Upgraded to the iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro, or iPhone 12 Pro Max from the iPhone 6s, iPhone 7, or iPhone 8? While you won’t require it straight away, you should know the process to force restart or hard reboot your iPhone 12 or iPhone 12 Pro since it might come in handy if the phone ever freezes or hangs, starts behaving strangely, or stops responding.

With newer iPhones no longer coming with a Home button, Apple had to move almost all core functionality to the remaining three buttons. Three buttons are now responsible for the primary functions (volume up, volume down, sleep/wake) as well as turning the phone off, restarting the phone, entering recovery mode, and enabling Emergency SOS.

Please note that force restart, hard reset, force reboot, all mean the same thing and you will see these phrases used interchangeably. Since the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro lack a Home button, the process to force reboot it is different from older iPhones featuring a home button like the iPhone 7, iPhone 8. Check out the steps below to know how you can force reboot or force restart your iPhone 12 or iPhone 12 Pro.

Read: How to Hard Reset iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro

How to Force Restart or Hard Reboot iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, or iPhone 12 Pro Max

Step 1: Press Volume Up

Quickly press and release the Volume Up button. Step 2: Press Volume Down

Quickly press and release the Volume Down button. You do not need to press and hold down the button.

Step 3: Press and Hold Side Button

Press and hold the Side button. You will see the Slide to Power off button, but continue holding the Side button until you see the Apple logo.

Note that your iPhone 12 or iPhone 12 Pro display must be off for this to work. You cannot be viewing your home screen when starting the Volume up, Volume down, Side button hold sequence.

While not usually required, a force restart can be a nifty trick to resolve problems with your iPhone 12 such as freezes, crashes, if your iPhone starts behaving strangely, or just stops responding. If your iPhone 12 has become unresponsive, or it’s shut it down and it won’t turn on again, all is not lost. The force restart tip can be used when the normal modes of operation aren’t working.

The steps to force restart the iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max are quite a bit different from other phones and it’s unlikely that you are going to remember this method. So probably bookmark this page for future reference.

Let us know how it goes in the comments below.