News Jun 28, 2015 09:16 AM EDT

Apple's iPhones hit by system instabilities and forced reboots; Models affected by the bug include iPhone 6+, iPhone 6, and the iPhone 5s

By Staff Writer

Accounts of a sudden rash of malfunctioning iPhones have hit the Internet, and the symptoms appear to be something longtime Windows users are familiar with: a kernel panic manifesting as a blank blue screen.

MacRumors.com reports that an increasing number of T-Mobile iPhone users are complaining about frequent restarts of their handsets, some as frequent as in 10-to 30-minute intervals. The "blue screen of death" actually precedes the unit rebooting. The restarting phenomenon started around June 23, with some users noticing the issue only the morning of June 24th.

So far, devices known to be affected with the bug include the iPhone 6+, iPhone 6, and the iPhone 5s with versions of iOS 8 installed up to version 8.3.

According to the MacRumors report, it's unclear whether the instability in the iPhones was caused by an update from T-Mobile. However, Reddit user Geophyzze was told by T-Mobile's staff that a memory issue might be the culprit for the rebootings.

Some users were able to resolve the stability problems by disabling and re-enabling various iOS services such as Voice over LTE (VoLTE), Wi-Fi calling, or by turning off LTE data. Others were able to get their handsets working again through more drastic measures, such as a hard reset, clear old text messages, or do a full factory restore via iTunes to clear the system.

Instability issues are just the latest in a line of issues that have plagued iPhone users. DigitalTrends reports that iOS 7's introduction was marred by software glitches that caused iPhones and iPods to reboot several times a day and display black-and-white screens. The smartphone's architecture was also saddled with a higher app crash rate than the previous, manifested by some apps like Apple's Settings, Number, Safari and iWorks causing system freezes and blue screens.

Apple has yet to comment on what caused the rebooting issue.


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