How To Turn Off Your iPhone

It's a good idea to turn off your iPhone if the battery is critically low or if it's performing strangely, as rebooting can often fix problems, just as it does with computers. In this guide, we show you how to turn off any iPhone, as well as how to perform a hard reset.

How to Turn off iPhone 8 and Older

No matter your reason for doing it, below are the steps for shutting off an iPhone. This technique applies to most iPhone models, from the original to the latest version.

1. Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button for a few seconds. Release the button when you see a message appear on the screen. This button is located on the right of the phone (it's either on the top or on the side, depending on the iPhone model).

2. A power button appears on the screen that reads slide to power off. Move the slider all the way to the right to shut off the phone.

3. A progress wheel appears in the center of the screen. The iPhone turns off a few seconds later.

How to Turn Off iPhone X and Later​

Turning off the iPhone X is a little trickier. That's because the Side button (formerly known as the Sleep/Wake button) was re-assigned to activate Siri, Apple Pay, and the Emergency SOS feature. Here are the steps to turn off an iPhone X.

1. Press and hold the Side and Volume Down buttons at the same time.

2. Wait for the power-off slider to appear.

3. Move the slider from left-to-right to shut down the phone.

How to Hard Reset an iPhone 8 and Older

When your iPhone is locked up because of some glitch or error, the normal shutdown process may not work. In that case, try a technique called a hard reset. This should only be used when other attempts have failed, but sometimes it's just what you need.

1. Press and hold both the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button for 10 seconds or more. The screen goes black, and the Apple logo appears. On the iPhone 7 series and 8 series, use the Volume Down button instead of Home.

2. When you see the logo, release both buttons and let the phone start normally.

How to Hard Reset an iPhone X and Later

Without a Home button, the hard-reset process on the iPhone X is different:

1. Press Volume Up​.​

2. Press Volume Down​​.

3. Hold the Side button until the screen goes dark, and then let go of the button to reboot the phone.