A Hard Reset, which is also known as “Force Restart” and “Force Reboot” is usually employed when the screen of iPhone is black, frozen, unresponsive and the phone is stuck in a boot loop (keeps restarting with Apple Logo, turns off & starts again).
When you Hard Reset or Force Restart an iPhone, the power supply to the processor is abruptly cut-off, which results in clearance of Random Access Memory (RAM), termination of all the active apps/processes and force restarting of the operating system (iOS).
Hard Reset or Force Restart iPhone
While a Hard Reset process should not erase any data from iPhone, it can sometimes lead to damage or corruption of software; due to the way it abruptly terminates the ongoing processes.
Hence, you should resort to Hard Reset only when other troubleshooting methods have failed to fix the problems on your device.
Tip: The easiest way to Hard Reset iPhone is by using Assistive Touch (last method).
1. Hard Reset iPhone 8/X/11/12/13
The Current Models of iPhones (iPhone 8 and above) do not have a Home button, which has made Apple release a new method to Force Restart iPhone.
1. Press the Volume Up button and release it (quickly).
2. Press the Volume Down button and quickly release it.
3. After this, press and hold the Power button (Side button), until the screen goes black and you see Apple logo appearing on the screen.
4. Release the Power button and wait for your iPhone to completely restart.
The above steps can be expected to fix an iPhone that is stuck on a black screen, become unresponsive, stuck in a boot loop or going through hard to fix problems.
2. Reboot iPhone 7/7 Plus
In iPhone 7, Apple replaced the Home button with a non-moving version, which resulted in a new procedure to Force Restart iPhone 7.
1. Press and Hold Power and Volume Down buttons at the same time, until the display goes dark and you see Apple logo appearing on the screen of your device.
2. Release both buttons and wait for iPhone to completely restart and display the Lock screen.
3. Hard Reset iPhone 6/6S and Earlier Models
As mentioned above, older models of iPhone with an actual Home button can be Force Restarted by pressing and holding both Power and Home buttons for about 10 seconds.
1. Press and Hold the Power and Home buttons at the same time, until you see iPhone starting with Apple Logo.
2. Release both the buttons > Wait for iPhone to restart and display the Lock screen.
4. Hard Reset iPhone (Any Model) Without Using Buttons
As mentioned above, the easiest way to Force Restart or Hard Reset iPhone is by using the Restart option as available in the Assistive Touch Menu.
However, this method can only be used if you are able to use your device. It cannot be used if your device has become unresponsive.
1. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch > AssistiveTouch.
2. Enable AssistiveTouch by moving the Slider to ON position.
You should now see the virtual Assistive Touch button at bottom right corner of the screen.
3. Tap on the AssistiveTouch button and it will open the Assistive Touch Menu.
4. From the Assistive Touch Menu, navigate to Device > More and tap on the Restart option.
5. On the confirmation pop-up, tap on the Restart option to confirm.
Once you tap on the Restart option, you will immediately see the screen of your iPhone going black for a few seconds and restarting with Apple Logo.
Difference Between Hard & Soft Reset
As mentioned above, the Hard Reset process works by switching off power supply to the processor, which results in the apps and processes being abruptly terminated.
The Soft Reset (Restart) process does not cut-off or remove the power supply at hardware level, it makes use of the operating system to gradually close the active and running apps/processes on iPhone.
Can Hard Reset Lead to Loss of Data
A Hard Reset of iPhone can be compared to abrupt shutting down of the computer by pressing its power button. While this can lead to loss of unsaved work (if any), it cannot lead to loss of data that has already been saved and available on your device.
To confirm, the Hard Reset process does not interact with the existing data, apps & settings in any way and it should not lead to loss of data on your iPhone.
Note: Hard Reset is not to be confused with Factory Reset, which has been specifically designed to erase all content and settings from an iPhone.