How do I force my iPhone 11 to turn off when frozen?

One reliable piece of wisdom for fixing technical difficulties with computers, smartphones and most other devices is to turn it off and on again – also known as rebooting. This applies to your Apple smartphone as well. If you are experiencing issues with your iPhone it is a good idea to try rebooting it.

Restarting your phone might fix the issue, for example when your iPhone freezes and goes unresponsive. The way to restart your iPhone depends on the model, so we’ll go through the different ways you can try getting back to using your phone.

Force restart: How to force a restart on your Apple iPhone

Say you have encountered an issue with your iPhone and just turning it off and on the regular way doesn’t work. In that case, you need to do something that’s called a forced restart or hard restart. 

The buttons to press in order to carry out a forced or hard restart depend on the model of your iPhone. We’ll go through the three different options next.

Force restart iPhone SE 2020, iPhone 8 and new iPhones without the home button

1. Press and release the volume up button.
2. Press and release the volume down button.
3. Press and hold the side button.
4. Wait for the Apple logo to appear and release the side button.
5. Wait for your iPhone to restart.
6. Done!

Force restart iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus

1. Press and hold the power button and the volume down button at the same time.
2. Wait for the Apple logo to appear and release both buttons.
3. Wait for your iPhone to restart.
4. Done!

Force restart older iPhones with the home button

1. Press and hold the power button and the home button at the same time.
2. Wait for the Apple logo to appear and release both buttons.
3. Wait for your iPhone to restart.
4. Done!

What to do if your iPhone still does not respond?

So you tried forcing a restart on your iPhone but it still does not work or gets stuck when turning it on. There is one thing you can try to fix this issue.

1. First, start by connecting your iPhone to a computer with a USB cable.
2. Open Finder if you are using a Mac with macOS Catalina or a newer version OR open iTunes if you are using a Mac with an operating system older than Catalina or a Windows computer:
3. Find your iPhone on Finder or iTunes.
4. Repeat the process for force restarting your iPhone as described in the previous section. This time, instead of seeing the Apple logo, the recovery mode screen will appear.
5. Wait until your computer displays a prompt to update your iPhone and press “Update”. Your phone’s iOS will now be updated or reinstalled.
6. If the process takes more than 15 minutes, repeat step 4 to re-enter recovery mode.
7. Wait for the process to end.
8. Done!

Summary: How to restart iPhone

You should now have some tools to tackle challenging situations and technical difficulties with your iPhone. Make sure to keep a backup of your iPhone in case something happens and your phone freezes or becomes unresponsive. In a worse case scenario, your iPhone might be beyond repair or could require a factory reset. Not having a backup could cause you to lose everything on your iPhone.

Here's what you can do to restart your phone now, plus tips to prevent another crash in the future.  

Many iPhone users have been here before. You’re scrolling through social media, watching a video, or even texting, when suddenly your iPhone freezes. It’s undoubtedly frustrating, and all you want to do is get it working again. Luckily, learning how to restart an iPhone can help get it back to normal in no time.

You don’t need to know any hidden iPhone hacks and tricks to restart an iPhone—it’s pretty simple to learn. Read on to learn how to restart a frozen iPhone, and why it froze in the first place. Then, read up on what to do if your iPhone is disabled, how to factory reset and save battery life on iPhone as well as unlock your iPhone when you forget your password—you never know when the information will come in handy.

How to force restart your iPhone

“If your iPhone is completely unresponsive (frozen) and you cannot power it off normally, try forcing it to restart,” Joshua Sutton, uBreakiFix Training and Development Manager, tells Reader’s Digest. “This process varies depending on the model of iPhone you are attempting a forced restart [on].” Sutton recommends the below steps for the specific iPhone models:

rd.com, Getty Images

For iPhone with Face ID (X and up), iPhone SE (2nd generation), iPhone 8, or iPhone 8 Plus, Sutton recommends:

1. Press and quickly release the volume up button.
2. Press and quickly release the volume down button.
3. Press and hold the side button.
4. Release the button when the Apple logo appears.

For iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus, Sutton recommends:

1. Press and hold both the volume down button and the Sleep/Wake button.
2. Release both buttons when the Apple logo appears.

For iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone SE (1st generation), or older models, Sutton recommends:

1. Press and hold both the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button.
2. Release both buttons when the Apple logo appears.

What causes your iPhone to freeze?

There isn’t always an obvious reason as to why an iPhone freezes. “There are many possible reasons why an iPhone may freeze or become unresponsive, and they are generally the same as what causes a computer to freeze,” Sutton says. “After all, these are at their core, scaled-down mobile computers.” Similar to computers, did you know that some iPhones can get viruses, too?

Sutton says that iPhones freeze due to four main reasons:

• Low available storage space
• Infrequent iPhone reboots
• Uninstalled updates
• Problematic or “buggy” apps

If you only have 10 percent to 15 percent of storage space available, Sutton recommends storing some photos on the Cloud and deleting apps you no longer use. Here are more hacks to free up storage space on your iPhone.

If you always leave your iPhone on, it may be time to (safely) turn it off. In fact, this is how often you should restart your iPhone. Sutton also recommends checking iOS updates regularly and as well as always making sure an app is legitimate and operating properly before downloading it onto your iPhone. If you’re looking for a more clutter-free home screen, here’s how to hide apps on an iPhone.

What happens if the iPhone doesn’t restart?

If restarting your iPhone doesn’t fix the problem, or if the phone doesn’t restart at all, don’t panic. “If a forced restart does not resolve the issue and the device freezes again upon booting, then you may need to completely restore iOS,” Sutton says. He recommends going to your local repair technician. “If a complete iOS restore does not resolve the issue, or an iPhone iOS restore continuously fails, then you may be experiencing an issue that requires hardware repair.” Here are some warning signs it’s time for a new cell phone.

What iPhone users should know about a frozen iPhone

It’s important for iPhone users to know that a freezing iPhone could result in data loss. “Make sure you always have an iCloud backup enabled and check regularly to make sure that backups are occurring,” says Sutton. “While a freezing iPhone is often an easily addressed issue, there are some situations where you cannot retrieve data through conventional means (iCloud backups, iPhone data recovery software, etc). Data recovery in these situations, while not impossible in most cases, can be a costly ordeal.” Next, here are the things you’re doing to your iPhone that Apple experts would never do.

Source:

• Joshua Sutton, uBreakiFix Training and Development Manager

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