Restart or Reset your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch
Mac Tip #378, 01 April 2009

Occasionally your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch may get ‘stuck’. It just stops responding to you. In that case restart it, or reset it and it should start behaving normally again.

Note: I write ‘iPhone’ below, but the instructions are the same for the iPad and iPod touch.

You probably already know that there’s a Sleep/Wake button on the top of the iPhone. Press it once and the iPhone wakes up or goes to sleep.

But that is just Sleep and not actually turning the iPhone off or on — just like most newer Macs.

To restart an iPhone:

The Restart arrow on my iPhone screen (left) and the Apple logo (right).

1. Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button until a white arrow against red appears.
2. Slide the arrow across the screen. The iPhone turns off.
3. To turn the iPhone on, press and hold the Sleep/Wake button for a few moments. The Apple logo very quickly appears and the iPhone restarts.

The image shows the Restart arrow on my iPhone screen (left) and the Apple logo (right).

To reset an iPhone:

1. Press and hold both the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button at the same time for at least 10 seconds. Do not let go of the buttons when the Restart arrow appears, but instead keep pressing them until the Apple logo appears.
2. After the Apple logo appears the iPhone restarts.

This kind of Reset doesn’t delete your data — you should just find that your iPhone is now behaving normally and you can quickly return to using it as you wish.

If those steps don’t clear up a problem with your iPhone or iPod touch consult the Apple iPhone support page for more help.