 17 Pro Max, which I removed the other day to give it a good cleaning. Every time I remove my phone from a case, I remember how slim and sleek it is to hold and play with. Cases give a phone a completely different personality, and it is hard to believe that anyone actually likes the feel of them better.

Cases are a big business. In 2022 and 2025, there were about 1.5 billion phones sold in the world, and the protective phone cover market was about $21.4 billion in 2022. If you divide that by an average of around $12 per case, it comes to around 1.8 billion cases, or more cases than phones sold in those years. In fact, I find it jarring every time I see someone in public without a case. I can’t help but wonder, what would it be like to be so bold? So, recently, I started to ask myself: Should I go caseless with iPhone in 2026?

Why do people use cases on iPhones?

The biggest reason is protection from damage. iPhones today are more expensive than ever, with some approaching $1,500 or more. That is quite an investment, but not surprising for a device that we use far more than anything else in our daily lives.

When we spend a lot of money on something, we want to keep it protected from everything we can. Not only the iPhones expensive up front, but if you damage an iPhone, the cost of repairs can be equally expensive—hundreds of dollars or more for a screen repair or device replacement.

I am not a doomsday prepper or anything, but there are hard, rough surfaces everywhere. Most people work from home these days, but just inside your house, you will probably find hard surfaces that will destroy your phone, like countertops, tile floors, stairs, and concrete. It is no wonder that people want to slap a $6 piece of rubber on the iPhone to keep it from an inanimate beating. Maybe I am being paranoid, but I have never had a screen crack or had to replace an iPhone due to damage.

The other reason people want a case on an iPhone is for personalization. If you just search "insert iPhone model case" in Google or Amazon, you will find hundreds of options ranging all over in color, design, material, and personality. If you want a pink sparkle case, you can find it. Or maybe you want a pink sparkle case that can also be your wallet.

You can find thick cases, slim cases, clear cases, printed cases, silicone cases, and hard cases. You can find cases with dogs, cases with cats, purple panda cases, plush cases, battery cases, and even cases with kickstands and finger rings. Whatever it is that you want your iPhone to look like, chances are you can find it.

I tend to stick to simpler designs for my cases, but I can look back to my first cases bought on Amazon in 2012, starting with the iPhone 5. I have purchased over 40 cases since then, including for iPhones, Galaxies, Pixels, Motorolas, and Nexuses. I mostly bought them for protection, but some of them were for bold colors or features.

How to go caseless with iPhone

Some people out there including our own editor-in-chief Dave Johnson can’t stand the idea ofslapping a case on their beautiful, expensive iPhone. So, what is the case against cases? I think people just want to see the design. Apple spend hundreds of millions of dollars designing a beautiful, thin device. They go over every detail—how they look and how they feel in the hand—and some people just want to appreciate and experience the phone as it was meant to be. I can’t blame them. I have always been envious of the people willing to go caseless with iPhone.

I think of the age of modern full-screen devices and the prevalence of swiping gestures. There is no better response between your finger and the screen than when it is naked—your phone that is. So, if you are someone who would like to go caseless with iPhone but is having trouble getting around the idea of losing that protection, here are a couple of ways to do it.

First, don’t be clumsy. I know, that is easier said than done, and accidents are called accidents for a reason. But hear me out. There are a few things you could do to reduce the risk of damaging your iPhone while out in the world. For instance, don’t use it while walking. This seems obvious. Just use your phone when you are stationary and can devote your attention to that expensive marvel of engineering. You know there is nothing more important than checking that notification or responding to a Twitter troll at that moment, and your phone deserves your full attention, right? This should include when going up and down stairs, getting out of a car, and waiting in line.

I know we are not animals and none of what I just said is possible, so that brings us to the second option: insurance. In lieu of a case, you could pony up monthly for a protection plan from Apple or a wireless carrier and go caseless all day long. Sure, it is more expensive than buying a case, but can you really put a price on the enjoyment you get from whipping out a smooth metal and glass sandwich and swiping to your heart’s content? Maybe, because if you drop it, you could find yourself forking over $80 or $100 or more for repairs, and repairs could be hard to come by.

The third way to go caseless with iPhone is to not care. Resign yourself to the fact that you will probably drop your phone at some point when you are least expecting it, and enjoy the memories that the marks make.

Conclusion

Cases offer protection and personalization but hide the natural beauty of the hardware as it was designed. You can cover your expensive new toy with plastic, rubber, glitter, and accessories, or you can bare it all and risk everything by letting your iPhone flap in the wind. Either way, at some point, your phone will unexpectedly leave your hands and hit a surface that was not meant for polished metal and glass. Will you be sighing with relief, cursing the gods, or laughing about it later?

For me, I still can’t decide. So let me know in the comments what you think I should do. Should I risk it all for the best swiping experience, or keep my baby wrapped in silicone and enjoy perfection only when sitting on the couch?