Much to the dismay of iPhone and iPad owners, the latest versions of Apple’s mobile operating system seem to have brought more problems than fixes—including an issue that causes the iPhone to restart without warning.

The issue started to propagate when the clock struck midnight on Dec. 2, as thousands of users started complaining about their iPhone restarting—not just once, but over and over again, sometimes every 60 seconds.

Odd as it may seem, the issue has to do with the date. For iPhones—including the iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, iPhone 7, iPhone 8 and iPhone X—running iOS 11.1.2 and earlier, there is a bug that could be triggered starting after 12:15 a.m. on December 2.

What triggers the issue is time-based local notifications, or notifications that are configured locally on the device and not passed from a third-party server. It allows apps that are not actively running on the device to still provide notifications that are scheduled in advance.

Upon receiving one of these local notifications, the iPhone starts going through a respringing process, which appears to the user as if the device is restarting over and over again. Respringing is basically a soft reboot in which the device never fully shuts down but the home screen is reloaded. Other users experienced full shutdown and reboot cycles as a result of the bug.

Obviously such a problem is not sustainable for the user, as it makes the device effectively unusable—and there is no way to know when the bug might be triggered. Local notifications aren’t set by the user and can appear at any time.

iPhone Restarting Bug: How To Fix

Luckily, Apple was prepared for the issue to occur and pushed out an update—iOS 11.2—to address the problem. Apple pushed the update out earlier specifically to address the restart bug.

To download the update, open the Settings app, open the General tab and go to Software Update. There should be a download available for iOS 11.2. Download and install it and the issue should be taken care of.

That can be easier said than done, of course, if the device is still stuck in a rebooting cycle. During the brief period in which the iPhone isn’t restarting, here is what users need to do:

Open the Settings app, select General, scroll to “Date & Time” and disable the “Set Automatically” option. Then use the slider to set the date back to December 1.

This will allow notifications to continue to come in without triggering the restart bug. Users can also turn off notifications by going to the Settings app, selecting Notifications, then turning off the “Allow Notifications” toggle for each individual app.

After completing either step, users will be able to download the iOS 11.2 update without interruption—or continue using iOS 11.1.2 without being affected by the bug if, for whatever reason, the user wants to avoid iOS 11.2.

If your iPhone continues to restart without warning after the 11.2 update, you'll have to find an Apple store near you to schedule an appointment.