iPad: Frozen and unresponsive

• Last Modified: April 15, 2010
• Article: TS3281

iPad: Frozen and unresponsive
Symptoms iPad may occasionally stop responding to buttons, switches, or touchscreen input. Symptoms may include:

• Does not return to the Home screen after pressing the Home button.
• Does not wake from sleep after pressing the Sleep/Wake button.
• Unable to "Slide to Unlock" or "Slide to Power Off."

If this occurs, refer to the troubleshooting suggestions below.

Products Affected

iPad

Resolution

If a single application is not responding or freezes when it opens, you can force it to close:

1. Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button until the red slider appears. When the red slider appears, release the Sleep/Wake button.
2. Instead of dragging the red slider, press and hold the Home button for six seconds.
3. If the device does not return to the Home screen, see the steps below to restart.

If the iPad is unresponsive or certain controls aren't working as expected, try restarting the device:

1. To turn it off, press and hold the Sleep/Wake button until the red slider appears.
2. Slide your finger across the slider to turn off iPad.
3. To turn iPad on, press and hold the Sleep/Wake button until the Apple logo appears.

If the iPad remains unresponsive, but you can see an image on the screen, try resetting the device:

• Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button at the same time for at least ten seconds.

If there is no video on iPad, verify that it has enough charge to turn on:

1. Connect iPad to the 10W USB Power Adapter with the Dock Connector to USB Cable.
2. Let iPad charge for at least ten minutes and then see if it starts up normally.
3. If the screen displays a red battery icon, let it to continue to charge until it turns on.

If the above steps do not resolve the issue, or the if screen remains black or shows a persistent Apple logo, try restoring with iTunes:

1. Connect iPad to your computer and open iTunes.
2. If the iPad appears in iTunes, select the iPad and click Restore on the Summary pane.
3. If the iPad doesn't appear in iTunes, try using the steps in this article to force iPad into recovery mode.

Never had this happen but thanks for taking the time to post.

I may have to start calling you "the Lifeguard!"...you seem on the ready to save someones life with this valuable need to know data.

Wives everywhere will now know how to talk their husbands down from the roof! - lol

Thanks 4

Really.

iPad3G 64GB
email app frozen
held sleep and home buttons, shut down, apple icon, then to black....stayed black. No matter what combo of buttons pressed, or plug into Mac [iTunes] and press buttons or hold home button and plug into Mac, all the combos I can find on internet....nada. zilch. black screen is it! help?

Frozen and unresponsive

I thought this was a post about my ex!

This should be made a sticky and titled better. I have made at least 10 posts with these instructions to various people. In fact, I just did one such post before reading this one. I could have just pointed to this TS article...