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My iPhone Is Frozen and Won't Turn off or Reset - 5 Essential Fixes
"It seems like acting a little glitchy. My iPhone Home screen is frozen and it won't let me to turn it off or reset. I hold the button for several minutes but I never get the power off slide to shut it down. Full charge. Latest iOS version. Buttons still works. Can anyone explain this?"
To put it straight, most "iPhone is frozen and won't turn off or reset" problem primarily source from five aspects: faulty apps, update bugs, software errors, broken power button and a not responding screen. But the sticky part starts after you get these hints: How to resolve it?
Fix a Frozen iPhone That Won't Turn off
Several measures are effective in remedying this problem, with some of them capable of retaining all content and settings on your device during the repairs. Navigate through this breakdown to give them a shot to before forking out hundreds of dollars to an Apple specialist.
Like all troubleshooting, we'll start broadly and progress into some advanced tricks to get iPhone to unfreeze and turn it off then back to on. No matter you're using an iPhone X, XS, 11, SE (2nd generation) or newer model, or an iPhone 7, 6, or earlier model, just work your way down until the unresponsive device with not working TURN OFF button comes back to a stable state.
Solution 1 - Try Turning It Off and On Again
There's no need to get upset right away when you try to turn off an iPhone that's frozen or stuck but fail once, as there might be something temporarily blocking the transmission of shutdown command to the operating system and the hardware. Restart the device one more time to see if it persists.
On an iPhone X, XS, 11, or newer: Press and hold both the Power button and either of the Volume button. When a red slider appears, drag it all the way to the right. Then, press and hold the Power button until the Apple logo shows up.
On an iPhone SE (2nd generation), 8, 7, or 6: Press and hold the Power button. When a red slider appears, drag it all the way to the right. Then, press and hold the Power button until the Apple logo shows up.
On an iPhone SE (1st generation), 5, or earlier: Press and hold the Top button. When a red slider appears, drag it all the way to the right. Then, press and hold the Top button until the Apple logo shows up.
Solution 2 - Force-restart a Frozen iPhone That Won't Restart
Loads of phones give users little notification on hard reset, but it does come in play where a reboot doesn't make a difference. With it, you can refresh iPhone that has a frozen screen, doesn't respond when you touch it and won't shut down after update via a quick button combination.
This is nothing more than powering it off then back on - only you force it to shut down, so you won't lose any data or information from the handset. Follow the wizard below to force restart an iPhone that becomes responsive when you turn it off.
On an iPhone 8, X, 11, SE (2nd generation) or later： Quickly press then release the Volume Up button. Quickly press then release the Volume Down button. Then press and hold the Power button until you see the Apple logo.
On an iPhone 7 (Plus): Press and hold the Power button and the Volume Down button at the same time until you see the Apple logo.
On an iPhone 6 or earlier: Press and hold both the Home and the Power buttons until you see the Apple logo.
Tips: If your iPhone with frozen screen can't turn off or reboot only when you open one specific app, reinstall it first. In case this problem continues to surface, delete the faulty app to fully fix it up.
If you've attempted all shut-down techniques - move the power off slider to the right, go to Setting > General and click "Shut Down", and hard reset - but none of them works, keep reading.
Solution 3 - Make Sure There Are No System Bugs
Balky software system could also mess with the basic operating environment and the booting sequence, rendering that an Apple iPhone screen become frozen or unresponsive and won't turn off as normal, or even everything goes dead.
Though it's hard to figure out where the software glitch lies, iOS System Recovery has several weapons against it - a powerful scanner leaving all bugs uncovered, an extensive iOS firmware database for download, and a robust repair function to patch up bugs that might bedevil the device.
One more appreciated feature is that this trustworthy toolkit boasts of sorting out problems quickly and automatically without causing data loss. Be it frozen iPhone that won't slide to power off, not responding black screen or any other iOS & iPadOS system issues, it'll take care of the rest itself in the background once you've tweaked a few buttons methodically to trigger its FIX feature.
Now that you've mastered all basic information, it's time to get hands-on with the problem. Start by click the for Windows or for MacOS button to download the utility, then:
Step 1: Connect your phone to a computer
Launch the program and plug the phone into the computer.
Once the tool recognizes your device, click on "More tools". In the results, select "iOS System Recovery" located on the upper right of the panel.
Step 2: Select "Standard Mode"
At this stage, click on the Start button with your left mouse button. On the next window with the device information displayed, hit Fix button in the middle.
You'll then see two modes for troubleshooting.
The "Standard Mode" attempts to repair most of "iPhone freezes and won't turn off" problems, without affecting your files or applications.
The "Advanced Mode" aims to clear up everything on the device and restore it back to factory settings - aka. a DFU restore. (Make sure you've got BACKUPS first!)
Choose the "Standard Mode" and apply changes by clicking on Confirm button.
Step 3: Download iOS software corresponding to your device
When you see the firmware displaying on the screen, highlight the latest version of iOS software and navigate somewhere easy to find to save it. Once confirmed, press Next button.
The tool will take care of the download process itself. Just wait until it finishes.
Step 4: Fix an iPhone that wouldn't respond and unable to turn off
A "Download complete!" window appears when all is done. All that's left to do is to click on Fix button.
Now, your iPhone that would not power off and was frozen should start working fine again.
Video Toturial: Fix Any iPhone Frozen and Won't Trun Off or Reset
Solution 4 - Place iPhone into Recovery Mode
Recovery mode is an Apple's dedicated troubleshooting mechanism to fix rock-ribbed software problems. Whether your iPhone is completely frozen and has no capacity to turn off or it fails to shut off but stuck on the emergency SOS screen instead during restarting or force-rebooting, it'll restore the device to its default settings to get it back on track.
Before proceeding, you should verify if you've backed up your phone recently.
Putting your phone into recovery mode relatively simple. Just follow the given steps to do that:
1. Attach your device to a computer.
2. On a Mac with macOS Catalina 10.15 or newer, run Finder. On a Mac with macOS Mojave 10.14 or earlier, or on a PC, run iTunes.
3. Put your phone into recovery mode.
On an iPhone 8, X, 11, SE (2nd generation) or later：Instantly press then let go of Volume Up button and instantly press then let go of Volume Down button. Then, press the Power button and keep holding until you see the recovery mode screen.
On an iPhone 7 (Plus): Press both the Power and Volume Down buttons, and keep holding until you see the recovery mode screen.
On an iPhone 6 or earlier: Press both the Power and Home buttons, and keep holding until you see the recovery mode.
4. A window will open on iTunes or Finder. Click Restore.
The Finder or iTunes will download software for your device. If it takes 15 minutes or more, the device will exit recovery mode. You'll need to repeat the steps to restore again. After the restore, check out Apple's resource to set up device from a backup in iCloud or on your computer.
Solution 5 - Consult Apple Genius Bar
At this point, you've verified that the operating system just works fine. Though it's rare to occur, an iPhone that won't turn off and stuck on white Apple logo screen could also be attributed to some hardware glitches:
The screen is damaged.
A button (Home/ Power) is broken or stuck.
The phone is dropped into water.
If you suspect this, an experienced tech support from either an Apple Store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider is qualified to help you out. If you've holding your phone for one year or more, there'll be an extra pay for the out-of-warranty repair service.
Now we're all done. No matter what causes your iPhone to be frozen and not turning off, hopefully you can iron out the problem and continue with your normal life to act fun.
