Sometimes issues pop up while we’re using an iPhone or iPad that can be frustrating. A quick search on the Apple discussion forum or through Google shows that while a handful of people have had the same situation, no one has identified a solution yet. It doesn’t mean there isn’t one. It just means no one has come to the rescue yet for this particular issue, since there are only a small amount of people dealing with it.

I had a problem with my 3rd generation iPad shutting off on me when I wasn’t even close to having a low battery. It wasn’t often, only every other day or so, just enough to be annoying. This could be any number of things, such as a problem with my update to iOS 6 or even a problem with the iPad itself. Because of the range of possible problems, here’s a list of steps to go through to troubleshoot your device that is running iOS 6.

Apple Support Online

The Apple site features a Support page where you can get many of your questions answered. It features several different sources, including Video Tutorials, Manuals, and Communities. Apple doesn’t waste the trees to ship manuals with their products; they let you either access them online or download and print them out on your own and let you waste the trees yourselves. Communities, a message board for users, can many times provide some great solutions. You can start by clicking on the product you’re troubleshooting, then working through the support options. It troubleshoots apps as well as offers a User Guide that helps you work through everything.

You can also try searching for your individual problem on Google or another preferred search engine. Try to be as specific as you can with your problems to help filter out unnecessary responses. It can take awhile to search through all the responses, but if the problem is significant enough, you should be able to find a solution.

Powering Down

If you can’t find a solution through researching, you’ll have to try a few methods to fix the problem on your own. The first and most obvious is to power down your device. This doesn’t mean just clicking the button quickly at the top, as that is only putting the device to sleep. You need to completely shut it down. To do this, hold down that button at the top until you see the button telling you to slide to power off. Slide it off, then wait a few minutes before turning back on and see if it solves the issue.

Quitting Apps Not In Use

In OS X when we’re stuck, we quit out of the app and start over, and if that’s not available to us, we do a forceable quit. In iOS 6, we do a combination of the two. Not only do you want to do this if a particular app is giving you trouble, it’s also a good idea to try this if you’re feeling your device is acting sluggish. Click the home button twice, and it shows you a list along the bottom of the screen that has all of your open apps. If you then do a long lick on one of the apps, they all start shaking and little Xes appear in the corner of each app. Clicking an X will close that app. It’s easy to get a long string of open apps as we never think to close them. Swiping over the list will show you even more open apps. Close as many as you can that you aren’t currently using.

Reset

Depending on how bad your issue is, resetting your device might be the only option. iOS 6 offers you several different choices for resetting. These include resetting all the settings, the network settings, the keyboard dictionary, the home screen layout, and location and privacy. Additionally, there’s a last ditch effort, completely erasing all the content and settings. However, this will obviously get rid of anything you have saved on your device that hasn’t made it into iCloud, but if you have your device regularly back up to iCloud, all your documents, pictures, settings, text messages, etc., should be saved as of your most recent backup.

If none of these methods work to solve your issue, you can either contact online support back at the apple.com Support page, or you can set up an appointment at your nearest Genius Bar. This appointment can be made at the apple.com site as well. The good thing about Apples is that since they are usually simplistic devices, the problems tend to be as well, meaning the solutions follow suit, usually being easy to solve.

Laura has spent nearly 20 years writing news, reviews, and op-eds, with more than 10 of those years as an editor as well. She has exclusively used Apple products for the past three decades. In addition to writing and editing at MTE, she also runs the site’s sponsored review program.

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