How to turn off your iPhone

Let’s power down that iPhone

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While most people will opt to keep their smartphone turned on all the time, there are many of reasons you’d want to turn off your iPhone, however it’s not immediately apparenthow(save for just letting it run out of charge).

Maybe you want to have a digital detox and remove the temptation of a quick Instagram scroll. Maybe you’re going into a movie theater where your phone should be off. Or maybe you want to restart the device to install new software or get rid of an annoying glitch.

Unfortunately, there’s no ‘off’ button, and most new iPhones require you to remember a specific button combination to switch it off. The method also differs depending on whether your iPhone has Face ID or not.

Don’t worry, though, because it’s super easy to turn off your iPhone, whether you’ve got an aging device or the newest handset out there. So here’s how to turn off your iPhone.

Tools and requirements

To follow the below steps, you’ll need one ofApple’s recent iPhones, which encompasses the vast majority in current use.

Don’t worry if you have a ‘vintage’ iPhone though, because at the bottom of this page we’ve laid out how you can turn one of these mobiles off too.

Here are the iPhones which this guide applies for:

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Quick steps for turning off your iPhone

Step-by-step guide

1. Prepare your iPhone

When you turn off your iPhone, it’ll close all apps and turn off any ongoing processes, so make sure this won’t interrupt anything before you begin to turn the device off.

If you’re downloading or installing a new app, make sure it’s finished first. If you’ve half-written aWhatsAppmessage, send it or lose it. If you’re editing a video, photo or audio track in an app, ensure it’s saved or backed up.

Also make sure that your iPhone has enough battery to turn back on, if you’re going to do so straight away, or you’ll have to let it charge before you get access to your phone again.

2. Turn off using buttons

Your first option for turning off your iPhone is to use the buttons on the physical device.

Modern iPhones made in the last few years are all turned off in the same way, and you’ll have the right kind of iPhone if it has no home button (got an older model? scroll down to the bottom of this page). You’ll have tosimultaneously pressthepower button on the right edge, andeither of the volume buttons on the right edge. Don’t just press the power key, or you’ll summon Siri.

You’ll know this has worked when a slider appears at the top of the screen.Slide this from left to rightto confirm that you want to turn off the device, and then your iPhone will power down.

3. Turn off in settings

There’s another way to turn off an iPhone, that’ll be easier for people who don’t want to press and hold buttons on different edges of the phone. It’s a way to shut down the phone through the settings menu.

Firstly you’ll need to find theSettingsapp, indicated by a cog. Next find theGeneralsettings and here you’ll find an option toShut Down.

As in the above option, you’ll be shown a slider to turn off the phone, which you’ll need todrag from left to rightto power down the device.

Troubleshooting

What should you do if you have an older iPhone?

As mentioned, the above strategy will work on nearly every iPhone since the iPhone X in 2017, which is when Face ID was introduced.

If you have an earlier iPhone, or an iPhone SE model, you’ll need to use a slightly different strategy. For these, you can simply press and hold the power button, and don’t need to worry about the volume button.

Some older iPhones have the power button on the right edge of the device; really old ones have it on the top edge.

What if my iPhone isn’t responding?

Don’t worry, if your phone is playing up and you can’t reboot it by the above means, you’ll be happy to know that there’s a nuclear option. This is called the Force restart iPhone option.

To do this:

How do I turn my phone back on?!

That’s probably an important thing to know if you’re turning your iPhone off!

Thankfully, it’s a simple task. To turn your iPhone on, press and hold the power button in order to breathe life back into your mobile. You’ll know it’s turning back on when the Apple logo appears.

Tom Bedford was deputy phones editor on TechRadar until late 2022, having worked his way up from staff writer. Though he specialized in phones and tablets, he also took on other tech like electric scooters, smartwatches, fitness, mobile gaming and more. He is based in London, UK and now works for the entertainment site What To Watch.

He graduated in American Literature and Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. Prior to working on TechRadar, he freelanced in tech, gaming and entertainment, and also spent many years working as a mixologist.

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