How to Turn Off or Restart an iPhone

Chances are you prefer to keep your phone on all day, but sometimes it needs a full restart. There are many reasons your phone could be acting up—maybe it’s running slowly or is frozen—but knowing how to restart, or even shut off, your phone can help solve a number of problems. Powering down a phone may sound easy and self-explanatory, but there are different ways to go about it, depending on the model iPhone you own and the version of iOS it’s running.

Turn Off Any iPhone Model

For years, a physical button was the only means to turn off your iPhone. But since iOS 11, you can navigate to Settings > General > Shut Down and turn off the device through the operating system.

This may seem like an unnecessary option at first, but it is helpful if the physical button on the phone is not working or if you have mobility issues that prevent you from gripping or pressing hard on iPhone buttons.

How to Turn Off an iPhone

All iPhone models turned off the same way until the iPhone X came out. On these newer phones, the Side button that was reserved for controlling the device’s power now brings up Siri, so you need to do a little extra work to turn off your phone. Here’s what you need to know:

iPhone With Face ID

Hold down the Side button and either one of the Volume buttons for a few seconds. This will bring up a screen with a slider at the top. Drag the slider over until your device turns off.

iPhone With Home Button

If you need to power down an iPhone model that has a Home button—an iPhone 8 or earlier, or iPhone SE—hold down the power button for a few seconds until a message appears on the screen, then drag the slider.

The location of the button you need to press varies depending on your model iPhone. The power button is on the top for the iPhone 5 and older, and is on the side starting with the iPhone 6. Finish the process by sliding the onscreen switch to the off position.

How to Force Restart an iPhone

Sometimes your phone stops working properly, and the only way to fix it is to reset things. However, if the screen is frozen, you won’t be able to do anything without initiating a force reset. How you perform this action depends on your phone’s OS.

Force Restart in iOS 16 or Later

If your phone is running iOS 16 or above, you need to quickly press and release the Volume Up button, quickly press and release the Volume Down button, then hold down the Side button until you see the Apple logo.

Force Restart in iOS 15 or Earlier

If you have a device incompatible with iOS 16—any model older than the iPhone 8—hold down both the Side button and the Volume Down button at the same time until you see the Apple logo. For an iPhone 6, 6s, or SE, press and hold the Home button and Sleep/Wake button.