Before Calling Tech Support: How to troubleshoot your iPhone

It happens to practically everyone who owns an iPhone — and if you own one, it will probably happen to you, too. Whether it's a locked screen, frozen app, or a device that doesn't seem to power up at all, here are the bases to cover before calling Apple or your carrier for tech support.

Clear the cache of open apps
The first thing you should do is check and make sure any apps that are open and running in the background are closed down. Remember when Apple added multitasking? Yeah, that's what we're talking about here.

To close open apps, begin by double-clicking on the home button. This will show you which programs are still loaded into your phone's memory. Hold down one of the icons; it will start wiggling and display the delete circle in the upper left-hand corner of each icon. Tap on this circle to close the app. Click the home button when you're done. Don't worry, this won't erase the app completely from your phone.

One-app fixes
Perhaps it's just one app that's causing all the trouble. If this is the case, try clearing that app out of the cache. If that doesn't work, go to the App store on your phone and see if there is an update for that particular app. If an update isn't available or doesn't fix your issues, the next thing to try would be to uninstall and reinstall the app.

To uninstall the app, simply hold down the app icon until it starts to wiggle and the erase circle appears. Click the circle and then the home button to exit the delete mode. To reinstall the app, go into the App store and search for the app. Simply download and install it again. Don't worry if it was an app you paid for to purchase; you won't have to pay for it twice. Apple's iTunes will remember that you bought it, as long as you're downloading it using the same iTunes account that you used the first time.

When in doubt, reboot
If you've tried everything we've mentioned so far and you're still having problems with your iPhone, the next thing is to reboot the phone completely. You can try a standard reboot first, but more than likely you'll need to do what's called a hard reboot. Think of it like shutting your computer down, waiting a few minutes, and then turning it back on, as opposed to simply restarting it. A hard reboot erases anything in the phone's RAM and gives the boot-up process a clean slate to work with.

To perform a hard reboot, hold down the home button and the power button at the same time until the "slide to power off" slider arrow appears. Slide to make it turn off completely. Wait at least a full minute before powering the phone back up. You want to make sure the memory is completely cleared before you reboot.

On to tech support
Finally, when all else fails, call tech support. If your phone is still under warranty, you'll probably get better service through Apple's tech support, as long as the issue is with an app or the basic functionality of the device itself. If your problems are with the phone's voice function, text messaging, data, or other carrier features, then you'll want to call your service provider.

Just remember, your iPhone is like a little computer. Apps are just pieces of software — nothing more, nothing less. Keep your phone free of excess stuff in its memory, and remember that sometimes it just needs a good old-fashioned reboot.

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