When you own an iPhone with a broken or unresponsive screen, turning it off isn’t as easy as pressing the power button. Luckily, there are solutions that will get your device restarted without using the screen.
Apple has designed different models with a variety of buttons, which are used to do everything from prompt Siri or activate Assistive Touch to open up apps and more. However, these buttons have a tendency to fail and make it hard to turn off your phone.
Method 1: Press and hold the Side and Home buttons
If your iPhone screen has broken or stopped responding, it can be frustrating to try and turn it off. However, there are several ways to get it to shut down without using the screen.
Apple iPhones, especially older models, don’t arrive with a physical Home button. Instead, they have a Side button that acts like the Home button and a Volume Up and Down button that you can press simultaneously to return to an app or access controls for things such as taking screenshots.
The Side button also lets you launch Siri. As with the previous method, hold these buttons at the same time until the Apple logo appears on your iPhone’s screen.
This should restart your device, but you may need to wait a few seconds for it to do so. After the restart, you can start using your iPhone normally again.
Aside from the above button combinations, you can also use the Power off slider to turn off an iPhone without a Home button. This is available in the settings section of your device’s software, and it’s accessed by tapping General.
When you’re in that setting, scroll down to the bottom and tap Shut Down. After a short delay, you’ll see a slider appear on your screen that allows you to slide it to the right to turn off your iPhone.
Method 2: Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button
When you’re not using your iPhone, it’s often a good idea to put the display to sleep, which puts it in lock mode, saves battery power, and prevents the screen from responding if you touch it. It also lets you set a time to turn off the device.
If you want to put iPhone to sleep, press and hold the Side button (on older models) or the Sleep/Wake button (on iPhone 6s and newer). When a Slide to Power Off bar appears on the screen, you can use your finger to drag it to the right.
Depending on the model, you can also press and hold the Volume buttons to shut down your iPhone. Just make sure to release them when the shutdown screen appears. If you do this too many times, it can trigger Emergency SOS.
To restart your iPhone, press and hold the Side button (or the Sleep/Wake button) and the Home button at the same time. You’ll see the Apple logo appear after a moment. If you don’t, press and hold the Side button again until it does.
A soft restart should solve a lot of problems, but it may not resolve everything. If your iPhone freezes, won’t respond to the Sleep/Wake button, or won’t open apps, you might need to try a force restart instead.
When you force restart your phone, the hardware and software navigation of your iPhone will reset. This can help to solve many problems, and it doesn’t delete any settings or data on the iPhone.
If your iPhone’s screen is frozen, you can force it to wake up by pressing and holding the Side button or Sleep/Wake button. You can then double-click the Home button to return to the Home screen and access apps.
You can also put iPhone in sleep mode with the Sleep button or the Do Not Disturb button, which will dim your screen and silence calls and notifications. You can set the time to activate Do Not Disturb and schedule when it’s active, too.
You can also lock your iPhone by pressing and holding the Side button or Sleep/Wake until the red Slide to Power Off bar appears on the screen. When the bar is empty, you can tap the Cancel button if you want to change your mind.
Method 3: Press and hold the Power button
The power button on your iPhone is one of the most important hardware features to have, as it allows you to shut down the device and reboot it. But sometimes, your Power button stops working, or you may need to turn off an iPhone without touching the screen.
Luckily, there are several ways to turn off an iPhone with a damaged or disabled power button. In most cases, it’s just a matter of pressing and holding the button.
This method works on any iPhone, including the iPhone SE (2nd Generation)/8/X/XS/XR/11/12/13 models. To start, press and hold both the Home and Side buttons simultaneously for a few seconds.
After that, wait until the screen turns off and then release both buttons. This will cause the iPhone to restart, which can fix many glitches and problems.
If this doesn’t work, try another method that uses the phone’s hardware buttons. In addition to the Home and Side buttons, your iPhone can also be turned off by pressing and holding Volume Up and Volume Down at the same time.
When you do this, the screen will show an emergency shutdown option, which can be useful in a high-risk situation. Be aware, though, that you’ll be locking your iPhone until you enter a passcode.
Method 4: Press and hold the Lock/Unlock button
If you own an iPhone that has a Touch ID fingerprint scanner, iOS 10 introduced a new method of unlocking your device. You’re probably used to just laying your finger on the Touch ID sensor and letting it do its thing, so pressing the Home button is an awkward change for most users.
In order to get around this, you can enable a toggle in the Settings app that will make it so that you’re not required to press the Home button in order to unlock your device. This works by enabling the “Rest Finger to Open” feature, which means that you can rest your finger on the Touch ID sensor and have it unlock your phone for you without having to click the Home button.
As a bonus, this toggle also allows you to access any widgets or other features on the Lock Screen without having to manually unlock your phone first. That’s especially useful if you don’t want to reveal any message previews or other sensitive information on your Lock Screen.