Strange dashes on the screen of an iPhone

[Mick F]

iPhone 6s

These dashes appeared yesterday. I switched off and rebooted and took this photo whist is was booting up.

They were still there, and no matter what I did or what screen or app I had on, they were still there.

This morning, I completely reset the iPhone and reloaded everything.
The dashes have gone now.

What were they?
What did they indicate?

[Richard Fairhurst]

That's a progress bar. Probably your iPhone doing some sort of auto-update for the operating system.

[mercalia]

the progess bar is below the faint dashes
looks like some thing writing to the screen memory?

[Cyril Haearn]

You're mean the marks above the symbol?

[Mick F]

Yes.
The dashes. Right across the screen left to right above the Apple logo.
The dashes were there permanently.
Latest software IOS 13.5.1 was downloaded a few days ago and all was well then. These dashes only appeared yesterday afternoon.

I didn't try it in landscape. Perhaps I should have done.

[backnotes]

Is it something similar to this issue?

https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/196 ... eplacement

Have you recently had the phone repaired / screen or battery replaced?

[Mick F]

Looks similar, yes.

No, nothing has been done to the phone.
Bought it secondhand a year ago.

After a full reset and then restored via iCloud, all seems well again ........... for now.

[99.9%certain]

Those dashes would indicate that the phone has had a new screen or battery fitted at some point.When I had a replacement screen fitted to my sons iPhone7 I was told to return to the shop if we noticed anything out of the ordinary on the screen.12 months later and so far nothing has happened.
I think this can happen if the phone has been repaired at an independent shop.

[Mick F]

Never been repaired to my knowledge.
Never seen those dashes before.

Why did those dashes only appear yesterday, and why aren't they there now after a reset?

[99.9%certain]

Never been repaired to my knowledge.
Never seen those dashes before.

Why did those dashes only appear yesterday, and why aren't they there now after a reset?

iPhones are a law unto themselves.

[backnotes]

An intermittent or loose connection might come and go in terms of causing a visible problem, which would make it harder to diagnose. Just jiggling it about may alter things.

I have a digital radio with a loose display connection that causes bits of the display to disappear. If you bash it firmly about 2/3 of the way across the top of the case the display clears up. I will get round to cleaning / fixing it one day.

For avoidance of doubt, i am NOT recommending you take a hammer to your iPhone to fix it here!!!

If you bought the phone secondhand, I suppose it could have had a new screen fitted at some point in its past life?

[Mick F]

The lines are reappearing.
Sometimes, the screen freezes too.

If I press on the screen where the dashes are, the screen unfreezes and the dashes go.
At this present moment, all is well ................ but for how long?

Did some research.
Bought the phone from eBay in December of 2019 and looking at the page, it came with a 12m warranty as it was in Grade A condition.
Emailed them and explained the issue and asked for a replacement.

[francovendee]

Can you see any dots? The phone may be a nautical version.

[Mick F]

Morse code?
Rather slow for a phone in this day and age!

One the subject of Morse code, the strategic nuclear submarines have a "slow Morse" facility ........ even these days.
In the unlikely event of a nuclear war, there would be so much static in the atmosphere that normal radio communications wouldn't work.

Slow Morse is so slow that the dots and dashes are seconds long and the receiver system prints it out so it's readable. No doubt there's a similar system for transmission from MOD. It's all used for sending targeting information for a retaliatory nuclear strike ........... and the submarine doesn't need to reply.

[[XAP]Bob]

Morse code?
Rather slow for a phone in this day and age!

One the subject of Morse code, the strategic nuclear submarines have a "slow Morse" facility ........ even these days.
In the unlikely event of a nuclear war, there would be so much static in the atmosphere that normal radio communications wouldn't work.

Slow Morse is so slow that the dots and dashes are seconds long and the receiver system prints it out so it's readable. No doubt there's a similar system for transmission from MOD. It's all used for sending targeting information for a retaliatory nuclear strike ........... and the submarine doesn't need to reply.

I'm sure I've mentioned that I had a colleague who set ring tones as the morse of the name of the person calling...