[oldglass]

Bought an iPhone 6S within the last few months. There is no hardware problem according to the Genius Bar, but the phone has a software bug. Specifically, the sound intermittently stops working (such as when I'm using the phone for voice navigation), and it also makes the noise for incoming messages/emails when it has been completely turned off. Genius Bar says that I could try "wiping" the phone and then downloading my content from iCloud, but if I do that, the software bug might be downloaded also, and in any case, when I've downloaded content (photos) from iCloud in the past, half my photos are missing and the ones that are put back on my phone are weirdly enlarged. Genius Bar suggested "erasing" the phone (which means the phone would be like a just-purchased phone). But then I'd lose all text messages, and in any case it seems to me I'd have the same problem downloading content from iCloud, i.e., the software bug could corrupt the "erased" phone. Seems like I'm better off just buying a new iPhone and starting from scratch -- and keeping my old iPhone 6S so at least I'll be able to access all my texts and photos as they were meant to be viewed. Thoughts?

[syniguez]

Wouldnt you have to re-store the new device from your icloud anyways?

[doogald]

You can back up your photos to your computer by physically connecting USB and then do a restore after wipe to see if that solves your issue. That has helped me in the past. If your photos come back in a way that you do not like you should be able to copy them back from iTunes when you connect the phone to your computer again.

It seems expensive to me to keep an iPhone around just to access old text messages. And if installing new apps on a new iPhone could cause the same issue to happen, as you fear, I'm not sure what you've gained by purchasing a new iPhone.

Which app do you use for navigation? Apple Maps or another app (Google Maps, Waze, etc.) It could be that switching to another app solves your navigation sound issue? So far the only sound that my 6s has made with do not disturb turned on was an amber alert at 2:00 a.m. right after buying the phone, but I quickly turned that off and no noise since (unless the phone is unlocked, but you can change that in the do not disturb settings.)