There are several ways to turn your iPhone 13, 13 mini, 13 Pro, or 13 Pro Max on and off, but it can be confusing as these methods will either turn off or turn on or restart or force restart the device.
If you’ve been using Apple smartphones for quite some time, chances are you already know how to turn off and restart an iPhone that doesn’t have a home button. However, if you’re new to the Apple ecosystem, getting familiar with the process in iOS 15 can take a while on an iPhone 13, 13 mini, 13 Pro, or 13 Pro Max.
When you’re new to iPhone, you might assume that you can turn off the iPhone 13 model by holding down the side button, also called the power button by some, but you’re wrong. This only activates Siri. Using the hardware buttons on your iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro, or iPhone 13 Max to turn off is a little trickier.
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- Turn off with your iPhone’s buttons
- Shut down using your iPhone’s Settings app
- Turn on the power with your iPhone’s buttons
- Turn on the power with a Lightning cable
- Turn on with a wireless charger
- Force restart using your iPhone’s buttons
- Restart your iPhone with AssistiveTouch.
- Restart iPhone with Voice Control
Turn off using your iPhone’s buttons
Holding down the side button of the iPhone 13 model will not see the power off menu. Instead, it activates Siri, or does nothing if you have disabled the Siri shortcut. So, to turn off and restart iPhone using its hardware buttons, you have two options as shown below. Remember that they will only turn off your iPhone, they won’t restart it. See Options 6-8 below for how to reset iPhone.
Without emergency SOS and medical ID
- Press the volume up button once.
- Right after that, press the volume down button once.
- Immediately after that, hold down the side button.
- Release when you see the power off menu.
- Swipe right on the slide to turn off switch.
- Wait about 30 seconds for the iPhone to turn off.
This setting can be longer, but will not display Medical ID (if configured) and emergency SOS buttons below the power switch. To turn iPhone back on, see Options 3-5 below. If you change your mind before using the Slide to Off switch, you’ll need to enter your passcode to unlock your iPhone and reactivate Face ID.
With emergency SOS and medical ID
- Press and hold the side button and one or both volume buttons at the same time.
- Release when you see the power off menu.
- Swipe right on the slide to turn off switch.
- Wait about 30 seconds for the iPhone to turn off.
This option is shorter but shows the Medical ID (if configured) and emergency SOS switches below the power switch. To turn iPhone back on, see Options 3-5 below. As with the other option, you’ll need to enter your passcode to unlock your iPhone and reactivate Face ID if you change your mind before using the “slide to turn off”switch.
Turn off using your iPhone’s settings app
If you don’t want to press any buttons, you can also turn off your iPhone 13 model from the Settings app. Go to Settings -> General, then scroll down and click on the blue Shut Down button. You can also find and select “Shut Down”in the search tool in settings to get there.
The power off menu will appear just like the first method of Option 1. Swipe right on the Slide to Power Off switch, then wait about 30 seconds for the iPhone to turn off. Similarly, if you change your mind before using the slide-to-off switch, you’ll need to enter your passcode to unlock your iPhone and reactivate Face ID.
To turn iPhone back on, see Options 3-5 below. Unfortunately, you cannot restart your iPhone, i.e. automatically turn it off and on again using the “Settings”menu item. To do this, try options 6-8 below.
Turn on the power with your iPhone’s buttons.
If you turned off the iPhone 13 model as shown above, you will need to turn the device on manually when you need it. To do this, simply press and hold the side button until the Apple logo appears. You can also just press the side button once for the same effect. Then, when the lock screen appears, enter your passcode to unlock your iPhone and activate Face ID.
Power supply with Lightning cable
Another way to turn on your iPhone 13 model is to connect it to a power source. Use the USB-C to Lightning cable to connect it to a power adapter, portable power bank, or a running computer. After a few seconds, you should see the Apple logo and your iPhone will open on the lock screen where you will need to enter your passcode to unlock it and activate Face ID.
Image by Justin Meyers/Gadget Hacks
power supply with a wireless charger.
You don’t need a USB-C to Lightning cable to turn on your iPhone automatically—a wireless charger will do. Simply connect your iPhone to an Apple MagSafe Charger, Apple MagSafe Duo Charger, Apple MagSafe Battery, or another company’s Qi-certified wireless charger. After a few seconds, you should see the Apple logo and your iPhone will open on the lock screen where you will need to enter your passcode to unlock it and activate Face ID.
Image by Justin Meyers/Gadget Hacks
force restart using your iPhone’s buttons
If your iPhone 13 model is frozen, malfunctioning, or cannot be turned off or on using one of the above options, try a force restart (also known as a hard reset). It’s not a factory reset, so it won’t wipe or erase anything, except perhaps data that was being processed while your iPhone was unresponsive.
All a force restart does is make your iPhone turn off and on again when all else fails, and it does this at the hardware level, as opposed to the software level that the other options above use.
To force restart your iPhone, quickly press the Volume Up button, quickly press the Volume Down button, and then press and hold the Side button until the Apple logo appears on the screen. When the screen goes black, it usually takes 5-10 seconds for the Apple logo to appear. When it’s finished, your iPhone will open on the lock screen, where you’ll need to enter your passcode to unlock it and activate Face ID.
Restart your iPhone with AssistiveTouch.
Forced Restart is the only restart or reboot option described above for the iPhone 13 model as it will automatically turn off and on again. However, this is not recommended unless your iPhone is having issues. This is because a forced restart abruptly cuts power to your iPhone instead of letting the software go through the standard shutdown procedure.
The best way to restart your iPhone is with AssistiveTouch, which can really save you time compared to using the power off and on combination above.
Go to Settings -> Accessibility -> Touchscreen -> AssistiveTouch and turn on the AssistiveTouch toggle. A circle will appear on your screen and when you click on it, it will give you a set of device controls.
Now click on the circle and go to “Device”-> “Advanced”-> “Restart”. After you click “Restart”, a confirmation pop-up will appear; click “Restart”to restart your iPhone.
The problem with AssistiveTouch is that its icon stays on the screen no matter what, and most people don’t like it even when it disappears to be less noticeable. Also, it’s difficult to turn AssistiveTouch on and off again and again in the settings. To fix this problem, you can add AssistiveTouch as an accessibility shortcut.
Go to Settings -> Accessibility -> Accessibility Quick Access. In the feature list, click AssistiveTouch to add a blue checkmark next to it. All you have to do now is triple-click the side button to make the AssistiveTouch circle appear and disappear at any time. However, you will have to select “AssistiveTouch”from the action menu if you have checked more than AssistiveTouch in the list.
Another way, albeit slower, is to swipe down on the Control Center, tap on the Accessibility icon, and then on AssistiveTouch. If you don’t see the accessibility icon, go to Settings -> Control Center and add it.
If you’d rather use an accessibility shortcut for a different function, there’s another way to quickly toggle AssistiveTouch: using Back Tap. Go to “Settings”-> “Accessibility”-> “Touch”-> “Press back”. Then select “Double Tap”or “Triple Tap”and assign “AssistiveTouch”to it. Then tap the back of your iPhone two or three times, depending on which you chose, and it should turn on AssistiveTouch.
Restart your iPhone with voice control.
If you’re too lazy to use the buttons or AssistiveTouch, there’s a way to reset your iPhone 13 model without even touching it – that’s the magic of voice control. With voice control, you can restart your iPhone with a simple voice command. To be clear, voice control is not Siri. In fact, Siri cannot restart or turn off your device.
Go to Settings -> Accessibility -> Voice Control, then turn on Voice Control. If you are turning it on for the first time, please follow the instructions on the screen first. Once you do that, by then you will see a blue microphone icon in the status bar. This means your iPhone is listening and ready to receive voice commands.
Now say “reboot device”and your iPhone will respond immediately by giving you a confirmation prompt like in option 7 above; click Reload.
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Advice. After completing the voice control setup process, you can turn voice control on and off using Siri. Just say “Hey Siri, turn on voice control”or “Hey Siri, turn off voice control.”You can also use the side button with a long press to activate Siri if you don’t want to say “Hey Siri”.