How to restart every iPhone ever made
Is your iPhone acting shaky? Has it stopped responding the way you expect it to? Are apps stuck in a strange state?
Don’t worry. We have the universal solution for you.
Just restart it.
It turns out there are three ways to restart your phone, depending on what phone you have.
We enlisted the help of some special friends to show you how it’s done.
Also: How to factory reset your iPhone
Reboot iPhone X, 11, 12, 13 and later
If you want to restart a modern phone, hold down the buttons pointed to by Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock.
A slider should appear. Drag the slider and give the phone about half a minute to turn off. If it doesn’t, your phone might be frozen. There are some tricks to rebooting a frozen device that Apple discusses.
Once your phone is off, turn it back on. You need to press and hold the button on Spock’s side until you see the Apple logo.
Likewise: The best iPhones
Rebooting the iPhones 6, 7, 8 and the new SE style
If you have a slightly older generation phone, Batman is to the rescue.
Press and hold the side button, which the Caped Crusader seems to want to chide, pow, and kapow. As with the more modern phones, a slider should appear. Drag the slider and give the phone about half a minute to turn off. If it doesn’t, your phone might be frozen. Try restarting your frozen device.
Once your phone is off, turn it back on. You need to press (do not press) the button on Batman’s side and hold it down until you see the Apple logo. I don’t know what he’s all about, but from that expression I get the impression that the Dark Knight needs more fiber in his diet.
Also restart older iPhones
Did you honestly think the Man of Steel would stay away from our iPhone reboot spectacle? Of course not.
Here Supes pushes on an older generation iPhone SE. Like other older iPhones, the power button is on the top of the device. By now you know the exercise. Hold this button down until a slider appears. Drag the slider and give the phone about half a minute to turn off. If it doesn’t, your phone might be frozen. Try restarting your frozen device.
Once your phone is off, turn it back on. You have to press the top button that Superman is hovering over and keep it pressed until you see the Apple logo.
Likewise: The case for storing your old iPhone
A quick thank you for the great help
Here you go. Restarting your phone should be quick and easy. A special shout out to our friends at The Noble Collection for helping us book photo sessions with the fabulous four above. Last year they sent us Church, spock, Batmanand superman BendyFigs with the hope that we would use them as some kind of prop. You have to admit, they were a lot more fun than just snapping a red arrow over the buttons, right?
Anyway, here we go. Do you have any other how-to requests? Let us know in the comments below.
Live long and prosper. Up and away!
You can follow my daily project updates on social media. Be sure to follow me on Twitter at @DavidGewirtzon Facebook at Facebook.com/DavidGewirtz, on Instagram at Instagram.com/DavidGewirtz and on YouTube at YouTube.com/DavidGewirtzTV.