iPhone 11 Max Screen Black or Frozen. Problem Solved!

When we are not traveling or depending on mobile data plans, we try to keep our Apple devices on our local WiFi network with automatic updates selected to make certain the latest version of iOS is always installed. This choice has served us well for many years for many different models of the Apple iPod, iPad, and iPhone.

Well, our luck ran out. During a recent overnight update to iOS on an iPhone 11 Pro, we had what appeared to be a "bricked" device. The iPhone screen was black and no combination of button presses, cable connections, or wireless chargers seemed to be able to wake the phone.

A search through the Apple online support resources surprisingly did not provide much help, so we called Apple Support and received this assistance; information that we were not able to find online.

If your screen is black or frozen, you need to force restart your device. A force restart won't erase the content on your device. You can force restart your device even if the screen is black or the buttons aren't responding.

For iPhone models with Face ID, press and quickly release the Volume Up button. Press and quickly release the Volume Down button. Then press and hold the Side button until the device restarts.

We had to repeat this force reset process several times before the iPhone 11 actually "woke up."

Once awake, the phone needs to complete the failed iOS update process. Plug the phone into a computer with iTunes installed. When you get the option to restore or update, choose Update. Your computer will try to reinstall iOS without erasing your data.

These steps successfully recovered our iPhone 11 Max from the failed iOS update and restored the phone with no data loss. Crisis adverted and problem solved!