Sometimes the physical power buttons on Android phones and iPhones stop working. The longer you use a device, the more likely it is that moving parts will fail. Can you restart a phone without the power button? There are opportunities.
How to restart an Android phone without the power button
Android devices have a few different methods to restart a phone without a functional physical on / off button. We start from the easiest and work our way down.
Quick settings
By far the easiest way to restart an Android device without an on / off button is the Quick Settings panel. This menu has the switches for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Flight Mode and many other customizable tiles.
Simply swipe down once or twice – depending on your device – and tap the power icon.
Select “Restart” from the menu.
That’s all there is to it!
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Put it in
The next method is a little more hit or miss. Some devices start up if you connect them to power. This does not always work, but there are some devices that will eventually turn on if you leave them connected.
If the device is already on and you just want to wake up the screen, this method should work as well. Almost all Android devices will wake up the screen when connected to power. From there, you can use the Quick Settings method above to restart.
ADB
The most involved method to restart a phone without the power button is ADB — Android Debug Bridge. However, this only works if the device is already on.
The first thing you need to do is follow our guide to installing and setting up ADB on your PC. When you are done, we can enter a command to restart your phone or tablet.
Run the following command in the command prompt window: adb reboot
The unit switches off and on again. You are ready!
RELATED: How to install and use ADB, Android Debug Bridge Utility
How to restart an iPhone without the power button
There are two main methods to restart an iPhone, depending on whether it is on or off.
Assistant touch
Apple includes a lot of accessibility features on the iPhone. “Assistive Touch” puts a virtual button on the screen that can be customized for many different things. We use it to create a shortcut to restart your phone.
First, open “Settings” on your iPhone.
Then go to the “Accessibility” settings and select “Touch”.
Go to “Assistive Touch” and turn it on at the top of the screen.
You will notice that a floating button appears on the screen. Now we can decide how you want the restart shortcut to work. You can add it to the shortcut menu by selecting “Customize Top Level Menu.”
Select one of the shortcuts and replace it with “Restart”.
For even easier access to the restart shortcut, you can select it as the One Touch, Double Touch or Long Press option for the floating button.
To use it, simply press the float button and select “Restart”, or use the other custom action you created.
iPhone will turn off and restart!
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Put it in
You’re not unlucky if the iPhone is already off. iPhones start automatically when connected to power – when they have enough power.
So all you have to do is plug it in or place it on a wireless charger and just wait for the iPhone to turn on. It’s that easy.
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Fortunately, you have some options if the power button does not work on your Android device or iPhone. Sometimes there is nothing you can do, but in some cases you are not unlucky. Either way, you will need to get it repaired eventually.
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