iPhone searching signal constantly

Was having this issues for months. Searching hours on google to find an answer. I replaced the Lightning Charging Assembly which included a cellular antenna, cleaned all the grounding points in the case, and replaced the antenna flex ribbon. None of this worked.

1) Software wasn't the issue. DFU restored, everything, it still continued.

2)Cellular settings being changed had no effect on the signal.

3) Hardware was the obvious in this case because "smacking" the phone caused it to regain signal.

A few days later I noticed my phone said "NO SIM" and started to think. This is what the problem is. The sim slot in the iPhone 6 can get deformed by slight bending in the phone. This provides the SIM card with a hairlike gap to wiggle around in. The simple fix for this is to take a sheet of printer paper and cut it the exact size of your nano-SIM card and place it on the plastic side of your SIM card which faces up and then insert it. Do this carefully and make sure the paper doesn't crinkle/fold in half. This tightens the SIM card very slightly but just enough to keep it tight to the gold connectors.

My phone was loosing signal, and saying "Searching" for weeks, and after this it is working 100%!

Three days and strong signal ever since.

Goodluck!

Good day everyone! Manchester UK and !&&* YEAH it worked!!! Same problem here, mo carrier services, device constantly displaying searching mode out if the blue - I spent an hr on the phone with Apple without a resolution then they sent me to their store which was busy and on a conveyor belt and the guy opened my sim card locket, pretended he looked inside with an expert eye and said i have water damage! I said to him how is it possible that my phone works on all other functions and wi fi etc - he said the phone cannot be repaired and since it's out of warranty i could get a new one for £200. I said i need to think about it, left there upset and feeling conned!

So i found all these wonderful wacky "bash it" experiences - and said to myself well, if i smash it it's my own fault and the phone is "beyond repair" anyhow!!

I turned the phone off, took the sim out, dropped it onto its back from arm's length (I'm 5'3" and i have wood floors...) IN UNDER A MINUTE FROM PUTTING BACK THE SIM CARD MY PHONE CONNECTED TO THE MOBILE NETWORK!!!

How full of BS are you Apple flagship store"specialists"???

Blessings to everyone writing in here so i will have the balls to do something like this hahahhaha!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

OMG! The drop method worked perfectly!

1. Have an iPhone 6 that has been dropped with and without a case approximately 1.5 years ago.

2. With clumsy handling and active toddler hands, my Screen was cracked twice

3. Signal (cellular) went out first weekend in November 2016

4. Sprint Tech support tried to trouble shoot- no resolve

5. Best Buy Tech- no resolve

7. Sprint Store- no resolve

6. Apple Store- screen repair with fixed signal issue only to lose signal a few days later

7. Sprint Repair store- Store not allowed to open / repair phone

8. Ifixit- Power phone off, case on phone, go into garage, hold phone 12"-18" off ground, close eyes and Let Go..power phone on and RESOLVE!!!!!

Crazy comments on this post! The fact of the matter is a bad connection on the baseband modem following a bend or drop. Due to the screw location. If you have modem firmware and imei then the modem needs reballing. If no firmware then it is eeprom memory or baseband pmu. Don't ever drop the device you will cause more damage. This is plain stupidity!

Steps to fixing the "Searching" for cellular service problem.

First try these basic steps:

1. Hard Reset Device

2. Reset network settings

Still not working? Heres how i just fixed one:

Remove logic board from phone. Cellular antenna is at the top left and is connect by 4 connectors. The cellular antenna grounds out on the frame of the phone which turns the entire body of the phone into an antenna. Pop the antenna off and clean all connectors and grounding points with alcohol. Reinstall and test.

Mine just had dust between the antenna and the frame of the phone.. This is likely why all of you are able to smack the phone and get service for short periods of time. The smack is closing the connection or knocking some dust off. Give it a thorough cleaning and make sure all connections go back together nice and tight and you will have a permanent fix.

I tried a lot of these solutions - (iPhone 6s / Verizon)

1. hard reset

2. airplane mode, off and on

3. reset network settings

4. popping the sim card out

If you go to settings, about: Look at what the carrier says; in my case Verizon. Tap on the carrier and the next item show PRL. If PRL shows "1", then you are not on the correct "Priority Roaming List", and that is what is causing the phone to not be able to connect to the carrier. I think it is the same for the other carriers also.

Here is what worked for me step by step:

1. Turn your phone off.

2. Take out your sim card, leave it our and power phone back on.

3. Go to settings, General, reset, and Reset network settings.

4. Once the phone cycles back on. Turn your phone off by holding the power button.

5. Once powered down completely, re-insert the sim card.

6. Power back on.

7. Your phone is connected back to the network.

Hope it works for you!

changed the upper antenna connector. lower antenna/dock/headphone 3 times. each time i replaced the lower, the network worked for a day or less. a darn shame. iphone 6 was too good to be true.

Update (01/25/2017)

darn it. this is possibly temporary but this worked. for now at least. and dont blame me if something else happens. i took the risk as well. anyhow.

shut down phone.

remove sim card.

place phone in protective case.

drop on a sturdy hard table onto its backside from 12 inches high.

re-insert sim card.

Boot up your phone and see that glorious LTE.

its going to be awesome to wake up to "searching" "no service".

this is clearly a design flaw with the IC Chip that connects the antenna/networking system.

Ok I've had this problem for a couple of months nah and I have just figured out wt happen believe me I've tried every single thing Apple said to try every single thing all these forums said to do and guess what I have figured out. It's not the board or no let me not say that here is what is causing it to go in search or no signal mode. We like to place our phones in our pockets, back pocket front pocket and this causes the phone to warp, thus causing some internal problem for the first time in months I use my phone but here's the trick the signal would come and go so wt I did when it goes is I hold the phone like I'm holding a glass, hold it tightly the push on the top left firmly while holding the bottom firmly like a glass and Boom it works. It lost signal again three times today but when I repeat this step it comes right back in so what have we learn today. Don't sit or place your phone In your pockets and I will continue to do this till I can afford a new 6plus. I hope this works for some of y'all but I'm so glad it's working for me. I guess the drop test is similar cuz it twists the phone once it it the ground but hat didn't work for me. Good look guys

I work at US Cellular so I actually see phones do this often. Most of the time we call into tech, & they say that after all logical troubleshooting, (replacing SIM, factory data reset, turn off& on again, resetting network settings) that there is just something internally wrong with device, as in loose internal antenna, and that there is nothing we can do other than replace the device. I however, used my resources & looked it up on Google to see what other people have done, tried taking out SIM & cleaning slot with canned air, returned SIM, & just gently hit phone on my hand a few times while it was off. Can clearly hear something is loose on inside, but when I turned device back on service was there & notifications were coming back on from past 3 days. Works for now, most likely temporary, but if I hadn't looked more into this, my customer would have had to replace phone for no reason! Extremely helpful, & happy customer for now. Device was also in fact an iPhone 6, which we've been seeing more issues with as well. Thanks much for being there even when Tech support (professionals) are not!!

I've fixed this problem on a lot of iPhone 6 and it's always same thing a simple test is to place your phone screen down on a flat surface like a table then push down on each of the corners if the phone rocks your case is bent remove screen and straighten the case until it does not rock and is not twisted put back together and your signal problems will be gone

None of these 'solutions' will work in the longer term. What is happening in most cases is that 2 pads under the baseband IC have become disconnected and need to be re-connected using micro-jumpers. This happens because the phone chassis is lightweight and flexes while in use and in your pocket etc, and puts stress on a joint under these 2 pins and eventually breaks them. Dropping the phone and sticking things against it might possibly help for a while (by pushing the pins against the underlying traces) but it'll always come back. The baseband IC is linked to the phone so you can't just replace it with a new one; you need to find a reputable micro-soldering technician who will remove the baseband IC, attach the 2 jumpers, reball the IC and re-fit it to the board. This is a difficult and fiddly job which is definitely not a DIY fix, but it will provide a proper, permanent solution rather than all this dropping your phone stuff.

The issue is iPhone 6s are easily bent, especially if you put it in your back pocket and you don't have a hard case. In some cases, the bend is so slight, you don't notice with your naked eye. Even a very slight bend can cause your sim card to lose partial contact. If it's partial, your iPhone won't tell you, it just loses the signal. So here's the solution. Remove the sim card. Open up the iphone. You don't have to disconnect anything. Lift the screen assembly just enough so you can reach the sim card metal plate. Use your thumb fingernail to bend down the metal plate on all 4 sides. Make that sim card slot as tight as you can. Put the iphone back together and give it a try. Good luck.

While tonyhamre makes a very technologically valid point, the rest of us are making a MacGyver valid point. All of us are experiencing this problem with out 6's. Its too %#*@ thin, and the bottom case is not made of the type of metal, or thickness, to make the phone structurally sound. I'm sure that there are 1000s of people who will never see this thread, and hand their beautiful iPhone 6's down to their younger siblings or children as a very nice iPod Touch. And then there are some of us who can't afford to needlessly replace a now $300 (+/-) phone, and refuse to give up as easily. I tried all of the Apple tips, Youtube How To's, and stumbled across this thread. I did the drop, minus the "Geronimo", and I'll be darned, It worked. I agree with tonyhamre, this really isn't a smart method, but then again, buying an Apple product post Jobbs passing isn't the smart either. I raise a glass to you tonyhamre, with my phone in the other hand just as high.

Check Vreg (base register voltage) after put sim card

Hey guys, still can't believe this, dropping it from the level of my shoulders on hardwood floor worked on ! iphone 6 with IOS 11.0.3 on it would not find network for several days now, tried everything else, none would work except this ! thank you so much !

OMG! I can’t believe that I fixed the problem with a fall. Apple demanded $30 just to fix this. Just pop in a case then drop it from 3 feet making sure it lands on its back, force restart the iPhone by pressing the power button and the home button. That’s it, $30 saved!!!!!

Thank you so so much!!!

post from 2016

”Was having this issues for months. Searching hours on google to find an answer. I replaced the Lightning Charging Assembly which included a cellular antenna, cleaned all the grounding points in the case, and replaced the antenna flex ribbon. None of this worked.

1) Software wasn't the issue. DFU restored, everything, it still continued.

2)Cellular settings being changed had no effect on the signal.

3) Hardware was the obvious in this case because "smacking" the phone caused it to regain signal.

A few days later I noticed my phone said "NO SIM" and started to think. This is what the problem is. The sim slot in the iPhone 6 can get deformed by slight bending in the phone. This provides the SIM card with a hairlike gap to wiggle around in. The simple fix for this is to take a sheet of printer paper and cut it the exact size of your nano-SIM card and place it on the plastic side of your SIM card which faces up and then insert it. Do this carefully and make sure the paper doesn't crinkle/fold in half. This tightens the SIM card very slightly but just enough to keep it tight to the gold connectors.

My phone was loosing signal, and saying "Searching" for weeks, and after this it is working 100%!

Three days and strong signal ever since.”

I place Scotch Tape instead (2 layers) and bam it worked!

going a little back I opened it and saw that the antenna was in place and everything looked good. I also went to Apple and had a Tech guy look at it and said it wasn’t fixable. Then I googled Apple stays on searching mode and scrolled through all these posts. This was the one that made the most sense so I tried it and wow. It really worked! I really like my IPhone 6 Plus and am extremely happy it’s in full function.

As as the original post said good look to everyone else!

Hey I just fixed a signal by opening up the phone and unplugging the 2 cables on the top left by the antenna and replugging them in and starting the phone back up. boom

It's clearly a hit and miss when it comes to fixing this problem as I have ran into it before and tried various attempts with no luck.

For an iPhone 6 this time I tried:

1. Swapping out the sim

2. Resetting network settings

3. Checking for updates (all is updated)

4. Swapping the charger port

5. Swapped out the screen assembly

6. Reconnecting the antenna on the top left

7. The infamous drop attempt several times

8. Restarting multiple times several different ways

9. I swapped out the entire logic board over to another iPhone

'All with zero luck'

The drop didn't work....the other fixes did not work. What worked was shutting the phone down...taking either the sim chip remover or a paper clip and gently putting it in the sim card slot and sliding it back and forth...gently across the contacts for the sim card. The phone came right back up and has worked perfectly since. Guessing the contacts became corroded and/or dirty....and from my perspective..it is a fix that actually makes sense....lol

My iphone 6 has been bent and bent back twice. Cellular service worked fine untill recent smash of the phone (throw it to the wall hardly), and the two volumn button area bent again. After I opened the case, and bent the area back, the cellular service failed. it continueously displaying searching for network.

Here is a few things I have tried, which sometime works, and not work.

1. contact ATT to reset the network login from their side. [looks like the most useless one. sim chip are very standard, and robust, shall not be the problem].

2. wipe out the phone and restore it from back up. Remember to back up your files on your computer before wipe out it. [worked for the first two times, last for one day. then back to searching again.]

3. Tighten the vibration module screws. In one attemp to bend the phone, I notice the right screw to tighten the vibration module on the phone is falling out, and I screwed it back. Restore the phone, and it works out nicely for a day before it failed out again.

4. Tighten all the screws on the two volumn button area, and top left area. The cellular service comes back for two days. before it start loss it again.

5. Always try to Push home and power button at the same time to restart the phone, while your phone displaying searching for cellular network. It is a hard reboot, and will reset some software setting for network searching.

----------------------------------------------

Conclusion:

In my experience of my phone, it looks like the bend issue of the phone will cause some parts to disconnect internally. Most likely is the two cellular antennas: one on the top left, and one at the bottom right. Also, if you use the phone vibration a lot, then after a some time, the screw tighten the vibration module is lose. This will cause the bottom right antenna disconnection as well.

while your phone have cellular service, type *3001#12345#* in the phone call dial panel. it will direct the phone to field test mode. You will see how your phone behaves while connecting to cellular network.

HELLO

OKAY GUYS - this is absolutely insane!

1.5 long months without service and my iPhone 6 is finally fixed after doing everything everyone has said on this long thread of posts, helpful tips, crazy things like dropping your phone and YELLING GERONIMO, and adding pieces of paper or scotch tape to the SIM card!!!

TRY EVERYTHING YOU CAN

REBOOT A FEW TIMES by holding down both buttons until the phone turns on and off by itself a few times

DROP IT A FEW TIMES (DON'T FORGET TO YELL GERONIMO!!)

RESET to FACTORY SETTINGS

BEND it backwards if slightly bent

DO NOT GIVE UP!

You can fix your phone yourself!

Happy fixing everyone!

Okay, my phone has been giving signal of "searching" for some days now and this has been worrisome to me. So I came on this forum then saw about dropping phone while it's been switched off...that's a bit scary though but I felt, it's worth taking a risk than holding a phone without a service....

So I did and put the phone on back and wow, my network came back full on it.... it's crazy though but I love it....

Martha

Hi guys, after so many attempts to regain my iphone 6 signal are failed...this is what i try,eject your sim tray,open your iphone and slightly lift the 6 copper pin on the sim connector up using small needle. The objective is to tighten the connection between copper plat of the sim to the copper pin of the iphone and praise the Lord miracle do happen. After inserting my sim and powering up...there they are,5 dot bars of signal appears on my Iphone 6. Hope it will work on your problems too...never give up!

There is a copper contact on top of the antenna cable at the top of the phone logic board and there is a little mesh pad that had moved off of that contact, I will include a pic but I peeled the pad back up and put it back on the copper and now my phone is no longer searching. I put a meter on that mesh pad and it does conduct electricity plus I could see the outline where it should have been. I was smacking my phone hard to get it to stop searching and it would work sometimes for an hour sometimes for a few hours but I think it's fixed now.

Put your phone into airplane mode, remove your SIM card, turn phone off, wait for a few minutes...put the Sim card back in, turn the phone on, turn off airplane mode and let the SIM re-activate. If this doesn't fix the problem, have your carrier reset your line and then try the above steps again. Should be good to go! :-) Just followed those same steps with carrier reset on a customer's iPhone 6+ and it worked perfect.

I just had a similar issue with my iPhone 6, searching and no service most of the time and if I get a signal eventually it only shows 3G (it should be 4G) and there is no data coming trough (works fine on WiFi). What I did is I replaced QFE1100 (the signal power ic) which was corroded due to water damage and now my phone works fine, I have 4G and I have SIM data. Could be the Baseband IC as well, you should reball or at least reflow it. Hope this helps someone :)

Nothing worked until I placed tape on back of sim card. Mush joy......

I had the same problem 2 Hours ago, This is how it was solved,

I took out my SIM card and put another one with a different carrier, The signal was working perfectly, Then I put back my SIM card and it was also working perfectly,

I have the same problem, Tried to disconnect the battery and reconnect it gain, The signal came back and the phone was working normally, I guess this is temporarily, I can't find what causes the No service problem yet..

But anyway try this,

Turn off your phone

Open it and disconnect the Battery (You may find many tutorials)

Then reconnect the battery again.

I too had the searching problem now I don't. Here is what I did:

1. Turned phone off

2. Remove sim card

3. Turn phone on

4. Reset network settings

5. Turn phone off

6. dropped on back from height of 12 inches with case on (I had done all the other "fixes", don't judge me!)

7. Put sim card back

8. Turned on

9. Instant 4G!!!

Edit

It stopped working after this, I could repeat these steps with some success but finally they just didn't work anymore. I have got 3G back by doing the following:

1. Opening up the phone

2. taking out sim card

3. Pushing down hard on the 4 corners of the sim card "cage" with a screwdriver

4. put a thick piece of tape on the actual sim card

5. reinserted the card (had to stuff it in)

6. closed up the phone

7. turned on

8. 3g

We'll see how long this lasts...

hi all.   I have a similar problem.   nothing specific happened to my phone to cause this, no drops or anything  (iphone 6) .  its previously had a new wifi/ Bluetooth antennae and connector ribbon, but several months ago.    last week, it started constantly searching for a network.   I also noted that the option to automatically or manually choose my network under settings/ cellular has vanished.

What ive done so far.

        1.   Reset Network Settings.    appeared to make zero difference

1. Reset All Settings/ Erase all content and Settings.  Both of these have temporarily given me a network connection again., but a few hours later its disappeared and im back to no network.    I have both restored my phone from a backup and set it up as a new phone.
2. re-reseated the antennae connector into its slot (under the battery protector plate).  it felt fine, but it had been removed previously as i needed to remove the entire mother board to install the Wifi antennae, but as i said, several months ago.).   As soon as I powered it up after re-seating, all was good.   a few hours later, network vanished again.
3. Im confident its not a SIM issue as trying someone else’s SIM in  my phone gives me the same result, and my SIM works fine in that same persons phone.
4. I do see that I am on Carrier Settings: T Mobile 35.0, and the other working phone is T-Mobile 34.0.   I don't know when I got this update though, nor whether this could be the issue - I lean towards no as the reboots etc from above temporarily fix it.

#

1. So i’m a bit lost as to where to go next - I think I have a hardware issue, not a software one, but Im not sure where to look next, or how to proceed - can anyone advise me?

worth adding that banging it/ bending it didn't help!

I can’t believe I’m actually going to say this. Turned it off, dropped it on hard wood floor from about 5 ft. Bam! It may be temporary but, hey, it’s an old iPhone 6 that will probably need to be replaced at some point anyway, so why not give it a shot. I’m in shock.

I did everything and nothing works until I read this page.

Iphone 6, suddenly started losing signal temporary on an evening. 3 hours later, all gone, SEARCHING is what the phone shows. Brought it to repair shop, they wanted 100USD. (I can buy a refurbished Iphone 7 at just USD200). Apple shop employee was a little more impolite, insisted that Iphone 6 was too old, and that it wouldn’t even receive updates anymore, and I should just buy a new phone. Imagine my reaction, after waiting in queue, only to be told that? I am an active apple user, everything from Macbook, Mac Wifi previously, etc. Anyhow, I google and discovered this page. Since there is literally no hope I did what the page says

1. Open SIM card slot, blow into it. Blow onto your simcard, like an old video game
2. I took a book, slammed the iphone6 against the book,When I smash the phone onto a book, on the back of the phone, the signal went from “Searching” to “SOS”, hence i tried the front, and it worked better.

# I bend the phone without being too hard, and breaking it.

1. General > Reset > Network Reset
2. Airport Mode ON, OFF, ON
3. Worked, full strength signal came back after being dead for 5 days. (PS I did network reset before this, and it didn’t work)
4. This was written during era when latest phone was Iphone X in 2019.
5. My Iphone 6 would have to be thrown away or used for Wifi only services, or I have to pay USD100, so I did the unspeakable - Bang it like an old TV or remote.
6. Thank you for this website!

See this?

Terrible drop damage and water damage caused this chunk of the board to break off! Thankfully there is wifi for this customer. Just make sure, before you start dropping your phone to cause more potential damage, that you know what to look for first.