You don’t need to wipe your iPhone every time it starts acting up. Minor glitches, frozen screens, and crashing apps can usually be fixed with a quick restart. You should save a full factory reset for when your phone is beyond simple troubleshooting, or when you are preparing to hand it off to a new owner.
A Mac or PC (only needed for recovery mode or DFU mode)
When your iPhone stops running smoothly, you have two primary restart options to get it back on track. A soft reset turns your phone off normally to clear up temporary bugs, while a force restart uses a hardware shortcut to reboot in case of a completely frozen screen. Before diving into the step-by-step instructions, here’s a quick look at how these methods differ.
Understanding the differences between these three methods will help you prevent unnecessary data loss and save time when troubleshooting. A soft reset is simply turning your iPhone off and back on using the software slider. It clears out temporary system memory and closes background applications without touching any of your personal files, photos, or settings. This is the best starting point when your phone feels sluggish or a specific app keeps freezing.
A force restart reboots the device using the hardware buttons. It is designed for situations where your screen is completely frozen or black, making it impossible to access the power menu on the screen. Just like a soft reset, a force restart keeps all your personal data, apps, and settings intact.
A factory reset completely erases the device, wiping all photos, messages, app data, passwords, and custom settings. It restores your iPhone to the exact condition it was in when you first pulled it out of the box. This option is intended for wiping your personal data before selling, trading in, or handing it down, or as a last resort for severe software corruption.
You should back up your iPhone before you factory reset it. Once the wipe finishes, there’s no getting that data back unless you saved a copy first. Apple’s official guide to backing up an iPhone walks you through both iCloud and computer backup options.
This piece will walk you through a soft reset and a force restart step by step, but not the factory reset process itself. If you need to wipe your iPhone completely, our guide on how to factory reset an iPhone breaks down every option.
A soft reset is the quickest fix to try when your phone feels sluggish or an app misbehaves. The following method works on all iPhone models going back to the iPhone X, along with the iPhone SE 2nd generation and later.
Step 1: Press and hold the side button and either volume button at the same time to open the power menu.
Step 2: Rest your finger on the Slide to power off slider at the top of the power menu and swipe to the right.
Step 3: Wait a few seconds, then press and hold the side button again until the Apple logo appears.
If you have a first-gen iPhone SE or an iPhone 8 or older, hold the side or top button alone until the slider appears, then follow steps 2 and 3.
You can also access the power slider through the software either by swiping down from the top-right of the screen to open the Control Center and holding the power button in the top-right corner, or by navigating to Settings > General > Shut Down.
A force restart is the fix to use when your iPhone’s screen goes black or is completely unresponsive to touch. Since you can’t rely on the display to trigger a shutdown, the whole process works through the hardware buttons instead. This method works on all iPhone models going back to the iPhone 8, along with the iPhone SE 2nd generation and later.
Step 1: Press and quickly release the volume up button.
Step 2: Press and quickly release the volume down button.
Step 3: Press and hold the side button until the Apple logo appears on the screen.
If you have an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus, press and hold the side button and the volume down button together until the Apple logo appears. On iPhone 6, 6S, and 6S Plus, press and hold the wake/sleep button on the side and the home button until the Apple logo appears. On the first-gen iPhone SE, iPhone 5S, and older models, press and hold the wake/sleep button on the top and the home button until the Apple logo appears.
If a soft reset or force restart didn’t fix the problem, don’t jump straight to wiping your iPhone. A few quick checks can rule out simpler causes first.
If none of these help and your iPhone is still unresponsive, you can try putting it in recovery mode to update or restore the software.
If your phone is unresponsive and you’re not able to perform a force restart, you can try entering recovery mode. This requires a computer, since the whole process runs through Finder on a Mac or the Apple Devices app on Windows.
Connect your iPhone to your computer and open Finder or the Apple Devices app first. Then follow the button sequence for your model. The following method works on the iPhone 8 and later, along with the iPhone SE 2nd generation and later.
Step 1: Press and quickly release the volume up button.
Step 2: Press and quickly release the volume down button.
Step 3: Press and hold the side button until you see the recovery mode screen, which shows a cable pointing to a computer.
Step 4: On your computer, choose Update in Finder or the Apple Devices app. Your iPhone will restart after the update installs, without losing any data. If the Update option doesn’t fix the problem, you can go back into recovery mode and choose Restore instead, which factory resets the device.
If you have an iPhone 7 or 7 Plus, press and hold the side button and the volume down button together until the recovery mode screen appears, then follow step 4. On iPhone 6S and older models, including the first-gen iPhone SE, press and hold the side or top button and the Home button together until the recovery mode screen appears, then follow step 4.
If updating or restoring in recovery mode doesn’t fix the problem, or your computer doesn’t detect your iPhone, you can try the DFU mode option. DFU stands for Device Firmware Update, and it restores your iPhone at the firmware level instead of going through iOS. Treat it as a last resort, as restoring from DFU mode wipes the device. The following instructions work on the iPhone 8 and newer, along with the iPhone SE 2nd gen and later.
Step 1: Connect your iPhone to your computer and open Finder on a Mac or the Apple Devices app on Windows.
Step 2: Press and quickly release the volume up button.
Step 3: Press and quickly release the volume down button.
Step 4: Press and hold the side button and, as soon as the screen goes black, also press and hold the volume down button.
Step 5: Release the side button after 5 seconds, but keep holding the volume down button until your computer detects your iPhone.
Note that timing is crucial to enter DFU mode successfully. You have to press the volume down button right as the screen goes black, not a second before or after. You also have to let go of the side button after five seconds, or it’ll trigger a normal restart.
Check your iPhone’s screen once your computer detects it. DFU mode means a completely black screen, with no Apple logo or recovery mode icon. If you see the recovery mode screen, disconnect and reboot your iPhone and start over from Step 2.
Once the phone enters DFU mode and your computer detects it, you should see a prompt saying an iPhone has been detected and needs to be restored before it can be used. Click Restore and follow the prompts on your computer. This will download and install the latest software, restoring the device and erasing everything in the process.
It depends on which method you follow. A soft reset and a force restart won’t touch your data. A factory reset or restoring the device from recovery or DFU mode will erase everything, including photos, messages, apps, and saved passwords, returning your iPhone to its out-of-the-box state.
If you can’t unlock your iPhone, you’ll need to erase it before you can use it again. On a computer, put your iPhone into recovery mode and choose Restore. If your iPhone is signed into iCloud and Find My is turned on, you can also erase it remotely from another Apple device or from iCloud.com.
A soft reset just turns your phone off and back on, similar to restarting a computer. A factory reset wipes the device entirely and reinstalls it to factory condition. One is a quick fix for minor glitches, while the other is a full data wipe.
Yes. A factory reset signs your iPhone out of iCloud and removes your Apple ID from the device. You’ll need to sign back in with your Apple ID after setup to restore anything from a backup.
The reset itself usually takes a few minutes. Setting the phone back up afterward, including restoring from a backup if you have one, can take longer depending on how much data you’re restoring and your internet connection.
Only if you backed it up beforehand. If you have a recent iCloud or computer backup, you can restore your photos, messages, and apps during setup. Without a backup, a factory reset is permanent.
Merely days after the iPhone Duo hit the shelves, images of broken screens on the phone started popping up across social media. Until now, it’s been unclear what’s causing the line of defective pixels that appears vertically along the crease, as well as horizontally, on the phone’s inner display.
Apple has finally acknowledged the issue, which has shown up on iPhone Duo units owned by customers as well as demo units in stores. In a statement shared with Bloomberg, Apple says that not all iPhone Duo units are affected and that those that are tend to show the display fault early on. The company added that users who experience problems with their iPhone Duo display should contact AppleCare for a replacement.
Not long ago, Apple treated independent repair like an act of outright hostility. The Cupertino giant locked down parts with serial-number pairing, while repair tools remained firmly out of reach of anyone outside its authorized repair network. More importantly, the company waged a legal and lobbying battle against right-to-repair legislation.
I've covered enough of these fights over the years to know what a shift looks like. That's why what happened in October 2026 genuinely caught me off guard. The day the iPhone Duo went on sale, what may be the most mechanically complex iPhone to date, Apple pulled off a surprising about-face. It published teardown-style repair manuals for a handful of major components.
Apple's first foldable phone is now on shelves, in short supply, but with an unreal amount of buzz around it. After all, it's the first foldable iPhone, and there's plenty that this phone gets right. But there's also a lot that is either broken or underwhelming. What's peculiar is the dialogue around this phone, and how it has completely overshadowed every other attempt at making a phone with a similar form factor.
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