If your iPhone is acting up, frozen on a screen, and/or won't respond to you, force-restarting it is a surefire way to whip it back into shape. And the process is easy on older devices ... just hold down a two-button combo until the Apple logo appears. That's no longer the case with the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, which require a more extensive procedure that's harder to remember. On the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, you would just hold down the Side
button with the Volume Down button for ten seconds until the Apple logo appeared. On earlier iPhone models, you would hold down the Home button and Side (or Top) button, aka the Sleep/Wake or Power button, simultaneously for ten seconds until the Apple logo showed up. So, you'd think that the process for the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus would be very similar to how those methods works, most likely the same as the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus models. But it's no longer about pressing two buttons together at
the same time. Because of the new process for activating the Emergency SOS feature, which requires the Side button plus either the Volume Up or Volume Down button, these
button combos won't work for force-restarting your iPhone 8 or 8 Plus when you have a problem with the device. The new process is as follows:
Okay, maybe it's not so bad. After a few tries, you'll probably remember it, though you may get the Volume buttons order wrong on occasion. This is also the same process the new iPhone X will use to force-reboot.
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When you perform a hard reset, your iPhone 8 or 8 Plus immediately restarts. A hard reset is the equivalent of restarting your computer by unplugging it, then plugging it back in.
Why Should I Perform A Hard Reset On My iPhone 8 Or 8 Plus?
Although you shouldn't rely on hard resets to turn your iPhone off and back on, it can be a reliable way to turn your iPhone off and back on when its unresponsive, frozen, or experiencing a software crash.
- Quickly press the volume up button on the side of your iPhone.
- Quickly press the volume down button on the side of your iPhone.
- Press and hold the power button.
- Release the power button when the Apple logo appears on the display. Your iPhone 8 will turn back on shortly after.
Pro Tips
- You may need to press and hold the power button for 15-30 before the hard reset is initiated.
- The iPhone power button is also known as the Sleep / Wake button.
With the iPhone 8 ($153 at Amazon) and 8 Plus, Apple has once again changed the button combination used to force restart a frozen phone.
Up until the iPhone 7 ($190 at eBay) and 7 Plus, you could hold the wake/lock (or "side" button) and the home button at the same time until the Apple logo appeared. That process changed with the iPhone 7 lineup, when you had to hold the wake/lock and volume down buttons to complete the process.
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If you try the same thing on the iPhone 8 or 8 Plus, however, you'll quickly learn that's how the Emergency SOS feature is triggered. Depending on your settings, your phone may end up playing a loud alarm and calling emergency services when all you wanted to do was restart your device.
Apple has published the button sequence (not combination) that restarts the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. Here's what you need to do:
- Quickly press and release the volume up button.
- Quickly press and release the volume down button.
- Hold in the wake/lock button until you see the Apple logo.
The next time your phone is running a bit slow or is frozen, keep this in mind. It took me a few tries to get it just right, but it indeed works.