Ever since I updated to iOS 18, my display keeps flickering all the time. It gets really annoying, especially when scrolling through Instagram or TikTok. The phone is only 2 months old, so there shouldn't be anything wrong with it. Is anyone else experiencing this?
First try a force restart before you do anything else - it surprisingly often helps with software issues like this. To do that, quickly press the volume up button and release it right away, then press volume down and release, then hold the side button until the power-off slider appears. Release it and wait until your phone reboots.
If that doesn't work, I'd check your Settings under Accessibility to see if anything with Motion or Animation is turned on that could be causing the flickering. Some apps also have their own refresh rate settings. Otherwise try your iPhone in safe mode (hold the side button longer while it's booting up), then open Instagram/TikTok - if it flickers there too, it's probably an iOS bug, if not, it's one of your apps causing it.
If nothing helps and it's really only 2 months old, I'd go to Apple Support. With such a new device there could also be a hardware defect, even though that rarely happens. A lot of people have reported iOS 18 issues after the update, so there's a good chance your device just needs a fresh installation or Apple's already pushed out a patch for it.
I had something similar after the update - the flickering came up especially with 120Hz content. The problem is that iOS 18 doesn't regulate the display frequency properly on some iPhone 15 Pro models, particularly when multiple apps are loading at the same time. Important thing: before you do a reset, check in Settings under Accessibility whether "Reduce Motion" got accidentally turned on - that can cause these flickering effects too and sometimes gets switched on automatically during the update. If that doesn't help, then I'd uninstall and reinstall the problematic app (Instagram/TikTok), but clear the cache first.
The flickering after an update is really frustrating, especially since your phone is brand new. What the others missed: check your settings under "Display and Brightness" to see if "Motion" or "Reduce Motion" is turned on - iOS 18 has a weird default setting on some devices that causes exactly this flickering when you scroll fast. If that doesn't help, I'd check the app itself (Instagram and TikTok are known for having display bugs after updates sometimes) - just update it or if needed uninstall and reinstall. If none of that works, it's probably still a software issue with iOS 18, so I'd go to Apple Support and not mess around on your own while your warranty's still active.
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