Apple released the iPhone 13 on September 14, 2021. The iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13, 13 Pro, and 13 Pro Max come in the same sizes as last year’s iPhone 12 series, and they also share the same design elements with Apple’s 2020 models, i.e., an edge-to-edge display and no home button whatsoever.
If you’re upgrading to the iPhone 13 from a device with a Home button like the iPhone 7 or older models, keep reading to learn about the button basics, power on, power off, how to force restart, disable Face ID, enter recovery mode, and enter DFU on your new iPhone 13. In this article, you’ll find step-by-step guides for performing the above functions; mainly focused on how to force restart iPhone 13 and how to enter recovery mode on iPhone 13.
In situations when your iPhone 13’s performance is slow or when your iPhone 13 is frozen, you will want to Hard Reset or Force Restart your iPhone 13. If this still doesn’t work, you will have to reset your iPhone to its factory settings by putting your iPhone 13 in recovery mode as the final step. By putting your iPhone 13 in recovery mode, you will be able to reinstall iOS, and your iPhone will go back to its original settings, and let you begin from scratch.
How to Force Restart iPhone 13
If you are noticing that your iPhone 13 is slowing down or freezing, a quick hard reset or force restart can help you fix it.
Hard Reset is the easiest solution to freezing or slowing down of iPhone 13. Here’s how you can do it:
- Press and quickly release the Volume Up button.
- Press and quickly release the Volume Down button.
- Press and hold the Side button until the Apple logo appears.
- Now, release the Side button.
During this process, you will see a Slide to Power Off page pop-up on the iPhone. Just ignore it and continue holding down the Side button until the screen goes black. At that point, the Apple logo will pop up, and after the restart is complete, the screen will activate once again and your iPhone will now run smoothly.
If you are still experiencing slowing down or freezing, make sure that all your apps are updated and you have the latest iOS version installed on your iPhone. This helps a lot.
Note: We recommend that you restart (NOT Force Restart, just a normal restart) your iPhone once a week. It helps clear up the cache. If you don’t restart, the cache logs just pile up, which is not good.
How to Enter Recovery Mode on iPhone 13
Entering recovery mode can help if you’re having trouble updating or restoring your iPhone over the air. For example, if the screen shows the Apple logo for several minutes but the progress bar does not appear, you can try putting the device in recovery mode and starting fresh by restoring it with iTunes. Here’s how it works:
- Attach the Lightning cable in your iPhone, and connect the device to your computer. Make sure you have the latest version of iTunes installed.
- Open iTunes on your PC. If iTunes is already open, close it, then open it again.
- With the iPhone connected, force restart it with the following steps, but don’t release the buttons when you see the Apple logo. Instead, wait until the recovery mode screen appears:
- Press and quickly release the Volume Up button.
- Press and quickly release the Volume Down button.
- Press and hold the Side button until you see the recovery mode screen, then release the buttons.
Exit Recovery Mode:
Simply press and hold the Side button until the “Connect to iTunes” screen disappears, and your iPhone should reboot back into the regular iOS.
If you have jailbroken your iPhone, and you have installed a tweak that made the jailbreak go sideways, entering recovery mode and resetting your iPhone is usually the only option for you.
Note: If you took a backup of a jailbroken iPhone, we recommend you not to copy that backup onto your iPhone after resetting it. It might brick your iPhone (make it unusable), or make your iOS experience so bad that it seems unusable.
iPhone 13 Button Basics
Although the physical button placement is the same across iPhones, Apple has changed many of the physical button functions on the iPhones with the launch of the iPhone 8 and iPhone X, so if you’re upgrading from a device that was released before these 2017 models, you will want to familiarize yourself with them:
With the face of the screen of your new iPhone facing you, you will see that there are two volume buttons on the left-hand side, and a single Side button on the right-hand side. These three buttons (2 Volume and 1 Side) work in different combinations to perform all of the necessary functions.
How to Power Off iPhone 13
If you want to power off your iPhone 13, there are two options:
1. Using Physical Buttons
- Press and hold the Side button along with the Volume Up or Volume Down button until two sliding buttons appear on the screen.
- Release the physical buttons and swipe right on the slide to power off button at the top of the screen.
2. From the Settings App
- Launch the Settings App on your iPhone.
- Tap on General.
- Scroll Down till your see Shut Down.
- Tap on Shut Down.
- Slide the Slide to Power Off slider to the left.
Disable Face ID on iPhone 13
Disabling Face ID on your iPhone forces you to enter your passcode to unlock your iPhone, even if the person trying to unlock your iPhone is you. By disabling facial authentication, a police officer or a malicious person can’t unlock your iPhone simply by holding it in front of your face. Here’s how to disable Face ID:
- Press and hold the Side button.
- Press and hold either Volume button.
- Tap the Cancel button that appears at the bottom of the Slide to Power Off screen.
Basically, to disable Face ID, you need to get to the Slide to Power Off screen and then tap on cancel.
How to Enter DFU Mode on iPhone 13
DFU (Device Firmware Update) mode restores an iPhone if a restart or entering Recovery Mode doesn’t solve the problem you’re facing.
DFU mode lets the device connect to iTunes, update the firmware, and restore the OS without automatically installing the last downloaded version. It’s useful for installing older versions of iOS if a beta persistently hangs your phone, or if a jailbreak goes bad.
Before following the steps below, make sure you have the latest version of iTunes installed on your computer:
- Power on your iPhone.
- Connect it to your computer using a Lightning to USB cable.
- On Macs running macOS Mojave or earlier and PCs, make sure that iTunes is running. On Macs running macOS Catalina or later, make sure Finder is running.
- On your iPhone, press the Volume Up button immediately followed by the Volume Down button.
- Next, press and hold the Side button until the screen on your iPhone turns black.
- Release the Side button.
- Press and hold the Side button and Volume Down button together for five seconds.
- Now release the Side button, but continue to press the Volume Down button.
- Wait for at least five seconds for Finder or iTunes to recognize DFU recovery mode has been enabled.
If you’re using iTunes, you should see a message dialog saying “iTunes has detected an iPhone in recovery mode. You must restore this iPhone before it can be used with iTunes“. If you’re using Finder, you should see a similar message. If you don’t see the message, repeat the steps above.
Once you’ve closed the recovery prompt you can go ahead and restore your iPhone back to factory settings by selecting Restore iPhone on the iPhone Recovery Mode screen. Once restored, your iPhone will automatically exit out of DFU mode and boot up to its activation screen.
Exit DFU Mode:
If you enabled DFU mode and want to exit out of it, here’s how it’s done:
- Press the Volume Up button on your iPhone and quickly release it.
- Press the Volume Down button and release it.
- Press and hold the Side button until the Apple logo appears on your iPhone 13’s screen.
Your iPhone should now have exited DFU recovery mode.
That’s it for this article, let us know if this article helps solve issues that you are facing. Feel free to drop a comment in the comments section. Also, share this article with your friends and family.
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