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Early iPhone 6s + 6s Plus buyers report Touch ID, 3D Touch, speaker + power problems

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Following last week’s release of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, Apple’s support community pages are lighting up with new reports of problems with the new iPhones for some customers. The issues range from overheating Touch ID buttons to random power-offs, significant audio distortion, and 3D Touch glitches.

Below, we look at some of the most interesting iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus problems users are reporting, as well as possible solutions…

  • Touch ID. Some users of the iPhone 6s have reported that their Home buttons/Touch ID scanners are becoming “really hot” to the touch, a problem that can apparently be resolved by holding down the Sleep/Wake and Home buttons for 10 seconds to reset the phone.
  • Power. Some iPhone 6s users say that their devices are randomly powering off despite still having battery power. The iPhones can be powered back on again by holding down the Sleep/Wake buttons, but stop functioning once the power goes out.
  • Speakers. A number of iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus users have been reporting significant audio distortion through the devices’ speakers, including “super loud” notification sounds that mimic the speaker being blown. While it’s unclear whether the issue is in hardware or software, some users believe that it’s a software bug related to restoring from an older iPhone backup; others believe that the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus speakers have taken a step down from the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. We have also noticed that the iPhone 6s Plus is behaving oddly with the Phone app, sometimes performing audio such as phone calls and ringtones through the wrong speakers and at the wrong volumes.
  • 3D Touch. Some users, including 9to5Mac editors, have experienced 3D Touch software-related bugs, including a refusal of Safari to open web links using regular (non-deep) taps. Resetting the iPhone may allow 3D Touch to resume its normal functionality.

History suggests that Apple will remedy the majority of early adopter issues through a software update to iOS. As always, the timing of that update and the extent to which software fixes the issues remain unclear.

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Comments

  1. James Thomas - 9 years ago

    I didn’t have any of the above mentioned issues, i did however end up with a swapped unit due to handoff issues, apparently the bluetooth chip was FUBAR

  2. Daniel Livsey - 9 years ago

    I’ve noticed the same notification sound on my iPhone 6 updated to 9.0.1. Sound went missing and when I went to sound settings, would get a very loud noise. Fixed by resetting, but strange nonetheless

  3. thejuanald - 9 years ago

    Sounds about right.

  4. Merrick Karya Wirawan - 9 years ago

    new bug is when i was using the iPhone 6 Plus with 9.0.1, it was working fine with my Apple Watch OS 2.0…
    I upgraded to the iPhone 6S Plus then unpair the Apple Watch from my old iPhone 6 Plus
    I pair my new iPhone 6S Plus with the Apple Watch from the backup it created when I unpair the watch

    It re-sync the settings, but the rest of the items is not synced and never synced.
    Also, somehow the battery of the Apple Watch drain fast as in really fast.
    It was then resolved by again unpairing my Apple Watch, then this time I pair it but as a new Watch (instead from the backup)

    Then everything works again..

  5. Ronald Sondergaard - 9 years ago

    glad i refused my from ups guy…after i bought the 6s plus, with 64gb memory..i got angry apples charging $850 because i had to upgrade memory…..maybe apple will come out with at least 32gb next time,,and i might bought one

  6. michaelg379 - 9 years ago

    When I was picking up my iPhone at the Sprint Store on Saturday a guy came in returning his iPhone 6s because his speakers weren’t working. I’ve been having issues with screen burn-in on my iPhone 6s Plus. On about the bottom half of the screen at some points the screen becomes staticy and freezes on the screen briefly if that makes sense…

  7. Rasmussen (@Twitboydk) - 9 years ago

    Stuff is supposed to work. It´s not supposed to be us finding a workaround. I am disapointed.

  8. tonywmd23 - 9 years ago

    Using 3D touch to turn the keyboard to trackpad sometimes just doesn’t work. In most cases it works the first time, then you have to re-position the cursor and it stops working. Then after a while it starts working again. Definitely shove out 9.0.2 asap, Apple.

  9. squuiid - 9 years ago

    My issue is the screen quality. I’ve tried 7x new iPhone 6S phones and all exhibit a yellow tint and/or darker areas in top left of screen.
    Compared to the 3 iPhone 6 units I have they’re all terrible. I had to choose to keep a 6S with a poor screen or revert back to a 6.
    Chose the 6S but starting to regret it. Yellow tint is horrible.

    • Lee Richard Navarrette - 9 years ago

      I am experiencing the same yellow tint on my 6s Plus. It looks absolutely terrible when switching from my Mac Retina 15, iPad Air 2, iPhone 6 Plus and Surface 3. All of those devices have no tint issues, they all produce a very uniform white.

    • dpkonofa (@dpkonofa) - 9 years ago

      Could it be the same as what happened with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus where the adhesive wasn’t fully cured and normal use of the phone would complete the curing process? I remember complaints about yellow tint on those phones that would go away within a day or 2 of normal use.

    • acslater017 - 9 years ago

      Give it a couple of days before going through the hassle of returning it. The yellow tint has occurred in the past, when it’s so fresh out of the factory that the adhesive hasn’t set. It’s not necessarily a big issue, the equivalent of needing to break in your shoes :P

    • betamaxbanditiii - 8 years ago

      Yep, mine has a gradient across the screen getting darker and more yellow right to left, worst in top left. I left it for a week and didn’t notice a change (even after leaving it in a box with silica gel for a few nights to try and cure the glue faster). At that point I looked at a few of the demo models in the Covent Garden Apple Store and they were like that as well. It’s subtle but there’s a clear difference compared to the iPhone 6 demo models on display, which had no gradient, and were clearly a cooler, more uniform, white. We’ll see how it pans out. If it is glue taking time to cure, it might take longer than last year given the more comprehensive sealing on this version.

  10. Victor Garcia (@vic867) - 9 years ago

    I am having those speaker issues. I thought it was me not hearing my phone right. I tried changing the volume limit and EQ presets to no avail. Three times my phone was playing music like, if I was on a speaker call. I was thinking of taking it in to the Apple Store, but I feel that when I am there, I won’t be able to recreate the issue. If it continues I definitely will take it to the Genius bar…

  11. panicatthekevin - 9 years ago

    I had the sound issue on my iPhone 6 only after updating to 9.0 from the beta. Same thing on both (one had a dead pixel) of my iPhone 6s Plus.

  12. rafterman11 - 9 years ago

    I was using developer betas via upgrade from iOS 8, and I had all sorts of problems, even with the GM. But when the 6S Plus came, I set that one up fresh and zero issues.

  13. Titanas - 9 years ago

    The sounds problem is an iOS 9 bug for sure. It appeared with the second i believe public beta of iOS 9. I’m using an iPhone 5S but experience the exact same issue. Thus is not the iPhone 6S , 6S Plus speaker but an iOS 9 glitch.

  14. Shanson Luka - 9 years ago

    So, i’m a lucky man then, because I don’t have any of these issue !

  15. 89p13 - 9 years ago

    I have one of the first 6s Plus (as it sat in a US Warehouse for almost a week, tracking by UPS) iPhones and I have none of those problems.

    Before I did a restore from my old iPhone 6 Plus, I updated the 6s Plus to iOS 9.0.1 – then did a restore from my computer of my 6 Plus 9.0.1 based backup file – and then updated the iPhone to the developer build of 9.1

    I’m sure Apple with straighten this out quickly!

  16. Ian Minton (@quotaking) - 9 years ago

    I’m experiencing the 3D Touch Issues, also I’m experiencing distortion with the speakers with CLASSICAL MUSIC, it’s not like I’m listening to Pantera or something!

  17. acjeffers - 9 years ago

    I experienced the sound issue on my iPhone 6 (iOS 9.1.3) while driving last night. There was a sudden ear-piercing, screeching sound (I was wearing ear buds) that only resolved when I resented the phone.

    • I wanted to acknowledge this post, and confirm your report. iPhone 6 running the betas also received the same issue. This is not specifically a ‘S’ model issue.

  18. Only issues I’ve had is the hard press to move the cursor when using the keyboard doesn’t work in all my apps. Also, I noticed the whites on the 6 plus are whiter than the whites on the 6s plus. I first noticed it when using the messages app. Almost like the 6 plus is a tad brighter than the 6s plus. Other than that the 6s plus is noticeably faster when using the OS and the fingerprint scanner, and i love the siri on all the time function. The camera only seems a tiny bit better. Overall I am satisfied.

  19. chiefresident - 9 years ago

    I’m having a problem with the ambient light sensor. Display remains on when I call somebody so I press the mute oder speaker button inadvertently during the call. auto brightness works fine. I guess it has the same function for calls. 6s spacegrey 64gb

  20. bhayes444 - 9 years ago

    I’ve experienced the 3D Touch “issue”, but I really don’t think much of it. If I tap on a link and it doesn’t open, I just make sure to very lightly tap on the link the next time and it opens like a charm. I think the iPhone is registering a hard enough touch that it thinks you are going to do a peek gesture, but since you aren’t actually doing that the phone just doesn’t display anything as the press wasn’t hard enough. A light touch on the screen works fine all the time, but anything more does not. Apple should just change the settings to allow for any touch that is not at the “pop” pressure to register as a normal tap.

  21. yojimbo007 - 9 years ago

    Not here.. My 6s runs beautifuly… Rock solid and super smooth and fast.. Love it ..( upgraded from 6 )

  22. friarnurgle - 9 years ago

    My 6s plus displayed the power issue on Sunday.

  23. thisisasticup - 9 years ago

    IM sure these cases are fe and far inbetween, considering there were 13 million phones sold

  24. bringdamedic - 9 years ago

    That power issue is more of a blackscreen I’ve gotten it a few times when opening the iPhone using the finger print reader directly to messages app, I’ve yet to reproduce it successfully and there’s no other way around the screen besides forcefully shutting the iPhone down and powering up. I have also run across the same issue in safari but it’s only happened 2 times when entering the app screen freezes and I have to force a shutdown.

  25. External speaker on the iPhone sPlus has significant audio degradation! How this got by is beyond me.

  26. Just my 2 cents. The audio bug being described as a “S” issue is incorrect. Through my experience of using the Developer Betas I can confirm this is a software issue, and experienced the same problem on an iPhone 6. While I have only ever received one random turn off, you can rest assured its a software issue. As far as the touch ID heat level goes, it is a problem of the scanner continuously running which is why the ‘hard’ reset works and not a standard off and on… yet another software issue. I think 6s and 6s+ users can rest assured it is more than likely not their physical phone with defect (I’m not saying it isn’t), but all in all these all sound like software issues to me. Apple is pumping out beta releases like crazy lately, more than likely to address these issues.

  27. iluvappleblog - 9 years ago

    Having a problem with sound issues on the iPhone 5s since update. Also sometimes phones speaker volume just dies during a call. No problems on my 6 plus though, only occasional freeze when using keyboard.

  28. krikaoli - 9 years ago

    It seems this year we have not a Antenna gate or Bend gate we have multi gate of problems at the iPhones 6S! 🙀

  29. theoddshipp - 9 years ago

    i have the same problem with 3d touch, it seems its hyper sensitive and you really have to press quickly for it to register as a tap.

  30. maehill - 9 years ago

    When I touch an app, my screen goes black. I can click on the home button and it shuts the app down and I can touch it again and it opens no problem. Any ideas?

  31. pr1son3r (@pr1son3r) - 9 years ago

    speaker bug is with iOS 9 ._. i even got in on 4s and 5

  32. Thục Anh - 9 years ago

    I got my iphone 6s for 1 day and here is what happened:
    – Out of the box when I turned it on I can see the unevenness on white screen and see clearly the backlight
    – After using it to around 20% today, it turned off by itself. Nothing showed up when I plugged it into the charger. Had to hard reset to turn it back on.
    This is my first iphone ever so I’m really disappointed.

  33. This is all BS from people that wanna make apple look bad. I have literally not had one problem from my 6S plus and I got it first day. No preorder, went in store to get it and walked out within 20 minutes. (Went to AT&T) and my phone doesn’t get hot, no speaker problems and no problems at all

  34. Jesal Shah (@justashah) - 8 years ago

    My phone is alot ‘warmer’ than normal and wouldnt turn on this morning, it was fully charged..

  35. bellevueboy - 8 years ago

    13+ million phones sold, @50 comments on the article, no bendgate , antennagate or class action lawsuit or rumor there of….Advantage Apple

  36. motronic - 8 years ago

    Never had any issues with the exception of a really hot 6S+ while first restoring from a backup.

  37. The only issue I’m experiencing is that every now and then when I’m on the lock screen it will say “Touch ID or passcode” but when I place my fingerprint on the sensor, it won’t even scan it.

  38. Ryan Meyer-Thovson - 8 years ago

    Just got off the phone with Apple. We are getting the burning hot home button. The phone is completely shot now, find my iPhone has not been able to find the phone for 4 hours now and no response from the phone for 4 hours and the home button is still burning hot. Apple recorded statements that I was not injured by the button and confirmed multiple times with me that I was not injured by the button. Think they know something…….

  39. henrychinique - 8 years ago

    I have the IPhone 6s Plus & the only problem I have is when I’m playing music. My songs either start out fine or there’s a few seconds delay. When it actually starts it goes on for 5 or 6 seconds & stops again. Anyone experiencing this type of problem?

    • michaelg379 - 8 years ago

      If you’re talking about Apple Music I had a similar problem on not only my iPhone 6s Plus, but also my iPhone 5s and iPad Air 2. I thinks it’s a software problem not a hardware problem. Once the song does start playing, I never have any issues with it stopping again.

  40. Imran khan (@ikhantexas) - 8 years ago

    I have Iphone 6s and it randomly turned itself off then I was trying to turn it on but no response then I put on charge still no response and did not show the battery charging logo. It was totally black screen.. After some hours I held down the power button and home button the apple logo appeared now its working fine. Should i replace it?

  41. Paul Andrew Dixon - 8 years ago

    i can imagine snorkin laughing saying “this is what happens when you pay kids 17cents an hour to make your phones”…lol

  42. Tim Barrett - 8 years ago

    My 6s goes black each time I try to open an app, I hit home button and reclick same app and it opens. This only happens first time I open the app. Any ideas?

  43. Patricia DeGaston - 8 years ago

    I got a 6S Plus and my Siri is just stupid. It’s like the Siri on my 5S was in the AP class and the Siri on the 6S Plus was held back a year or two. S5 Siri a request could be made in plain English spoken at conversational speed in a single sentence. “Hey Siri, set a reminder for Thursday at 5 to pick up dry cleaning” and she would just do it. 6S Plus Siri doesn’t respond to Hey Siri, despite being on and set up, and then she says she didn’t catch that or gives me a list of options. I say “Set a reminder” from the options and then wait and then she asks what I want to be reminded of and I have to kind of hold her hand through the whole thing, like she managed to set the reminder but was so slow and needed way too much help from me to do the task. I was trying to get to a person’s house the other night and after it not responding to “Hey Siri” I held the button and waited for the menu and then pushed the mic button (not something I had to do on the 5S) so it would listen. I said “Directions to 4408 W Gray Dove Ave in Phoenix Arizona” On the 5S the phone would begin navigation. On the 6S Plus the phone responds “Calling Jan Bogart”. Once I can understand maybe a car noise interfered with hearing me. So by this point I have pulled over because clearly there is no hands free or safe working with the 6S while driving. So siting still I shut the engine off and again tell the phone the same address and it again responds by trying to call someone on my contacts list rather than giving the directions. I was annoyed and late at this point and manually dialed my husband and asked him for directions. At least it was able to perform its primary function as a phone but yeah…. for $800 it better do more than make calls. I called T-Mobile twice and was transferred up 2 tiers and then to Apple. The Apple person was not very helpful or professional. Phone still not working after a reset and erase. I think the mic may be defective on the phone where it doesn’t hear me correctly. Siri is processed remotely so I don’t know why she is so helpful on the 5S and such a dolt on the 6S Plus. I put the SIM card from my husbands Iphone into the 6S and my SIM into my 5S and put them side by side and talked to them and the 5S was able to complete the tasks and the 6S got stuck at the menu of things I could request. I am returning the 6S Plus and just going to keep my 5S until it breaks and then get whatever is new. The superiority of Siri over S Voice is the only reason I don’t have an Android device and that incentive seems to have vanished with the 6S Plus. Boo on T-Mobile for not offering to replace the unit. Their best suggestion after my phone calls was to wait for a software update. Why, when the 5S functions in a useful manner on the same OS?

  44. Richmond Gabriel - 8 years ago

    I bought an iPhone 6S a week ago and then after I update it to iOS 9.1 the battery and 3D touch issue just occured. What can I do to resolve these things? I’ve already tried Hard reset and resetting through settings, but none of it works.

  45. Praveen Siddharthan - 8 years ago

    My new phone does not work does not work in touch and when I touch box boxes are displayed in the place I touch please help me

  46. I have a reproducible case of “restoring iPhone from an older iPhone backup”. The audio symptom is that the output is effectively cut in half – peak voltages about 0.6v instead of closer to 0.98v. Otherwise plays fine. This effect might sound to the typical user as a quieter output (not any of the other audio symptoms people are describing).

    The case is a restore from iTunes backup of an iPhone 5s (iOS 8.2 or thereabouts) on Windows 7 to either an iPhone 6s or an iPhone 6 Plus. I have not yet reproduced it for other OS, iOS, or devices. A fresh restore under iOS 9.1 eliminates the effect.

    Anyone seen anything similar? Or have other symptoms that can reliably be reproduced from an “older restore”? Or better, they know what this problem is?

  47. Hello,
    Just have the problem with Home button being unresponsive asides from extremely hot today, I reboot it by holding the sleep-wake and home button together for some seconds. I bought mi iPhone 6s (128gb) on September. Did anyone have the issue happening again?
    I bought the US but do not live there, wanna know if it might be a recurrent issue so my cousin who is traveling next week can try to change it for a new one, it has been less than 11 months since i bought it.