How to Restart Your iPhone If It’s Stuck on the Apple Logo

There are several reasons your iPhone is stuck on the Apple logo. Perhaps it’s facing an error during an update, or you’ve tried to make deep-level system changes. However, no matter the reason, there is plenty you can do to reverse the situation with your iPhone and return it back to life.

At the moment, you have two options in front of you. First, we recommend trying a force-restart of your iPhone, which doesn’t cause any data loss. If that doesn’t help, you will need to try restoring your iPhone via iTunes, which will erase your phone’s contents.

1. Force-Restart Your iPhone

First, we recommend trying to force-restart your phone, which will reboot your device’s software. In most cases, this should resolve the situation and restart your iPhone stuck on the Apple logo.

To force-restart an iPhone, you need to press a combination of physical buttons. However, each iPhone generation has different buttons. We explain below how that’s done on both newer and older smartphones.

• iPhone 8 / iPhone SE (2nd Generation) & Newer Generations: Press and quickly release the Volume Up button, then press and quickly release the Volume Down button. Lastly, press and hold the Side button until your iPhone restarts. Make sure to immediately release the Side button when you see the Apple logo again (once your phone begins to restart).
• iPhone 7 / iPod Touch (7th Generation): Press and hold both the Top button (or the Side button) as well as the Volume Down buttons. Don’t forget to immediately release the buttons once the logo reappears.
• iPhone 6s / iPod Touch (6th Generation) & Earlier Generations: Press and hold the Home and the Top (or Side) buttons until the Apple logo disappears and then re-appears. Release the buttons immediately after the logo reappears.

By following the instructions above, your will force-restart your iPhone, prompting it to exit the current cycle of being stuck on the Apple logo. That means you can expect the logo to disappear, then reappear. However, give it a few minutes, and your iPhone should initialize properly.

2. Restore Your iPhone’s Software

If the method explained above doesn’t work, it’s time to take a more drastic move. You will need to put your phone in “Recovery Mode,” which will then prompt iTunes to delete your phone’s contents and reinstall its software (iOS).

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Know that this procedure is done via iTunes. If you’re on a Windows PC, make sure to download the latest iTunes version. If you’re on a Mac, know that iTunes is now part of macOS’s Finder. However, it’s always a good idea to update your Mac first (Apple -> System Preferences -> Update). Then, use your iPhone to enter “Recovery Mode,” as explained below.

• iPhone 8 / iPhone SE (2nd Generation) & Newer Generations: Press and hold the Volume Up button, then press and hold the Volume Down button. Lastly, press and hold the Side button until you see the recovery-mode screen.
• iPhone 7 / iPod Touch (7th Generation): Press and hold the Top (or Side) button and the Volume Down button at the same time. You must keep holding those two buttons until the recovery-mode screen appears.
• iPhone 6s & Earlier / iPod Touch (6th Generation): Press and hold the Home and the Top (or Side) buttons until you see the recovery-mode screen.

2. At this moment, you should see a message to connect your iPhone to iTunes. Do so by connecting your phone to your computer. As soon as iTunes detects your device, it will ask you whether to update or restore your device. You need to go with “Restore.”

Once again, keep in mind that restoring your iPhone will erase its contents. After it’s erased, your phone will initialize its “Welcome Screen,” asking you to set it up from scratch. However, if you have iCloud backups available, you will get to use those and continue where you left off.

Conclusion

Hopefully, you now know how to restart an iPhone stuck on the Apple logo. However, we’d like to recommend a couple of resources. Here’s how to fix a black screen on your iPhone and how to unlock your iPhone if you forgot your passcode.