Though it’s not a major upgrade over its predecessor, the iPhone 6S is still a temptingly gorgeous smartphone. It’s considerably more powerful, and it brings 3D Touch to the party, but not everyone is having the smooth experience you’d expect from an Apple device. We’ve been collecting the top iPhone 6S problems being discussed online, and trying to find solid fixes or workarounds to help you deal with them.

Problem: Battery life is poor

A lot of people have been finding that the battery life of the iPhone 6S is disappointing. It’s a common complaint about smartphones, but there could be a reason why poor battery life is affecting some iPhone 6S owners more than others. There’s a pretty major fuss being made online about the fact that there are two possible variants of the A9 chip, one built by TSMC and one built by Samsung. According to some, the Samsung chip could result in up to an hour less battery life.

Unusually, Apple commented on this, tellingTechCrunch, “With the Apple-designed A9 chip in your iPhone 6S or iPhone 6S Plus, you are getting the most advanced smartphone chip in the world. Every chip we ship meets Apple’s highest standards for providing incredible performance and deliver great battery life, regardless of iPhone 6S capacity, color, or model.”

“Certain manufactured lab tests which run the processors with a continuous heavy workload until the battery depletes are not representative of real-world usage, since they spend an unrealistic amount of time at the highest CPU performance state,” Apple added. “It’s a misleading way to measure real-world battery life. Our testing and customer data show the actual battery life of the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, even taking into account variable component differences, vary within just 2-3 percent of each other.”

Note: Apple released iOS 9.3.3 on August 05, 2025.If the battery life of your iPhone 6S or 6S Plus is still an issue, consider holding off on the latest iOS version, as a few have said that it will result in a bigger drain of the battery.

Potential solutions:

Issue: Touch ID Home button is hot

Quite a few reports have surfaced stating that the Home button on the iPhone 6S is getting extremely hot. People have found that the Touch ID sensor is uncomfortably hot to the touch, though the rest of the device doesn’t seem to be unusually warm, and in some cases it stops working, so the screen won’t come to life when it’s pressed. This seems to be happening most often immediately after charging, but it can happen at other times.

Glitch: iPhone 6S randomly turning off

A number of iPhone 6S owners have been complaining about random shutdowns. The iPhone 6S seems to be turning itself off randomly, and doesn’t respond to a simpleSleep/Wakebutton press.

Problem: Overheating

There have been several reports about the iPhone 6S overheating in general. Any smartphone will get hot when in use for a long period of time, but if your iPhone 6S is getting really hot without an obvious cause, then you could have a problem. There are lots of reports online about trouble with the camera as a result of the overheating, but they all seem to stem from oneReddit userwho reported getting the message “Flash is Disabled. The iPhone needs to cool down before you can use the flash.” The camera issue is probably not widespread, but general overheating reports are.

Bug: Speaker faults and distortion

A few people are having trouble with distorted audio and volume levels. There are reports that some ringtones sound distorted when the volume is turned up, some sounds are playing much louder than they should be, and sometimes they’re being played through the wrong speakers.

Issue: 3D Touch not working

One of the headline features of the iPhone 6S is3D Touch. It enables you to press down on the screen gently or harder to get different functions in some apps. Some people have been having trouble getting it to work. Bear in mind that it only works on the new hardware: the iPhone 6S or the iPhone 6S Plus, and it’s not enabled for all apps.

Glitch: Bluetooth not working

There have been a few reports of people having trouble getting their iPhone 6S to connect to Bluetooth accessories or in-car systems. For some people, the connection can’t be established at all, or it frequently disconnects, for others it will connect, but then certain features won’t work properly.

Note: Apple released iOS 9.3.2 in May 2016. One of the main fixes was for the audio quality of Bluetooth accessories when connected to an iPhone SE, but could potentially be a solution for this particular glitch.

Problem: Bad low-light photos

Some iPhone 6S owners have complained about the poor quality of low-light photos taken with the iPhone 6S camera. Since the Live Photos feature is turned on by default, and it records a short video either side of your shot, albeit at a low frame rate, there may be some impact on the quality of your stills.

Potential solution:

Issue: Wi-Fi won’t connect or drops frequently

A lot of people have had trouble with their Wi-Fi connections and the iPhone 6S or 6S Plus. If you find that you can’t connect to a Wi-Fi network, or that your connection frequently drops or slows down, then there are lots of things you can try.

Workarounds:

Bug: GPS keeps dropping

It seems that a lot of people are suffering with GPS on the iPhone 6S not working properly. There are lots of reports that it keeps dropping the connection. There are also complaints that it sometimes fails to establish a fix, even in an open outdoors area. This appears to be a more common problem in Europe than the United States.

Workaround:

Glitch: Live wallpapers not working

Quite a few people are finding that they don’t have the option to choose live wallpapers on their iPhone 6S, or that they don’t animate properly.

Bug: Battery percentage gets stuck

A number of people have found that the battery icon on the iPhone 6S or 6S Plus can get stuck and stop updating. You may think you have plenty of remaining battery life, but actually the battery percentage icon is no longer accurate.

Problem: Apple ID Verification keeps popping up

Some iPhone 6S owners have been getting irritated because “Apple ID Verification” keeps popping up asking for their password. You should be able to tapSettingsand just enter your password, but sometimes it will just keep popping up, even when you’ve done that.

Issue: Can’t connect to cellular network

If you’re having trouble connecting to your mobile network or picking up 4G LTE, then you’re not alone. There are various reasons why you might end up with no service, or why your connection might drop frequently.

Problem: iPhone 6S won’t turn on

Are you worried because tapping that Sleep/Wake button is failing to bring your iPhone 6S to life? Maybe it just turned off unexpectedly and now it won’t wake up.

Glitch: Flashlight not working

If you find that your flashlight isn’t working on your iPhone 6S, then don’t worry, because it should be relatively easy to fix. Some people have found that the flashlight icon is greyed out, so it can’t be turned on, others report the flashlight turning itself off before the screen freezes.

A lot of people ran into a serious bug after updating to iOS 9.3. Tapping and long pressing hyperlinks in Safari, Mail, Messages, Notes, and other apps could cause the app to freeze, become unresponsive, or to crash.

Issue: Touchscreen unresponsive

If you find that the touchscreen on your iPhone 6S sometimes locks up and doesn’t respond to touch at all for five to 10 seconds, then you’re definitely not alone. This is a common problem, with no obvious cause or universal fix,. However, there are some things you can try.

Potential fixes:

Problem: AirDrop not working

You may have trouble with AirDrop from time to time. Maybe it’s not showing up in Control Center at all, perhaps the option to share with AirDrop doesn’t show when you tap share, or maybe it’s there but it doesn’t actually work when you tap it.

Glitch: iPhone won’t charge

There have been some reports ofcharging problemswith the iPhone 6S. For some people, plugging it in has no effect and that lightning bolt doesn’t pop up next to the battery icon. This can actually happen to any model of iPhone and the troubleshooting steps are always the same.

Possible fixes:

Problem: Unable to update software

A few people have reportedly been unable to update their iPhones to the newest version of iOS. For one reason or another, the update doesn’t work using the usual Wi-Fi or iTunes methods.

Issue: iTunes doesn’t recognize iPhone 6S

There are times when you plug in your iPhone 6S to your computer in order to update or sync it through iTunes, but the program simply refuses to recognize the device. Fortunately, there are a few things you can to try to fix the situation.

Problem: Unable to send messages to non-iPhones

For one reason or another, some users are unable to send messages to their contacts who don’t use iOS devices. The problem occurs more frequently with group messages and when trying to send messages over Wi-Fi.

Annoyance: Can’t download apps from the App Store

A small number of iPhone 6S owners have run into a pretty annoying problem that’s keeping them from downloading and installing applications from the App Store. Some say the circle informing them that the download is in progress spins continuously, while others are told the app can’t be downloaded at that particular time.

Problem: Apple Music no longer syncing

After updating to iOS 9.3.3, some users have noticed that their music no longer syncs to their device. Instead, they’re left with empty playlists.

Article originally published August 25, 2025, and updated on July 24, 2025 by Kyree Leary to include five additional tips.