Excel and office documents freezing on iphone

Question

Excel and office documents freezing on iphone

Mike Kelly 45

Hello,

Excel and office documents have started freezing when I open them on my iPhone. I am unable to edit any of my documents now. I’ve tried deleting the apps and reinstalling them, restarting iPhone, clearing the app’s cache but all to no avail. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated, thanks. Mike

Emile De Fina 10 Reputation points

2025-10-18T08:42:46.3366667+00:00

Same my site. I think that is’s a buggy update. No sense in 2025 that I have to make all the steps i read in order to have a broken solution at the end.
Nicole K 0 Reputation points

2025-10-20T05:03:34.9766667+00:00

I’m having the same issue but with word! I’ve reinstalled the app and restarted my iPad so many times and it’s still not fixed either
Clive Holden 0 Reputation points

2025-10-20T05:40:27.6+00:00

I am experiencing the problem since the app was updated to latest version
Jackie Valdez 0 Reputation points

2025-10-22T10:37:13.47+00:00

I’m having the same issue. I’ve uninstalled the app, reinstalled and I’ve even copy and pasted part of my file and it still says DOWNLOADED in front of where the file is located. Freezes when I try to add or change and on the new save I can’t see the formula and/or have to recreate it. Excel doesn’t need an update in App Store.
paul garrood 5 Reputation points

2025-10-22T20:07:41.42+00:00

Off a different site, here’s a temporary fix that works (on iPhone) When excel freezes, turn off wi-fi & straight back on, you can then carry on, as it works!!
Mike Kelly 45 Reputation points

2025-10-22T20:28:54.5566667+00:00

This works, thanks. Hopefully Microsoft take note as they don’t seem to be doing anything to sort this issue out!
Jackie Valdez 0 Reputation points

2025-10-22T21:11:12.4133333+00:00

There is a comment below that they are aware of the issue and trying to resolve it.

8 answers

Your answer

Emile De Fina 10 Reputation points

2025-10-18T08:42:46.3366667+00:00

Same my site. I think that is’s a buggy update. No sense in 2025 that I have to make all the steps i read in order to have a broken solution at the end.
Nicole K 0 Reputation points

2025-10-20T05:03:34.9766667+00:00

I’m having the same issue but with word! I’ve reinstalled the app and restarted my iPad so many times and it’s still not fixed either
Clive Holden 0 Reputation points

2025-10-20T05:40:27.6+00:00

I am experiencing the problem since the app was updated to latest version
Jackie Valdez 0 Reputation points

2025-10-22T10:37:13.47+00:00

I’m having the same issue. I’ve uninstalled the app, reinstalled and I’ve even copy and pasted part of my file and it still says DOWNLOADED in front of where the file is located. Freezes when I try to add or change and on the new save I can’t see the formula and/or have to recreate it. Excel doesn’t need an update in App Store.
paul garrood 5 Reputation points

2025-10-22T20:07:41.42+00:00

Off a different site, here’s a temporary fix that works (on iPhone) When excel freezes, turn off wi-fi & straight back on, you can then carry on, as it works!!
Mike Kelly 45 Reputation points

2025-10-22T20:28:54.5566667+00:00

This works, thanks. Hopefully Microsoft take note as they don’t seem to be doing anything to sort this issue out!
Jackie Valdez 0 Reputation points

2025-10-22T21:11:12.4133333+00:00

There is a comment below that they are aware of the issue and trying to resolve it.

Answer 1

Kimberly Olaño 23,635

Hi! Mike. Thanks for the details. You've done the basic steps to troubleshoot it, this time force Excel to Reset Completely, it's different from reinstalling it.

Delete all Office apps (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, OneDrive).

Go to Settings → General → iPhone Storage, confirm all caches are gone.

Restart your iPhone.

Reinstall Excel first, open it, and sign in before reinstalling the others.

See if this helps. If you need further assistance, just let me know.

Best regards,

Kimberly

Mike Kelly 45 Reputation points

2025-10-17T22:39:00.03+00:00

Hi Kimberly, how do I force excel to reset completely?
Family Ross 5 Reputation points

2025-10-18T02:10:05.8966667+00:00

The exact same thing happened to me on my iPhone just after the latest update from Office was auto updated on my iPhone a couple of days ago (with the new icons), I have tried everything, uninstalling, restarting, etc., but still having the same issue
Mike Kelly 45 Reputation points

2025-10-18T16:08:59.2766667+00:00

Hi Kimberly

Any other suggestions or have you washed your hands of it? Any chance you could have a word with the developers to see if they could fix this bug?

Answer 2

Kimberly Olaño 23,635

These steps:

Delete all Office apps (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, OneDrive).

Go to Settings → General → iPhone Storage, confirm all caches are gone.

Restart your iPhone.

Reinstall Excel first, open it, and sign in before reinstalling the others.

Mike Kelly 45 Reputation points

2025-10-18T08:28:52.39+00:00

Unfortunately documents in both excel and word are still freezing when I open them. I’ve even tried resetting my entire phone but it’s still the same?
DJ van thiel 25 Reputation points

2025-10-18T09:11:52.7666667+00:00

There is no option to empty/clear cache on iphone!!!!!!!

Answer 3

Piyush Rana 385

This appears to be a known issue after the recent update. Wait for a new version to be released, and in the meantime, use the web versions of Excel and Office as a workaround.

MSFans 70 Reputation points

2025-10-18T10:11:42.63+00:00

Please advise how is Excel Online (web version) a workaround when it does not allow to edit the workbook.
Piyush Rana 385 Reputation points

2025-10-18T17:51:08.5366667+00:00

Excel Online does not allow editing on all mobile devices, as shown in your screenshot. If editing is blocked in both the app and browser, there is currently no workaround except to wait for a Microsoft update or use a desktop browser.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

Kimberly Olaño 23,635

Microsoft is aware of the issue (especially on iOS 18.x) and is rolling out hotfixes. You can also report directly through the app: Excel → Settings (gear icon) → Help & Feedback → Send Feedback.

Mike Kelly 45 Reputation points

2025-10-19T10:19:09.6266667+00:00

Thank you. I’ll try this.
GDuff 0 Reputation points

2025-10-19T20:46:13.5566667+00:00

I upgraded to iOS 26.0.1 and started having issues recently. Hoping Microsoft gets this fixed pronto especially since I'm paying monthly for Office Suite 365.