If your iPhone is frozen and won’t turn off, don’t fret! With a little bit of extra time, you can figure out what the problem is and get your phone back to working order without having to go to the Apple store. Here are some ways you can troubleshoot your frozen iPhone at home. What to Do When Your iPhone is Frozen and Won’t Turn Off
Press Home button and Sleep/Wake button together
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This one may sound like an obvious solution, but it’s often overlooked. The truth is that your phone probably has a built-in reset button (Apple calls it a Home + Sleep/Wake button). When you press both at once, your iPhone will turn off and reset itself—basically cleaning out any processes running in memory and effectively giving it a fresh start.
If that doesn’t work
At its worst, your phone can get so frozen that it will refuse to turn off even if you press and hold down on both of its side buttons. In that case, a soft reset might work. To do a soft reset, press down on both of your iPhone’s sleep/wake buttons for about 10 seconds. You should see an Apple logo appear on screen before continuing with a regular restart procedure.
Try these steps
1. Hold down both Power button and Home button for at least 10 seconds. 2. Restart your device by plugging it into your computer, or connect it to a power outlet with your sync cable. 3. Attempt to reset all settings by going Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings (note: if you have an Apple Watch, you will need to unpair it first). 4.
If all else fails
If you’ve tried all of these fixes and your phone still won’t turn off, there are a few things you can do. First, plug it into your computer or laptop via USB cable (if you have one) or connect it to a wall charger. If both of those don’t work, hold down on sleep/wake button (or home button if your device doesn’t have a physical sleep/wake button), then press and hold on power for about two seconds.
More Option
Another trick involves simultaneously pressing both Home and Sleep/Wake. If done correctly, you’ll see a white screen (your iPhone’s Connect to iTunes page) while keeping all your apps open. This takes a bit more effort, but it’s still a good way to stop your frozen phone from rebooting or shutting down unexpectedly, which can mess up any unsaved work in apps.
Holding the power button for 2 seconds
If holding it for 2 seconds doesn’t work, try pressing it for 10 seconds. This can be done with or without connecting your device to a charger. Connecting your device to a charger makes it more likely that you’ll force shut down your device because your battery will be higher than normal—but if you don’t have access to a charger, no worries! The 10-second method still works fine. And if neither of these methods work, continue on to our last resort.
Holding the volume up + power button for 10 seconds
The home button won’t respond, but if you hold down both Volume Up and Power buttons for about 10 seconds, your phone will restart. However, if that doesn’t work you can try restarting your phone without holding down any buttons by pressing power button then holding it until it reboots automatically. If that still doesn’t work, then try plugging in your phone into a computer or wall charger.
Plugging it into your computer
While it’s completely normal for iOS devices like iPhones and iPads to eventually slow down over time, if your device suddenly feels as though it’s running slower than usual, there may be a simple fix. Try plugging your iOS device into your computer (or into a wall outlet) via USB cable, then turn on Disk mode. To do so: tap Settings > General > Storage & iCloud Usage > Manage Storage.
Keeping it connected with a power source
This trick will only work if you’re having trouble turning your phone off because it’s frozen. If your iPhone has completely frozen—i.e., you can’t do anything at all on it—connecting it to a power source should unfreeze it, allowing you to turn it off properly.