My iPhone is misbehaving! How do I Force Restart my iPhone
Almost every computer ever created will require an occasional restart. It just fixes problems and should be one of the first steps you perform if you iPhone is behaving poorly and not responding as expected.
In Senior Tech Recipe #100 we taught you the standard shutdown process. However, if your iPhone is frozen and misbehaving badly, you may need to do a Forced Restart.
This recipe will briefly review the Normal Restart process and then present the Forced Restart process to use when when the Normal Restart doesn’t work.
List of Ingredients
Use the links below to quickly access specific topic or information about this recipe.
Learning Tips for Recipes
Restarting your iPhone
There are two approaches for restarting your iPhone, a normal restart and a forced restart.
- A normal restart is your standard restart action that you should take if you literally need to shut your phone off or if some applications and functions are not performing as expected.
- A force restart is typically performed if your iPhone is not responding to the normal shutdown action
Normal Restart
If you iPhone needs a restart attempt a Normal Restart first. This is the process that is described in Senior Tech Recipe #100 and is the restart that is started by pressing and holding the Sleep/Wake button.
Press and hold the Sleep/Wake to launch a normal restart
How to force restart
If you iPhone is frozen and not responding, you can force a restart.
There are two different approaches depending on the iPhone that you have.
Phone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus and later
Press and hold both the Sleep/Wake and Volume Down buttons for at least ten seconds, until you see the Apple logo.
iPhone 7 & later – Press and hold the Sleep/Wake and Volume Down button
iPhone 6s and earlier
Press and hold both the Sleep/Wake and Home buttons for at least ten seconds, until you see the Apple logo.
iPhone 6s & before – Press and hold the Sleep/Wake and Home buttons
Senior Smart Tip – Questions about Restarting your iPhone
Do I need to shutdown my iPhone at night? – NO.
Shutting down your iPhone does not need to be part of your regular habit with the iPhone.
How often to I need to restart my iPhone? – Not often.
In normal use of your phone, where you carry your iPhone and plug it in for charging regularly, the phone does not need to be restarted often. Some experts propose that a weekly restart keeps your phone clear of crud. Regardless, if your iPhone misbehaves or is unresponsive, a restart often clears the issues that are happening with your phone.
Practice
- Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button until the Shutdown slider appears on the screen. Press cancel.
- Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button at the same time to perform a forced restart. After the screen goes blank, continue to hold the Sleep/Wake button until the Apple logo appears on the screen. The phone will be available for use in 30 seconds after the restart.
Check for Understanding
Use the following questions to determine if you need to read or study this recipe. You might already have an understanding of this topic.
Following your study, answer the same questions to help you check your understanding of the skills taught in this lesson.
- What do you do if your iPhone does not respond to a standard restart action?
- What are the buttons that you press and hold to force a restart?
Additional Information
The Senior Tech Club recommends the following additional resources for members that wish to pursue additional and/or advanced information on this recipe.
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