If the WiFi button of your iPhone XS stays greyed out no matter how many attempts you’ve made to toggle switch on, it’s possible that your device is stuck and hence not responding to input touches. A worse possible reason is when software glitches are transpiring and affecting the phone’s WiFi toggle system. Definitely it’s a downer since you wouldn’t be able to use WiFi features and online services given that your device cannot connect to WiFi in the first place.
If you are enduring the same problem with your iPhone XS WiFi button that’s greyed out and couldn’t be switched back and forth, then this post is for you.
Before we proceed, if you’re looking for a solution to a problem with your phone, try to browse through our iPhone XS Help Guides page to see if we support your device. If your phone is in the list of our supported devices, then go to the troubleshooting page and look for similar problems. Feel free to use our solutions and workarounds.
Troubleshooting iPhone XS with greyed out WiFi button
The following solutions are used to eliminate software-related factors that might have caused your iPhone XS to get stuck and unable to respond to touch commands to toggle WiFi switch off or on.
First solution: Restart (soft reset) your iPhone XS.
If this is the first time you encounter the problem, this could be just due to some minor glitches that can easily be remedied by a soft reset or restarting the phone. Thus if you haven’t already, consider a soft reset as the first potential solution to try on. Here’s how it’s done:
- Press and hold the Side/Power button and either Volume buttons simultaneously for a few seconds.
- When the Slide to Power Off command appears, release the buttons.
- Then drag the power off slider to the right to turn off your iPhone.
- Wait for at least 30 seconds, and then press and hold the Power button
Wait until your phone completely boots up and then head back to Settings-> WiFi menu and tap the switch to enable the feature. If the switch or button remains greyed out, proceed to the next solution.
Second solution: Check Airplane Mode to make sure that it is disabled.
All the wireless functions of your iPhone XS including WiFi will be turned off once Airplane Mode is enabled. With that said, it is important to check on the Airplane mode status and make sure that it has not been altered by some auto-updates. Here’s how it’s done:
- From the Home screen, go to Settings.
- Select Airplane Mode menu.
- If it is currently on, toggle the switch/button to turn it off. Otherwise, toggle the Airplane Mode switch to turn the feature on. This will disconnect the wireless radios on your phone including cellular network, Bluetooth connections and WiFi.
- Then reboot (soft reset) your iPhone while the Airplane Mode is enabled.
- Once it’s back on, go back to Settings-> Airplane Mode menu and tap the switch to disable the feature again.
You can also launch the Control Center on your phone to toggle the Airplane Mode icon on and off. Be sure to turn it OFF again so as to re-enable your iPhone’s wireless features.
Once your phone has already re-established wireless connection, try to toggle the WiFi switch again to see if the trick had rectified the glitch and fixed the problem.
Third solution: Reset network settings on your iPhone XS.
Corrupted WiFi networks and any network-related configurations errors can also cause conflicts to your WiFi settings and could possibly get the WiFi button to be stuck. These errors are inevitable but can easily be cleared out by resetting your phone’s network settings. Note that this will result in the deletion of the current network configurations along with all saved WiFi networks and Bluetooth connections on your phone. Therefore, you need to take note of your WiFi password beforehand to set up your wireless network again after the reset. If you haven’t done this on your phone yet, then try it this time and see how it works:
- Go to Settings from your Home screen.
- Select General.
- Scroll down to and tap Reset.
- Then select Reset network settings option.
- When asked, enter your device passcode to continue.
- Then tap Reset network settings again to confirm the reset.
After the reset, your phone will restart by itself. Then proceed to set up your WiFi again and check if you can now enable the WiFi switch without having any problem.
ALSO READ: How to fix an iPhone XS that keeps lagging and freezing
Fourth solution: Perform reset all settings on your iPhone XS.
If the WiFi button is still greyed out after resetting your network settings, deleting all the customized settings on your phone can be considered among the next options to possibly clear out other factors that triggered the symptoms. This reset process will also eliminate invalid settings configurations that might have caused conflicts to the WiFi system. Here’s how it’s done:
- From the Home screen, go to Settings.
- Select General.
- Scroll to and tap on Reset.
- Then select Reset all settings from the options.
- Enter your device passcode when prompted to continue.
- Then select the option to confirm all settings reset.
Your iPhone will restart automatically after the reset and restores the original values and options of the phone settings. Once your phone finished booting up, process to enable the features that you will be using again including WiFi. If the WiFi button is still greyed out, try the next option.
Fifth solution: Check for iOS update and update when available.
Software updates can also eliminate fatal errors and complex system bugs including those that might have caused the WiFi toggle to stay greyed out or disabled on your iPhone XS. However, the upgrade can only be transpired with the presence of a stable internet connection.
Given that your iPhone is unable to access the Internet, using iTunes to install available iOS updates is recommended. Just make sure that you are using the latest version of iTunes app on a computer that’s connected to a stable WiFi network. Once you’re all set, proceed to these steps to manually check and update your iPhone through iTunes:
- Open the iTunes app from your Windows PC or Mac computer.
- Using the supplied USB or Lightning cable, connect your iPhone XS to the computer.
- Wait for iTunes to check for available software updates. Once prompted with latest iOS version available, tap Download and Update.
- Follow the onscreen instructions to complete the software update process.
Your phone will automatically restart after installing the software update. Otherwise, manually reboot (soft reset) your iPhone to ensure that new system changes will be applied properly. Doing so will also refresh your phone’s system services. Once your phone is completely back on, proceed to enable your WiFi and check if the button is no longer greyed out.
Is your iPhone XS WiFi button/toggle still greyed out or disabled?
Contact your iPhone carrier or Apple Support to report the problem for further assistance and official suggestions. Apparently, there’s not much can be done on your end to get your iPhone XS WiFi button/toggle enabled. The problem is more likely attributed to a faulty hardware, if not, due to a major iOS bug.
If you’re living in a place that’s close to an Apple-authorized service center, then you can bring your device in and ask an iPhone technician to run a series of tests to determine and fixed any possible damaged component. Also don’t forget to avail warranties for service or new unit replacement, if your iPhone is still eligible for one. You can talk to your carrier for more details on warranty availing.
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