How to Reboot an iPhone 8

When to soft reset your iPhone

By
Sam Costello
Sam Costello
Sam Costello
Writer
  • Ithaca College
Sam Costello has been writing about tech since 2000. His writing has appeared in publications such as CNN.com, PC World, InfoWord, and many others.
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Updated on November 11, 2021
Reviewed by
Ryan Perian
Ryan Perian headshot
Reviewed by Ryan Perian
  • Western Governors University
Ryan Perian is a certified IT specialist who holds numerous IT certifications and has 12+ years' experience working in the IT industry support and management positions.
lifewire's editorial guidelines
iPhone & iOS

What to Know

  • Reboot: Press/hold Side button > Slide to power off appears > drag slider to the right. Hold down the side button to turn it back on.
  • Force restart: Press/release Volume Up button > press/release Volume Down > press/hold Side button > release when the logo appears.
  • Rebooting an iPhone 8 can fix a frozen iPhone or solve many kinds of temporary bugs. You won't lose any data when you reboot.

This article explains two ways to reboot your iPhone 8, what it does, and more.

How Do I Reboot My iPhone 8?

If your iPhone 8 or iPhone 8 Plus is frozen up, behaving oddly, or if you're running into some temporary glitches, rebooting your iPhone 8 will help.

Rebooting an iPhone 8 or 8 Plus, a process also known as a "soft reset," is very easy. You can try a reboot basically any time your iPhone is frozen up, behaving strangely, a feature isn't working as expected, or an app is crashing. If you need to restart, just follow these steps:

  1. Press and hold the side button on the right edge of your iPhone 8 until the Slide to power off slider appears.

  2. Move the slider from left to right.

  3. Wait 15-30 seconds as your iPhone 8 shuts down.

  4. When the iPhone is shut down, reboot the iPhone 8 by holding down the side button.

  5. When the Apple logo appears, release the side button and let the iPhone reboot.

What Does a Soft Reset Do on iPhone 8?

When you soft reset, aka "restart" or "reboot," an iPhone 8 or 8 Plus, you clear out the iPhone's active memory. This isn't the memory that's used to store your photos, apps, music, and other data. Instead, this is the memory that apps and iOS use to operate. It's also the memory where temporary problems can occur.

When you soft reset an iPhone 8, you clear out the active memory and let the phone start up again with cleared memory. If problems have been happening in the active memory, clearing it out usually fixes them. The reset doesn't erase any of the data in the permanent storage, though, so you don't have to worry about losing important stuff.

Why Won't My iPhone 8 Reboot? 

In some cases, an iPhone 8 or 8 Plus may be having a more serious problem preventing it from rebooting. You'll know you're having this problem when you can't follow the steps to reboot the iPhone listed earlier in the article. This can happen for any number of reasons, but usually, the problem is with your operating system or the hardware in your iPhone.

Even if that's happening, though, you can still reboot. You just need to use a different process, called a "force restart" or a "hard reset." This won't delete any of your data, either, and can help fix a tougher glitch.

To hard reset your iPhone 8, follow these steps:

  1. Press and release the Volume Up button

  2. Press and release the Volume Down button.

  3. Press and hold the side button.

  4. The iPhone 8 screen will go black. When the Apple logo appears, release the side button and let the phone restart.

Still running into the same problems even after a restart? We've got further troubleshooting suggestions to fix common iPhone 8 problems.

FAQ
  • How do I reboot an iPhone XR?

    To reboot an iPhone XR, X, XS, 11, or 12, you'll press and then quickly release the Volume Up button, then press and hold the Side button. Release the Side button when the Apple logo appears.

  • Can I restart my iPhone using iTunes?

    Yes, you can use iTunes to restart your iPhone if you encounter the problem of your iPhone turning on, but getting stuck during startup. First, connect your iPhone to a computer. If you're using macOS Catalina or later, open Finder. If you're using Mojave or earlier, or a PC, open iTunes. Enter Recovery Mode on your iPhone. When you see the option to Update or Restore, select Update. Updating preserves your settings and content and may solve your startup problem. Contact Apple Support if you continue to have problems.

  • How do I put my iPhone 8 into Recovery Mode?

    To get your iPhone 8 into Recovery Mode, which is a last-resort troubleshooting step when you've tried to solve the problem of an iPhone not turning on, open Finder (if you're running macOS Catalina or later) or iTunes. Connect your iPhone to your computer. On your iPhone 8, press and quickly release the Volume Up button, then the Volume Down button. Next, press and hold the Side button until the Recovery Mode screen appears.

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