This week’s Mac Treat is short and sweet. Back when I used to work the retail floor for Small Dog, we were taught to power cycle any electronics as a first line of troubleshooting. It is funny how something as simple as turning an electronic device off and back on again can fix some problems. However, your device might be locked up in a way that makes turning it off seem impossible.
Most electronics have some way of forcing a shut down and your iOS devices are no different. This procedure is guaranteed to work for iPod touches, iPhones and iPads (mini or biggie). I know for a fact that it works with iOS 4 and up but for anything older, I cannot say for sure.
To hard reset your iOS device:
- Hold down the On/Off button (aka Sleep/Awake) and the Home button.
- Wait at least 10 seconds — until the screen goes dark and the Apple logo appears.
Voila! You have just hard reset your iOS device. I would advise against using this method as your normal shutoff mode since it bypasses all the operating system’s normal shut down procedures (which are necessary for smooth operating). It is basically like unplugging your computer from the wall without shutting it down, so use this sparingly and only when the normal power down function is not working.