iPhones are, by design, pretty easy to set up and use. But while it’s almost second-nature to turn on your new iPhone, it’s not clear how to shut it off. You press and hold the power button, expecting some kind of shut down option, but it just triggers Siri. As it happens, there are a few different ways to turn off or restart your iPhone, and some don’t even require the use of hardware buttons.
Every iPhone since the X uses this shutdown and restart process. To turn off your iPhone, you need to press and hold a combination of the Side button and one of the volume buttons (it doesn’t matter whether it’s the volume up or volume down button).
Keep these buttons pressed until you see the shutdown screen. Then, let go, and slide your finger across the Slide to Power Off slider. In a couple of seconds, your iPhone turn off.
If you’re using an iPhone with a Home button, like the iPhone 8 or the iPhone SE, all you need to do is to press and hold the Side button to bring up the shutdown menu.
If your iPhone is frozen, you might not be able to trigger the shutdown screen. Luckily, there is a way to force any iPhone to turn off and restart, instantly disabling all running apps and processes.
To do this, press and release the volume up button, then press and release the volume down button, and press and hold the Side button until you see the Apple logo on the screen. (This method solves a lot of general iPhone issues.)
There’s also a way to turn off your iPhone from the Settings app, in case the physical buttons on your iPhone aren’t working. Go to Settings > General > Shut Down to turn off your iPhone.
If you’re using iOS 15 or higher, you can ask Siri (using the Side button, or the voice command) to “shut down my iPhone” or “turn off my iPhone.” Siri will ask you for confirmation. You can respond with a “Yes” or you can press the Power Off button in the Siri interface to quickly turn off your iPhone.
This is one of the commands Apple baked into the iPhone, so it doesn’t require an internet connection. It’ll work even if you’re in Airplane mode, or when you don’t have a reliable internet connection.