Apple iPhone Tips & Tricks: How to 'Force Restart' New and Old Models
Despite having one of the more expensive smartphones out in the market, Apple's iPhone line continues to be one of the popular choices for tech aficionados. Whether it is the user-friendly design or the inclusivity it provides, the iPhone is definitely a mainstay in the mobile arena, yet with newer models appearing, some usual procedure may not apply to all anymore.
One of the commonly used features is performing a force restart on an iPhone device. Both to make the phone faster or to unfreeze it, this is arguably an overused functionality, and it won't hurt to brush up on how and when to do it.
Here are easy step-by-step procedures on how to perform a restart (soft reset) and a force restart as per Apple's support page.
To do a soft reset, one must first press and hold the Sleep/Wake button until the red slider appears. Then one must drag the slider to turn the device completely off. After it turns off, press and hold the Sleep/Wake button once more until the Apple logo appears.
For doing a force restart, however, it is completely different with the iPhone 7 and higher models than in doing it with previous models.
On an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus, press and hold both the Sleep/Wake and Volume Down buttons for at least ten seconds, until the Apple logo appears.
On an iPhone 6s and earlier, iPad, or iPod touch, instead of the Volume Down buttons, press the Home buttons together with the Sleep/Wake for at least ten seconds, until the Apple logo appears.
According to Digital Trends, the use of the soft reset and force restart varies depending on the situation. Doing a soft reset is meant to fix system slowness or latency while the iPhone is still responsive. Force restart, on the other hand, is used when the iPhone completely freezes.
If both ways don't work, charging the device for an hour may help, or contacting Apple support will also do the trick.