How to quickly force restart the iPhone X in case of a crash

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iPhone edited October 2020
Yes, even the iPhone X can crash or hang sometimes. AppleInsider shows you how to quickly and easily force a restart on your iPhone X when your device no longer responds.

iPhone Force restart


If your iPhone X ever seems to be acting up or just completely frozen, sometimes a force-restart is in order. On iPhones with a Home button, it was as easy as just holding that button down plus the power button until the Apple logo would appear.

When Apple removed the Home button, it made it more difficult to use less physical buttons for a variety of different functions. Three buttons are now responsible for their primary functions (volume up, volume down, sleep/wake) as well as turning the phone off, restarting the phone, entering recovery mode, and enabling Emergency SOS.

Most common of all these tasks, is forcibly restarting the phone when it becomes unresponsive. To do so on the iPhone X, there are three steps.

  • Press and release the Volume Up button.

  • Press and release the Volume Down button.

  • Press and hold the Side button. Continue to hold this button down until the Apple logo appears on screen.






This certainly isn't the most obvious set of actions. But it works when needed and handy to know in those unfortunate situations where needed.

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 16
    boboqboboq Posts: 17member
    Home + power wasn’t/isn’t “the most obvious set of actions” either. It’s simply a matter of getting used to it. 
    edited June 2018 netmage
  • Reply 2 of 16
    jbishop1039jbishop1039 Posts: 258member
    Also the same procedure for iPhone 8. iPhone 7 didn't use the Home button either. That Home + Power combination ended with the 6s. All of these are documented in the iPhone User Guide. But who uses that anyway :wink: 
    netmagewatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 16
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,933administrator
    jbishop1039 said:
    Also the same procedure for iPhone 8. iPhone 7 didn't use the Home button either. That Home + Power combination ended with the 6s. All of these are documented in the iPhone User Guide. But who uses that anyway :wink: 
    Nobody, really. We get asked how do to this a lot.

    Thus, the article.
    anantksundaramwatto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 16
    sidricthevikingsidrictheviking Posts: 193member
    And the iPhone 7 has its own unique method of force restarting: side button + volume down. Strange that Apple changed from that to the current method for iPhone 8, 8 Plus and X after just one year. 
    netmagedysamoriawatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 16
    jbishop1039jbishop1039 Posts: 258member
    Also the same procedure for iPhone 8. iPhone 7 didn't use the Home button either. That Home + Power combination ended with the 6s. All of these are documented in the iPhone User Guide. But who uses that anyway :wink: 
    Nobody, really. We get asked how do to this a lot.

    Thus, the article.
    Oh I believe it. Even with the entire Internet available, people still seem incapable of finding something themselves. 

    Ah well, guess that's the way it is now.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 16
    softekysofteky Posts: 138member
    sidrictheviking said:
    And the iPhone 7 has its own unique method of force restarting: side button + volume down. Strange that Apple changed from that to the current method for iPhone 8, 8 Plus and X after just one year. 
    I'm not surprised. It's too easy to simultaneously press side buttons (way too many unintended emergency calls as it stands). Putting "restart" into a sequence should help. I had to disable automatic 911 calls on my X. Every other run (or so), with the iPhone in a waist-bag (with no discernible side pressure) my wife gets called (emergency call) without me figuring how it's triggering. Perhaps my stride is too jarring. I wrapped my iPhone in a cloth handkerchief, that decreased the triggering but did not eliminate them.
    dysamoriawatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 16
    sidricthevikingsidrictheviking Posts: 193member
    softeky said:
    sidrictheviking said:
    And the iPhone 7 has its own unique method of force restarting: side button + volume down. Strange that Apple changed from that to the current method for iPhone 8, 8 Plus and X after just one year. 
    I'm not surprised. It's too easy to simultaneously press side buttons (way too many unintended emergency calls as it stands). Putting "restart" into a sequence should help. I had to disable automatic 911 calls on my X. Every other run (or so), with the iPhone in a waist-bag (with no discernible side pressure) my wife gets called (emergency call) without me figuring how it's triggering. Perhaps my stride is too jarring. I wrapped my iPhone in a cloth handkerchief, that decreased the triggering but did not eliminate them.
    That’s intriguing. I’d love to hear if you figure out the cause. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 16
    JFC_PAJFC_PA Posts: 948member
    jbishop1039 said:
    Also the same procedure for iPhone 8. iPhone 7 didn't use the Home button either. That Home + Power combination ended with the 6s. All of these are documented in the iPhone User Guide. But who uses that anyway :wink: 
    The User Guide in iBooks on my iPhone X? Irony Alert. 😎
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 16
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,411member
    sidrictheviking said:
    And the iPhone 7 has its own unique method of force restarting: side button + volume down. Strange that Apple changed from that to the current method for iPhone 8, 8 Plus and X after just one year. 
    On my X (iOS 11.3), just holding the side button + Vol down still brings up the “slide to power off” and “SOS” options. 

    The Vol up, then Vol down seems to involve extra, unneeded steps. What am I missing?
  • Reply 10 of 16
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,933administrator
    anantksundaram said:
    sidrictheviking said:
    And the iPhone 7 has its own unique method of force restarting: side button + volume down. Strange that Apple changed from that to the current method for iPhone 8, 8 Plus and X after just one year. 
    On my X (iOS 11.3), just holding the side button + Vol down still brings up the “slide to power off” and “SOS” options. 

    The Vol up, then Vol down seems to involve extra, unneeded steps. What am I missing?
    This tip is a force reboot. A control alt delete, if you will.

    the other is a basic power-down.
    netmage
  • Reply 11 of 16
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    I never thought it was a good idea to get rid of a physical Home button.
    dysamoria
  • Reply 12 of 16
    netmagenetmage Posts: 314member
    That ship has sailed. While I'm not sure I find the swipe gestures an improvement over the home button, they aren't really worse either though the home indicator overlap with bottom gestures could still use improvement - they took Fitt's law gestures such as tapping the bottom to raise the Safari toolbars and made them finicky..
  • Reply 13 of 16
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    netmage said:
    That ship has sailed. While I'm not sure I find the swipe gestures an improvement over the home button, they aren't really worse either though the home indicator overlap with bottom gestures could still use improvement - they took Fitt's law gestures such as tapping the bottom to raise the Safari toolbars and made them finicky..
    I have to think the iPhone 9 will also have a home button and I think if Apple were to remove all options for customers with a physical button that would be problematic. Keep in mind, there are a lot of older people and disabled people who use iOS products and a physical button is still important for accessibility.
  • Reply 14 of 16
    dysamoriadysamoria Posts: 3,430member
    I never thought it was a good idea to get rid of a physical Home button.
    It wasn't. Neither was the move of the sleep button to the side opposite the volume buttons. This all continues to be the case, and the usage continues to become more convoluted. Just because people can get used to a change does not make it okay. But so many people seem to like to rationalize every change for the sake of change, dismissing any rational/logical argument against it.

    Today's Apple is not 2007's Apple. There appears to be a major loss of expertise. But who wants analytical thinkers or user experience experts anymore, in a world where expertise is near valueless and dead?
  • Reply 15 of 16
    New2thisNew2this Posts: 1member
    what if I did what you suggested, volume up + volume down then side button, but it is still frozen on the logo screen. What to do to push the system beyond this screen? if anyone can answer, please.
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