By Michael | Last Updated
Restarting your iPhone or iPad is a common way to fix various glitches on your device. Typically, most users will use the Home button or Power button to do this. How do you restart your iPhone or iPad when the buttons stop working? Read on to find out the solution.
Restarting iPhone/iPad seems to become difficult when the Home button or Power button is not responding. Don't get frustrated, Apple has provided other options for restarting the device to support users to restart their iPhone or iPad without relying on physical buttons.
AssistiveTouch is a powerful feature designed to help users with limited mobility operate their devices more easily. It provides an on-screen menu that allows you to perform tasks normally managed by hardware buttons, such as rebooting the device.
Step 1: First, go to "Accessibility" and tap "Touch", then toggle the switch to enable the "AssistiveTouch".
Step 2: Tap the "AssistiveTouch" button on the screen and select "Device" > "More" from the menu.
Step 3: Tap on the "Restart" option and then confirm to reboot the device.
Resetting network settings is another way to force a restart of your iPhone or iPad without the Home button or Power button. However, in addition to rebooting the device, this action will completely remove all network-related settings on the device, including the Wi-Fi password and VPN connection. If you insist on using this solution, follow the steps below:
Step 1: Open the "Settings" app and go to "General".
Step 2: Scroll down and select "Transfer or Reset iPhone" > "Reset Network Settings" to confirm resetting your device.
Step 3: Once the reset process is complete, your iPhone will automatically reboot without the need for the Home button or Power button.
Enabling bold text is a little-known trick that doesn't require any buttons to trigger an iPhone or iPad reboot. If you want a quick reboot without affecting other settings, give it a try.
Note: This method only works on devices running lower versions of iOS (iOS 14 and earlier).
Step 1: Go to "Settings" > "Display & Brightness".
Step 2: Toggle the "Bold Text" switch to enable it.
Step 3: A prompt will appear on the screen asking if you want to reboot your device to apply the changes. Click "Continue" and your iPhone will restart automatically.
When the iPhone screen freezes and the home or power button becomes unresponsive, restarting the device becomes more complicated. However, there is no need to worry, there are still some effective ways to force the device to restart or shut down.
While it's not the fastest solution, letting the battery drain completely is a reliable way to force your iPhone and iPad to shut down without a Home or Power button, especially if its screen has frozen. Once the battery is drained, you can reboot the device by charging it.
Step 1: Wait for the device's battery to completely drain, which can take a couple of hours.
Step 2: Once the device is turned off, connect it to the charger. After the iPhone/iPad has enough charge (usually 15%-20%), it will restart automatically.
If you have an Apple ID signed in on your device and the "Find My" feature is enabled, you can use iCloud to remotely control the device, such as sending a signal to the device to force it to respond. If the screen unfreezes successfully, then you can perform a reboot.
Step 1: Open the "Find My" program on another Apple device or via iCloud.com.
Step 2: Sign in to the same Apple ID and select the frozen device from the list.
Step 3: Tap on the "Play Sound" option to send a signal to the device. Sometimes, this may be able to unfreeze the screen. After the screen is activated, you can go to your iPhone and use the method mentioned earlier in this article to restart your iPhone/iPad.
If "Play Sound" can't wake up your device screen, how to restart iPhone/iPad without Home or Power button? You can try another feature provided by iCloud: Erase Device. This will reset your iPhone/iPad to factory settings and restart it automatically. For users who do not have a backup, please choose this option carefully.
Restarting your iPhone/iPad may seem tricky when the Home button, Power button fails to work or the screen freezes. This article details how to restart your iPhone/iPad in different situations, and hopefully it will help you get your device back to normal operation easily. If you find this guide helpful, don't forget to share it with more people who need it.
