iPhone X, XR, XS, and XS Max: How to Hard Reset

[MacRumors]

Apple's newest crop of devices, the iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR don't have a Home button and feature new Side buttons with unique functionality, so Apple has introduced a new method for forcing a quick restart.

It takes a unique combination of button presses to cause your iPhone to restart, and while it's not immediately obvious, once you've learned the steps, a force restart is the quickest way to restart your iPhone if it's acting up.

Hard Resetting iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR

1. Quickly press and release the Volume Up button.
2. Quickly press and release the Volume Down button.
3. Press and hold the Side button until the Apple logo appears, then release the Side button.

During this process, you will see a slider to power off the iPhone. You're going to want to ignore it and continue holding down the Side button until the screen goes black. At that point, the Apple logo will pop up, and after the restart is complete, the screen will activate once again.

Using the force restart process prevents you from having to shut the iPhone down entirely, which takes several more steps.

If you do want to shut the iPhone down, you can do so by going to the General section of the Settings app, scrolling down to the bottom, and choosing the Shut Down option.

You can also hold down the Volume Up button and the Side button at the same time to bring up the Emergency SOS interface that also houses a "slide to power off" option.

Article Link: iPhone X, XR, XS, and XS Max: How to Hard Reset

 

[jpn]

iPhone 8 same way to force restart.

 

[haruhiko]

Konami code

 

[chabig]

You can also hold down the Volume Up button and the Side button at the same time to bring up the Emergency SOS interface that also houses a "slide to power off" option.

The volume down button also works.

 

[3goldens]

Thanks for the info MacRumours!

I’m so sorry I upgraded to the Xs! It is such an inferior product compared to the first gen. I can’t even begin to count how many times I have had to reset this peice of garbage. I can count the times I had to on the X, probably less than 5 in over a year. Apple really screwed us this time with this malfunctioning sorry excuse for a phone. WiFi sucks, celluar data speeds suck, frozen safari pages and on and on and on. I’m trying to find another X to swap this one out at this point.

 

[chabig]

I’m trying to find another X to swap this one out at this point.

I’ll trade with you. PM me.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

Huh, you learn something new every day.

You can also hold down the Volume Up button and the Side button at the same time to bring up the Emergency SOS interface that also houses a "slide to power off" option.

This is how I would previously do a force restart on my X

iPhone 8 same way to force restart.

Really? You can't just hold down the power button like on all the other iPhones I've had? (6+ was my last iphone before the X)

 

[TimSHB]

Konami code

Does this button sequence also give you 100 extra lives?

 

[jpn]

Huh, you learn something new every day.

This is how I would previously do a force restart on my X


Really? You can't just hold down the power button like on all the other iPhones I've had? (6+ was my last iphone before the X)

Does it have to do with the home button on iPhone 8 not being mechanical?

 

[thasan]

Should have mentioned that the second option also allows us to disable Face ID, requiring a password to activate it.

 

[Morgenland]

Since the SE, Apple has been increasingly losing its philosophy of ease of use (face recognition in front view instead of the nice fingerprint homebutton ready from anywhere, thus abandoning the central control element, at the same time screen size and thus increased weight for the Asian market, the ugly notch, roundings in the design at the expense of clear grip, etc.) due to differentiation pressure in the marketplace on an actually developed product.

No perfect product comes out of such a compromise matrix. Only an "optimal".

 

[TrulsZK]

You can also hold down the Volume Up button and the Side button at the same time to bring up the Emergency SOS interface that also houses a "slide to power off" option.

Or you can

Quickly press and release the Volume Up button.

Quickly press and release the Volume Down button.

Press and hold the Side button until you see Slide to power off, then release the side button (before it restarts)

 

[seriouslyjaded]

Since the SE, Apple has been increasingly losing its philosophy of ease of use (face recognition in front view instead of the nice fingerprint homebutton ready from anywhere, thus abandoning the central control element, at the same time screen size and thus increased weight for the Asian market, the ugly notch, roundings in the design at the expense of clear grip, etc.) due to differentiation pressure in the marketplace on an actually developed product.

No perfect product comes out of such a compromise matrix. Only an "optimal".

As an owner of a long line of iPhones, I can say that Face ID was a revelation in ease of use - it is so unintrusive that it may as well not be there - fingerprint sensors just aren’t in the same league. And the gesturing is so much more intuitive on these new phones - far better than the home button single/double/triple presses. The only thing they should fix IMO is to bring up notifications with a bottom left swipe and the control center with a bottom right swipe.

 

[djcerla]

Since the SE, Apple has been increasingly losing its philosophy of ease of use (face recognition in front view instead of the nice fingerprint homebutton ready from anywhere, thus abandoning the central control element.

TouchID does not work with wet hands and gloves. Also, with FaceID the user is constantly authenticated with no need to move the finger on a sensor, which is an enormous, underrated plus. And eliminating the home button reduces friction in use, no need to move the finger out of screen anymore, so everything just flies. The user is just so much faster in doing ordinary things.

All in all these plusses are more than enough to balance some use case where TouchID is just better. As a matter of fact, I was not sure about how non-techie users would like FaceID but, after a year, all of the people I asked are praising the new system.

 

[Lerxt]

Thanks for the info MacRumours!

I’m so sorry I upgraded to the Xs! It is such an inferior product compared to the first gen. I can’t even begin to count how many times I have had to reset this peice of garbage. I can count the times I had to on the X, probably less than 5 in over a year. Apple really screwed us this time with this malfunctioning sorry excuse for a phone. WiFi sucks, celluar data speeds suck, frozen safari pages and on and on and on. I’m trying to find another X to swap this one out at this point.

Hi Mr Kim. Have you tried to reinstall the OS or isn’t that what Samsung wanted you to say?

 

[Nicksd84]

As an owner of a long line of iPhones, I can say that Face ID was a revelation in ease of use - it is so unintrusive that it may as well not be there - fingerprint sensors just aren’t in the same league. And the gesturing is so much more intuitive on these new phones - far better than the home button single/double/triple presses. The only thing they should fix IMO is to bring up notifications with a bottom left swipe and the control center with a bottom right swipe.

Yes and no. Face ID when it works is definitely easier to use, but it definitely fails more for me because my face isn’t framed perfectly. Also, reachability needs some sort of better implementation. The number of times I try to use it, but then change the screen I needed to pull down because it recognized a menu tap is way too high.

 

[Supermacguy]

My continuing complaint against Apple's i-devices is this: removing actual buttons for software buttons, and then these kind of funny-button-press-dances to do specific actions. These kind of barely documented functions are what make everyone think the features/functions dont exist. It's bad for human interaction. Just consider giving an iPhone X/s to a person who doesn't speak your language, and you have to tell them how to use it. Or a person from even just 50 years ago. or 100. No buttons, no obvious outward sign of what it is or what to do. A slab of black glass/metal/plastic with no entry point.

 

[JamesBrock]

Thanks for the info MacRumours!

I’m so sorry I upgraded to the Xs! It is such an inferior product compared to the first gen. I can’t even begin to count how many times I have had to reset this peice of garbage. I can count the times I had to on the X, probably less than 5 in over a year. Apple really screwed us this time with this malfunctioning sorry excuse for a phone. WiFi sucks, celluar data speeds suck, frozen safari pages and on and on and on. I’m trying to find another X to swap this one out at this point.

It sounds like you may have a defective device. Take it to Apple and get a replacement. I have not had to restart my Xs since I received it on launch day.

 

[bbednarz]

Thanks for the info MacRumours!

I’m so sorry I upgraded to the Xs! It is such an inferior product compared to the first gen. I can’t even begin to count how many times I have had to reset this peice of garbage. I can count the times I had to on the X, probably less than 5 in over a year. Apple really screwed us this time with this malfunctioning sorry excuse for a phone. WiFi sucks, celluar data speeds suck, frozen safari pages and on and on and on. I’m trying to find another X to swap this one out at this point.

All these issues and you haven't thought to take it back to Apple? I am sure complaining about it on an internet forum will solve it though!

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

Does it have to do with the home button on iPhone 8 not being mechanical?

Oh yeah you're right. I had forgotten that force restart was holding down both side button and home button.

 

[adroka]

Or

Settings > General > Accesibilty > Bold Text > Continue

 

[paradise7]

As an owner of a long line of iPhones, I can say that Face ID was a revelation in ease of use - it is so unintrusive that it may as well not be there - fingerprint sensors just aren’t in the same league. And the gesturing is so much more intuitive on these new phones - far better than the home button single/double/triple presses. The only thing they should fix IMO is to bring up notifications with a bottom left swipe and the control center with a bottom right swipe.

I would say they need to put the “side button” (I call it the on/off button) back on top. I grip my phone using both sides and have way too often turned the screen off during use & when the phone lights up when in my pocket I have to take it out to hit the button & sometimes that isn’t feasible. Face ID is much better than a passcode…I’m one of those who don’t ”secure” my phone, when I want to use it, I don want to have to unlock it first, I want to use it.