i upgraded my iphone to ios9 now im stuck on a white screen that says slide to upgrade but it wont let me slide please help been stuck for 3hrs tried restarting the phone multiple times and keep getting the same thing how do i fix this

[c_watson816]

cant fix my iphone 4s from the slide to upgrade white screen please help been stuck trying to fix this for 3hrs now and nothing has been working and not fixing anything online have seen a lot of people with this issue similar to mines but no one has found anything to fix it

[kaebfly]

Were you updating over the air or via iTunes? If it was over the air try connecting your phone to a computer with iTunes to see if that helps move things along. It may not work but it won't hurt to try

[c_watson816]

over the air trying to get my iTunes to download now hopefully that works

[vzw_customer_support]

I want to get your phone back working c_watson816. You can press the home and power key at the same time until it reboots and see if the device responds. Also let me know what happens when you download iTunes so I can further assist.

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[pmtf4166]

We are having the same issue and this process did not work! Any suggestions?

[kaebfly]

When you connected the phone to iTunes (I assume you initially updated OTA like the OP) what happened?

[kim23135]

I am having the same problem.  Connecting to my computer did not do anything

[kaebfly]

Did iTunes say anything when you connected? Did it recognize the iPhone? I went ahead and updated to iOS 9 just a few minutes ago to see if I would run into any problems and I was successful. This doesn't help you now but I always recommend updating via iTunes versus OTA. I have never had an issue doing it that way but the one time I tried it OTA on my iPhone I ran in to problems. Works fine with my iPad though so I think it's pretty hit or miss.

[km19shel · Accepted solution]

Looks like this is a major issue with the upgrade. It is happing for thousands of iphone customers.

To get your phone at least functional again (BUT BE WARNED, IF YOU DONT HAVE A BACKUP OF YOUR PHONE, YOU WILL LOSE EVERYTHING), reset your phone by holding both buttons. Once you get past the first slide to unlock screen, turn your phone off by just holding the power button and slide to power off.

In the meantime, open itunes on your computer. Once the phone is off, hold the home button and connect the phone to your computer using your sync cable. You should see the apple, then the connect to itunes icon. Once you see the icon, release your finger from the home button and follow the instructions in iTunes to do a full factory restore of your phone. It will reinstall the ios9 software and when finished, DO NOT restore your phone (you will just go back to the frozen slide to unlock screen). Instead, set it up as a new iphone and follow the steps.

Again, this is only a fix if you want to get your phone at least functional again. If you choose this option, you may never get your old stuff back, but I suppose some people would rather just have a working phone. I really hope Apple comes out with a solution for this. No Apple reps have commented on this issue and people are freaking out. The iOS 9 upgrade worked just fine for my iPhone 6, but my wife is going through this nightmare with her 5c.

Good Luck!

[km19shel]

To clarify, after you do the factory restore, do not restore a backup of your phone from icloud or your computer. You must set it up as a new iphone to get it functional again in the meantime. At least you will have a phone for what it was originally designed for (phone calls haha).