What You Need to Know About iPhone 7 Loop Disease

Are you an iPhone 7 user? Have you ever encountered any issue with your gadget till now? If no, you are quite fortunate. Anyways, beware of “iPhone 7 loop disease”, which is a next-generation family member of iPhone 6’s issue called “touch disease”. This is a specific technical problem which is known to be epidemic and can cause iPhone 7 and 7 Plus user gadgets. The issue affects your device’s audio section where you will get a greyed icon while placing calls. The result will be the person won’t be able to hear you through ear speakers and even from loudspeakers. Whereas, the audio would be perfect if you connect your device to Bluetooth/WiFi speakers while placing a call. The problem can be resolved by approaching a best service centre for iPhone repair in Delhi by replacing the Audio IC Component that goes with iPhone motherboard. The issue comes specifically at an inopportune time, as various users of iPhone are just coming out of warranty period, bringing at a cusp where their gadgets are still in a good condition, but are quite costly to resolve. As of now, only small number of devices is affected by this disease, but as the time passes by, the number may increase as they start to age.
So, let’s move onto more details of iPhone 7 loop disease.

What is iPhone 7 Loop Disease?

Do you remember the issues of iPhone 6 which was named as “iPhone 6 Touch disease”? The loop disease is named after the touch disease and consists of a set of audio-related bugs that affects iPhone 7. Even though it is a bug that affects the audio functions, it also has the capability to terminate normal functions.
The iPhone device that shows loop disease will have issues with audio quality like improper speaker behaviors, unusual sounds etc. iPhone 7 audio issues also include microphone problems, phone calls etc where the other person on the same call may not be able to hear you. The device displays a speaker button which is inaccessible along with voice memo apps. The iPhone 7 plus speaker problem may result the device to slow down or freeze or to get stuck while booting up.

iPhone 7 loop disease lawsuit

Apple Insider reported that a class action lawsuit was filed against Apple for Audio IC defects on the iPhone 7. According to the plaintiffs, their iPhone 7 succumb to a claimed defect known as “loop disease” by the technicians and Apple is believed to have said they wouldn’t do a thing about it.

The iPhone 7 loop disease lawsuit has three plaintiffs – Two said they experienced a greyed-out “speaker” button on the iPhone’s touch screen while making a call. One described an underwater audio experience when talking on calls, in the sense she felt like the audio from the phone sounded like how things sound to humans under water. One common complaint was that Siri didn’t respond to voice commands, and that other voice response applications were inoperable as well.

The suit claims breach of Apple’s express warranty, breach of implied warranty, violation of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, violation of the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, violation of the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act, violation of the California Unfair Competition Law, violation of the California False Advertising Law, negligent misrepresentation and unjust enrichment. 

How to Know your Device is Affected by Loop Disease?

The issues get worse as the time passes by due to detachment of the chip. During the early days of disease you may encounter occasional freezing or grayed speaker icon or a grayed voice memo icon while trying to place a voice call. With the progression in the disease, your device gets stuck without displaying Apple logo on restarting. Hence iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 plus audio issue are named as loop disease.

You may not even know about this issue with your iPhone for many days or even weeks until it reaches at the final stage with the Apple logo on “infinite loop”. It manifests until a phone resetting is done. This happens because not all the users reset or shut their phone frequently to check everything is correct.
“It is been found that Apple has shared a document to the service providers stating audio issues during Face-time video chats and phone calls on iPhone 7 and 7 Plus models with iOS 11.3 and later version. By the time article was published, Apple didn’t return a comment requisition”, quoted by Motherboard.

Symptoms of iPhone 7 Loop Disease

The symptoms of the iPhone 7 loop disease aren’t many, but can get worse over time. For starters, here are the 5 most prominent early signs of a loop disease:

1. Occasional freezing of the phone
2. Grayed-out voice memo icon
3. Grayed-out speaker icon during phone calls
4. iPhone restarts intermittently 
5. iPhone is stuck in a restart loop – iPhone continuously restarts where one sees the Apple logo on the display for a few seconds before it suddenly disappears and reiterates again.

How does iPhone 7 Loop Disease Happen?

There is a statement that the audio chip which gets detached from the motherboard causes the loop disease. But it is just a statement and the exact reason is yet to find out. Experts suggest that the reason for chip detachment may be due to short drops or due to continuous bending that carry out over time. In such cases, those users who carry their iPhones in their pockets will have loop disease.

In iPhone 6, the touch disease was caused due to the increased flexibility that brought chip to come free. It is yet to be determined that iPhone 7 loop disease is a software issue or hardware issue. Some iPhone users could resolve the issue by simply resetting the device or by volume adjustments. But this may not work all the time, which suggests it could be a hardware problem.

If you are sailing in the same boat with loop disease, try resetting your device first or software update to latest iOS version. if this doesn’t work for your device, it’s time to repair.

Causes of iPhone 7 loop disease

The definite cause of the iPhone 7 loop disease isn’t yet known however a loose audio chip from the motherboard is what is believed to be the problem. Some possible causes of the iPhone 7 loop disease are:

1. Loose battery connection
2. Faulty iOS update
3. Unsuccessful jailbreak 

Solution for iPhone Restart Loop

• Force restart – If caused by minor software glitches and errors, this can be a key solution. Press and hold the Power button and the Volume Down button simultaneously for 20 seconds to force restart.
• Update iOS to the latest version available – Go to Settings-> General-> Software Update. Tap the option to Download and Install incase of pending update. Another way is to connect your iPhone 7 to a computer and update iOS through iTunes.
• View Analytics Data on your iPhone 7 – to check for misbehaving apps. Go to Settings-> Privacy-> Analytics-> Analytics Data menu. Check for problematic apps that’s listed over and over again. Uninstall that app to check if  the problem is fixed or not.

For more tougher bugs, try the two solutions below. However, it is advisable to take the backup of all internal data and information needed as these solutions delete all critical data, including personal information.

• Restore iOS in recovery mode using iTunes – Start by entering into recovery mode and selecting the option to restore iOS. Opt to restore your device to a previous and stable  iOS backup and iPhone to factory default setting. This may or may not solve the problem as some loop issues are tougher to manage and may persist even after the procedure. 
• Restore your iPhone 7 in DFU mode using iTunes – A Device Firmware Update mode restore is regarded as the deepest type of restore that can be done on iPhones. You will need to use iTunes on a computer to carry out this restore. 

Other options

• Use all iOS repair/recovery softwares available to try solve the issue – The rising number of complaints regarding these intricate software issues have led rise to many recovery and repair tools being developed by software companies and developers. There may or may not be any success but what’s the harm in trying.
• Remove and re-insert SIM card, which may be the issue – A problem between the phone’s connection and wireless carrier can cause your phone to get stuck in a restart loop. Try removing and re-inserting the SIM card, or replacing it altogether.
• Pay for service from an Apple service center or avail for warranty if still valid – A system glitch that comes along with the pre-installed apps and services cannot be fixed by most of the methods. Going to the Apple centre is the best you can do. 

Some users experience iPhone restart loop for iPhone XR, iPhone XS (Max) or other models. This happened when iOS 12 was launched. While updating to the newer version, the users experienced iPhone 7 restart loop issue due to the bad update or malware. In such cases, the Apple logo will be displayed and then restart the device without booting it. This will be repeated again and again to form iPhone boot loop. If you are experiencing iPhone 7 boot loop, don’t worry, press and hold volume down and sleep button together in order to give a force restart to your device. If still the problem persists, try repairing your device at the best service center.

iPhone 7 Boot Loop after Screen Replacement

Sometimes iPhone screen replacement may end up in boot loop. If the repair is done by yourself, you may not know where the problem is. There are a set of parameters followed by the Apple gadgets while booting up. Thus, if there is a defective hardware in the system, it causes the device to restart again and again to form boot loop. The device will never restart on its own after that. If the issue is simple, you can easily fix and start using your iPhone as normal. Otherwise, you will have to approach a good service center.

“Don’t worry if you are experiencing similar issues of loop disease or boot loop as Apple is aware of the issue and the customer can directly contact Apple Care if in case of any clarifications required”, commented by an Apple spokesperson.

Rapid Repair offers doorstep service for all iPhone related issues in and around Delhi/NCR area. Our expert technicians diagnose the problem early on and work relentlessly to hand you back a fully functional phone at the earliest. We also hand you a spare phone so that you don’t miss out on crucial updates. The iPhone 7 loop disease is one such area where we hold expertise in and can help resolve the issue for you if none of the above works.

So, have your experienced loop disease? Let’s discuss the experiences now!