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iPhone recurring issue: spinning "download" icon for hours but no idea why

J

jk73

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 19, 2012
1,326
1,287
Running 11.2 and seeing an odd bug: With no apps updating or anything else that should be causing it to happen, I'm occasionally getting the spinning "download" icon in the status bar for hours at a time, and the only thing that kills it is a restart.

If I lock the phone, it appears to kill the process, but then it resumes again within seconds the next time I unlock. Obviously, it appears a process is hanging, but I have no clue which one. Anyone else seeing this? Is there a way to see which app(s) or systems are using the internet at any given moment? Thanks.
 
I keep getting this too... I’ve read some things saying people have resolved this by activating Siri or pressing the dictation button, but that has not fixed the issue for me.
 
I've read other references to this bug. The accepted "fix" in those was to launch some video with sound to stop the "spinning" busy signal. It was reported to start after using the microphone for dictation in Siri or some other use of the keyboard mic.
 
aKansasKid said:
I've read other references to this bug. The accepted "fix" in those was to launch some video with sound to stop the "spinning" busy signal. It was reported to start after using the microphone for dictation in Siri or some other use of the keyboard mic.
Click to expand...

Ahh, thank you for that. I’ve been reading in the iPad manual and saw that it usually means a background activity. But if its a known bug, that makes sense. Are you using 11.2 or 11.2.1?
 
jk73 said:
Running 11.2 and seeing an odd bug: With no apps updating or anything else that should be causing it to happen, I'm occasionally getting the spinning "download" icon in the status bar for hours at a time, and the only thing that kills it is a restart.

If I lock the phone, it appears to kill the process, but then it resumes again within seconds the next time I unlock. Obviously, it appears a process is hanging, but I have no clue which one. Anyone else seeing this? Is there a way to see which app(s) or systems are using the internet at any given moment? Thanks.
Click to expand...
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/constant-spinning-circle-top-left-of-phone.2094605/
 
Bug. Leftover from iOS 10. Don't know why it hasn't been fixed yet, but there you are.

Sometimes engaging Siri stops it. Sometimes playing audio stops it. Regardless, the spinning icon eventually returns.
 
I’ve got the spinning wheel on my iPad, and my 6 plus before upgrading to the iPhone X.

It may be happening on the X too but it’s not as easy to tell when apps are updating or something is downloading, it’s not on the home screen.

If I do catch the spinning wheel on my iPad I first make sure nothing is downloading, then try to close all apps.

Most of the time this does nothing and the wheel continues to spin, so I do a hard reset.

This has happened on WiFi and LTE.
 
I can confirm that this goes away by activating Siri. I wish I knew this about ten restarts ago, but it's a workaround. Hopefully Apple fixes it soon.
 
Clear spotlight - yes, same olde as was often an index problem, usually triggered going from iOS 10 to 11.
 
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