Rebooting iPhone 8 is ridiculously complicated

By

iPhone 8
The iPhone 8 still looks great.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Good luck forcing your iPhone 8 to reboot.

If your device ever becomes unresponsive, you’ll have to remember Apple’s complicated new process to restart it. It’s no longer as simple as holding down two buttons.

That’s how easy it used to be. On earlier iPhones, you simply had to hold down the Home and power buttons together until you saw the Apple logo. With the removal of the physical Home button on iPhone 7, Apple switched it to the volume down and power buttons.

But with iPhone 8, the process is annoyingly complicated. It’s finicky to perform and even more difficult to remember. Here’s what Apple makes you do:

  1. Press and quickly release the volume up button
  2. Press and quickly release the volume down button
  3. Press and hold the “Side button” (power button) until you see the Apple logo

It’s not clear why Apple changed the process for iPhone 8, which has exactly the same physical buttons as iPhone 7. It’s not like it needed to be changed for iPhone X, either, since Apple negated the need to use a Home button last year.

Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that it’s easy to accidentally hold down the volume down button while holding down the Side button. Maybe too many people were inadvertently rebooting their iPhones when attempting to power them off?

But if that’s the case, why didn’t Apple change the process for iPhone 7, too? Why does that remain the same, while iPhone 8 owners must remember this one?

We’re not sure, and Apple doesn’t offer an explanation. But if you have an iPhone 8 or iPhone 8 Plus, it may be worth jotting down Apple’s new puzzle in case you need it in the future.

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.