Decipher Tools > Blog > FIXED - Upgrade to iOS 9 causing iPhones and iPads to Freeze on Slide to Upgrade Screen

FIXED - Upgrade to iOS 9 causing iPhones and iPads to Freeze on Slide to Upgrade Screen

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Kelly Heffner Wilkerson, Co-Founder of Decipher Media
Kelly Heffner Wilkerson
September 17, 2015 at 4:00 PM
Categories: Development, iPhone | View Comments



Apple released a fix for this issue in iOS 9.0.1. Yay!

Please see Apple's official update about this issue linked here.



We're seeing a lot of reports on Twitter and the Apple forums about folks being stuck at "Slide to Upgrade" after updating to iOS 9. Some people seem to be fixing it by downgrading to iOS8.4 and then upgrading again to iOS 9.

What if I Can't Downgrade due to Find my iPhone?

When trying to install iOS8.4, you may be told that Find my iPhone needs to be turned off for your iPhone. In this case, you need to put your device into DFU mode.

  • If you're still on the frozen slide to upgrade screen, press/hold the home and power buttons together to force the phone to reboot.

  • When you get back to the slide to upgrade, slide and do your passcode, but press nothing else after that.

  • Make sure you are plugged in to your computer via USB.

  • Hold the power button to bring up the slide to turn off, and slide to turn off.

  • When the iPhone is powered down, press and hold both buttons for 10 seconds. Then let go of only the power button, still only holding the home button.

  • Keep holding the home button until you see the lovely connect to iTunes screen.

Now you should be able to press that "Restore iPhone" to reinstall iOS. Don't forget to hold down Option (OS X) or Shift (Windows) to select which iOS install you want!

Special thanks to "harpreet0singh" on the Apple forums, who is doing a stellar job giving advice to people stuck at Slide to Upgrade.

I Upgraded, But Restoring My Backup Brings the Problem Back!



We're working on an update to Decipher Backup Repair for this problem. Yay!

Please see our more recent blog post about iPhones freezing on boot up after restoring a backup, linked here.



Others still seem to be stuck in the situation that a fresh install of iOS 9 works, but restoring the data from the backup made before iOS 9 brings the problem back. If there's one thing I love, it's an iPhone mystery involving backups! If you're in that situation where restoring your backup causes your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch gets stuck after restoring your backup, reach out to us through our support form. We definitely want to help figure out what is in these backups so we can fix them and get people up and running ASAP.