Is the iPhone 14 shutdown issue a major problem? My phone shutdown last night!

I have not upgraded to the iPhone 15 Pro or 15 Pro Max, as my iPhone 14 Pro is in tip-top shape after one year of use. The battery health level dropped to 96% after staying at 100% for almost a full year. I’m mentioning this because charging the iPhone is the one thing I did differently at night when my iPhone 14 Pro shut down for three hours.

I covered the iPhone shutdown issues in the past few days and explained how to recognize the symptoms. It can happen on any iPhone model, not just the iPhone 15 variants.

If the handset asks you for a PIN code when you unlock it in the morning, it probably restarted overnight. The Lock Screen will also let you know if the phone turned off, and the Battery section of the Settings app will show you how long your iPhone was turned off.

I also said that I might have experienced the issue in the past, as either this model or the iPhone X that preceded it asked for PIN codes in the morning. Fast-forward to Monday morning, and I know it actually happened to me.

I’m on iOS 17.0.3 currently, which is the latest stable version of iOS 17. This is the first year I haven’t tried the iOS betas, so running unfinished software isn’t causing the issue here. Also, I don’t expect it to be fixed come the imminent iOS 17.1 update. Those who are on the iOS 17.1 beta still experienced shutdowns.

I installed iOS 17.0.3 when it came out, so my iPhone didn’t update overnight.

Also, I usually recharge the iPhone wirelessly with Apple’s MagSafe Duo charger. I go the Lightning way when and if I want the handset to recharge faster. As I explained in my battery-related iPhone 14 Pro coverage, I don’t always go to 100% charge. And I rarely leave the handset charging overnight.

iPhone 14 Pro battery life has been tremendous for me, at least before the iOS 17 update. It still is, though the handset seems not to last as long on a regular charge (that’s usually more than 95%).

What I did differently this weekend was to use a hotel wireless charger because it was easily accessible. Unlike most nights, I left the iPhone 14 Pro charging wirelessly on the nightstand with the charger and fell asleep.

As you can see in the image above, the phone charged slowly until around 3:00 AM. That’s when it shut down and stayed powered off until around 7:00 AM. I didn’t miss my alarm. I also wear the Apple Watch at night, but the iPhone did ring.

That’s it. That’s what I did differently with my iPhone 14 Pro. Something must have happened for it to shut down overnight. When it asked me for a PIN code the next morning, I knew.

I have no idea if wireless charging was an issue. However, I encountered an unexpected wireless charging problem over the summer. During a hotter-than-usual day, the iPhone overheated while charging wirelessly. The chip stayed throttled for several hours, and scrolling issues made me realize there was a problem. An intentional restart solved that problem.

This time, environmental heat wasn’t the issue, and the phone restarted on its own hours later.

Like I said before, I don’t usually leave the phone charging overnight. This was an exception because I was traveling and wanted to ensure I’d have a full charge in the morning. That’s why I kept putting it on the same wireless charger during the morning.

Finally, I’ll also note that I did not notice the gap until much later in the day. When I first checked that morning, after getting the message that the handset had restarted, the gap wasn’t there. I thought the iPhone had restarted on its own but didn’t stay shut down long enough for the graph to register it. It turns out I was wrong.