Danielle Hatfield

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How to save your iPad from the loop of doom : A true story of patience and curse words

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Have you ever had your iPad get stuck in the low battery/apple icon loop of doom?

Not even enough juice to go into recovery mode?

Yeah. That.

Off and on since Saturday morning I have been searching for a way to get my iPad to snap out of it’s low battery/apple icon cycle of doom. You see. . . after working all day in my back yard, all I wanted was to lay on the couch and surf the net and maybe check in to see if the grim reaper was ready to kill off one of my Sims (we can chat about this another time). Well, I got sleepy and forgot to power off my iPad. Once it hit 2% – that was all she wrote. I thought that plugging it up over night would magically fix it. Nope.

I desperately searched for the symptoms of my sick iPad online. Luckily for you that my hours of agonizing over how to get this damn thing to revive, without a trip to the Genius Bar, paid off.

quick tip? Have someone willing to take turns on this resuscitation process. You will save yourself crampy hands and get your digital teet back much faster.

Here’s how to save your iPad from the loop of doom :

Step 1. Fix yourself a cocktail or a cup of coffee or both. (serisously, you’re gonna need this)

Step 2. Find something interesting to watch on Netflix. (I started watching Sliders.)

Step 3. Get comfortable and have a table or tray to rest your iPad on. The position you hold here will determine how achey you are later. Choose wisely.

Step 4. Plug in your iPad (not to your computer!) and wait for the low battery icon to come up followed by the apple icon.

Step 5. Hold both the home and the sleep button at the same time until the apple icon goes away. Don’t hesitate on the this step. You don’t want to waste any energy by having it try to boot up on you.

For those of you new to iPad – The home button is on the front of your screen at the bottom. The sleep/reset button is on the top right edge. (Tip: I recommend holding your iPad horizontal where your home button is on your right and the sleep/reset button on the top left)

Step 6. When the low battery icon shows up again it will be followed by the apple icon. Thus explaining the name ‘loop of doom’. Repeat step 5 until you get tired and then pass off to your partner. Do not stop this process unless it’s an emergency! Once a sufficient enough time has passed (I’d say about 3 episodes of your favorite show) move on to step 7.

Step 7. Let the iPad start up. You should have enough battery life (I ended up with 3%) to power down. You’ll know because your home/lock screen should come up for longer that a few seconds – giving you the ability to power down your iPad properly and recharge.

Does this method work?

I’m writing this post on my iPad aren’t I? :)

—

MAD PROPS to WildChild7778 for posting this brilliant suggestion to the Apple Support Community in response to a question by Geesmine. THANK YOU!

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  • Marco di Rossi

    Hi, here is another, simpler method, that I have not seen discussed.

    I connected my Ipad to an USB of a old computer which can only deliver limited current.

    The Ipad will notice that there is not enough current to startup, and will instead slowly charge. After about 20min I had 4% charge and could shutdown properly.

  • Rachel

    I spent the duration of two horror movies using your method until both my hands were cramping up…. and tears came to my eyes when I saw the 4% battery symbol !!!!! YOU ARE MY LIFE SAVER !!!!! Thank you so much !!
    Most advice I had gotten was “send it in for repairs” “get it replaced” “no warranty? Sucks for you” okay the last one was from my demon sister…
    Anyways Thanks !!!

    • *YAY* Rachel. SO glad to hear it worked for you. I was in the same boat and not looking forward to taking in in for repairs. Thanks for sharing!

    • Rachel, SO glad it helped! Ha ha. I warned you about the crampy hands but wasn’t it worth it? I and NOT a fan of taking it in for repairs until I have tried *everything* at home first! Thanks for stopping by! :)

  • Great tip Mark. Thank you for this. I didn’t even think to check the cable.

  • Kryssa

    It happened to me just now. I changed the USB cable and it charged and start up right away. I agree with Mark, the cable must have been faulty. Great tip tho, thanks a lot!

  • someone

    OMG!!! It actually works! Thnx soo much whoever u are, I owe u one :)

  • Cherie Deweske

    this works and he is right it takes forever dont give up i took me about an hr!

    • So glad that it worked for you Cherie. I’m glad that it only took you an hour too!

  • Nick

    If I find a way to keep both buttons depressed for hours on end, will that work too? Or Do I have to release the buttons and only depress them when I see the logo?

    • The steps I described above is what worked for me Nick. I don’t think keeping the buttons depressed for hours will help.

  • Ell Parker

    OMG!!! After being without my ipad for like three days!!!…. I was searching for hours for a solution… And even saw the recommendation from wildchild7778 on the forum, but it only worked after reading your blog. And we only had to do it through one thirty minute sitcom! :)
    Thank you for sharing your 2 cents!
    sincerely,
    Ell Parker

  • Abdul waheed

    After step 5 should I wait until the boot logo comes up again or depress the home and power button immediately after the logo goes off?

    • When the low battery icon shows up again it will be followed by the apple icon. Thus explaining the name ‘loop of doom’. Repeat step 5 until you get tired and then pass off to your partner. Do not stop this process unless it’s an emergency! Once a sufficient enough time has passed (I’d say about 3 episodes of your favorite show) move on to step 7.

  • The steps I shared above are what worked for me. I suggest trying them and seeing if it helps. If not, make an appointment at the apple store. Hope this helps!

  • Niamh

    Hello I’ve been doing step 5 for hours I press both when the sign comes up and it happens about 5 times then it goes back to the battery. Should I just keep doing that, hoping some time it’ll go normal

    • It seems like it took me and my husband forever. There are a few other suggestions from other readers that may work if my PIA method fails you. :)

  • jason alyas

    hey! i have similar problem but a bit different, hope you can help with it.
    when the apple icon appears i press and hold the home button and sleep button, the icon disappears for a few seconds and then reappears but if i hold the buttons for longer then my ipad goes into recovery mode. Can u please suggest what i can do now..

    • The only thing I can suggest are the steps above. You may want to make an appointment with the Apple store.

  • Dominic Tan

    Ipad wasn’t on for about 1 year and tried finding solutions online before I chance upon this page.

    Followed your instructions step by step and within 30mins it woke up from the dead!

    Thank you so much and it saved me a trip to the Apple store.

  • Justin

    Thank you for this fix! I only had to do it about 10 minutes to get it to work so it sounds like I got off easy. Thanks again!

  • wimzy

    My loop of doom ENDED after following your article’s steps for 30 minutes. TY. To reiterate: Just hit the Sleep & Home button whenever the Apple logo appears. A good indicator of progress is when the low-battery icon stops appearing. I went with diet coke & my ipod for company if it helps. After 30 minutes clicking & pressing I finally allowed the Ipad to boot and it was a whooping 3%,

  • Joe

    And an hour later it worked. Much thanx from saving me from to apple or a fixit place. Note to self, don’t wait until iPad is darn near dead to charge it again.

  • Isaac Ludu

    Omg it worked thank you sooo much it worked after about 45 minutes

  • pacman

    Here’s another alternative: carry out step 5 (home/lock button pressed simultaneously) but instead of releasing both, keep them both pressed for 10-15 seconds or so then release the lock button, keeping the home button depressed. This should put the device into DFU mode (you’ll see the itunes logo with a cable underneath) where you can leave the device to charge for a while before restoring through Itunes.

  • Awesome to hear Steven! I’m so glad it worked for you.

  • Phil

    One thing to add – I was trying the above method with no success until our ITC tech pointed out that I was using an iPhone plug, not an iPad plug. The iPad plug provides twice the charge apparently. I found an iPad plug and it started to work instantly without and of the routine above. Worth a try?

    • Great suggestion Phil!

    • Anna

      what is the difference between the plugs? do you mean the base?

      • I believe that Phil mentioned in his comment that the iPhone plug (though it may work) is not an iPad plug which could deliver a quicker charge. I hope this helps!

  • francesca

    how do you when u have to stop pressing the buttons when the apple logo pops up

  • Rachel

    I have one problem: my home button is stuck. What do I do?

  • Prashant

    I was facing the same issue. And after doing above now I’m getting iTunes logo. And after pressing the power button and it’s going to loop of doom. Any help will be appreciated.

  • Moo

    Wauw, I know this is an old post, but my iPad did the same loop. And this method actually worked. I did this for 25 minutes and the iPad started up with 2%, So I shut it down quickly and poof it worked! Great Thanks!

  • djaypee

    Thank you so much for your help; i let my ipad discharge totally as I was trying to watch the end of my series episode and it died at 6% and entered the doom loop, after so many attempt my son found your tutorial and we save the ipad using your advice plus the FDU mode, all back to normal, GREAT THANKS!

    • I’m so happy to hear that it worked! Thanks for letting me know. :)

  • It has worked for me (and many others) so don’t give up! As I mentioned in my post “have someone willing to take turns on this resuscitation process.” It really does help.

    When I plugged up my battery zapped iPad up it began the loop of doom – which is why I suggested to ‘hold both the home and the sleep button at the same time until the apple icon goes away.” You don’t want to waste any energy by having it try to boot up on you. (thus the loop of doom where it never charges) I hope you’ll give it another try (with some help) before heading to the Apple store. Good luck!

  • I’m glad you found a solution that worked for you!