How to Turn Off an iPhone: Slider, Settings, and Force Restart

Step by step

1. 1

   iPhone with Face ID, from iPhone X to iPhone 15

   Press and hold the side button and either volume button at the same time. After a moment, a slider appears at the top of the screen prompting you to slide to power off. Drag it to the right and wait about 30 seconds until the screen goes completely dark.

2. 2

   iPhone SE and models with a Home button

   On an iPhone with the round Home button, meaning the SE and models 8 and older, just hold the side or top button on its own. Keep holding until you see the power-off slider. Then drag the slider to the right, the same as on newer phones.

3. 3

   Shutting down from Settings

   If one of the buttons is stuck, go to Settings → General and scroll all the way down to Shut Down. Exactly the same slider appears as with the buttons. This is the most convenient route when your touchscreen works fine and you don't feel like hunting for the button combination.

4. 4

   Force restart when your iPhone freezes

   Press and quickly release the volume up button, then just as briefly press volume down. Next, hold the side button and keep holding it until the Apple logo appears on screen, and only then let go. This sequence works even with a frozen, black screen and doesn't wipe your data.

5. 5

   Turning the phone back on

   To turn your iPhone back on, hold the side button for a few seconds until you see the Apple logo. Release the button and wait for the lock screen. On the first unlock, the phone asks for your passcode instead of Face ID, and that's normal behavior after every shutdown. If the phone doesn't respond to holding the button, plug it into a charger for 15 minutes or so first, because the battery may have drained to zero.

Turning off location instead of the whole phone

Sometimes you don't actually want to turn the phone off, just cut off GPS tracking. You'll find Location Services in Settings, under Privacy & Security. You can turn them off globally with the single toggle at the top, or leave them on and revoke access for individual apps from the list below.

For each app, you can choose whether it sees your location never, only while using the app, or after asking each time. If you mainly care about saving battery, revoke location from the apps you don't use out and about, and leave it on for maps and your weather app.

Muting vibrations and sounds

You adjust vibrations in Settings, in the section for sounds and haptics. You'll find separate toggles there for ring mode and silent mode, so you can keep vibrations for calls but turn them off when the phone is muted.

If you only want to silence the phone for a moment, use the ring/silent switch on the side or, on newer Pro models, the Action button. It's faster than digging through menus, and in the evening a Focus mode will silence notifications on its own at whatever time you choose.

Shutting down vs locking and restarting

Locking the screen with the side button is not the same as turning the phone off. The iPhone keeps working in the background, receiving notifications, checking email, and using battery - it only darkens the screen. A full shutdown closes the system and cuts connectivity, which is why the battery lasts much longer when you're not using the phone for many hours, for example overnight or while traveling.

For fixing minor problems, a regular restart is usually enough - no need to leave the phone off. Rebooting clears the working memory and closes frozen apps, so when the phone slows down, heats up, or loses signal, start there. Powering off for longer mostly makes sense where it's required, at a repair shop, or when you really want to stretch the battery while not using the phone at all.

Frequently asked questions