How To Soft Reset Iphone

iPhone 7 Soft-reset How-to

Published: Sep 23, 2020 Mar 30, 2017
Last Updated: Sep 23, 2020

Written by

Apple has changed how the two-button soft reset works on the iPhone 7. In this article, I will explain how the iPhone 7 soft reset works using the Lock and Volume down buttons.

What is a soft reset

A soft reset forcefully power-cycles the iPhone and clears all memory. By doing so, you won't lose any data, and you won't wipe the device. Think of it as the equivalent of a cold reboot of your computer. A soft reset is necessary when an application or system process becomes unresponsive or start behaving erratically. In my experience, soft resetting an iPhone solves most temporary software issues. A much more intrusive option is a hard reset, which wipes all data off the device. So far, I have only had to reset an iPhone hard once.

Shop mentioned products

Apple iPhone 7 (Amazon*)

iPhone 6 or older soft reset

If you have an iPhone 6 or older, you can soft reset it by holding down the following two buttons:

Power + Lock

If you hold them down at the same time for a few seconds, the screen of the iPhone will turn black. At that point, once you release the buttons, the iPhone will erase its memory and turn itself off. If you keep holding the two buttons, you will see the Apple logo, indicating that the device is powering back up.

iPhone 7 soft reset

I got my iPhone 7 Plus shortly after Apple released it, but until last week, I never had to reset it soft. During a recent trip to Rochester, NY, I experienced data connectivity issues, despite having a good LTE reception. I figured a good old two button soft reset would fix the problem. So I pushed both the power and lock button at the same time and held them for a few seconds. Unfortunately, my iPhone didn't restart, but instead, it took a screenshot. I tried a few times but without success. So I did some research and learned, that on the iPhone 7, Apple had changed the buttons you need to press to soft reset the device.

So if you have an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus, use the following two buttons to soft reset the device:

Lock + Volume down

iPhone 7 soft reset with two buttons

The new way to soft reset an iPhone 7 is more convenient because you can now do it with one hand, as the two buttons are on opposite sides of the device.

I'm a healthy living and technology enthusiast.
On this blog, I share in-depth product reviews, actionable information and solutions to complex problems in plain and easy-to-understand language.