Daily? Weekly? Monthly? Annually? Never?
Don’t overthink it.
In the age of modern smartphones, there are not many reasons to completely turn your phone off.
In the video [below], I explain the few instances where restarting your phone can be helpful and why you shouldn’t worry about doing it regularly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCPcHzInnGg
MacDailyNews Note: And the same advice goes for iPad and iPod touch.
A reminder, because we get asked it so often, to force restart iPhone X and later, iPhone 8, or iPhone 8 Plus:
- Press and release the volume up button.
- Press and release the volume down button.
- Press and hold the side button.
- When the Apple logo appears, release the button.
Volume up, volume down, then hold side button for Apple logo.
Force restart iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus:
- Press and hold both the volume down button and the Sleep/Wake button.
- When the Apple logo appears, release both buttons.
Force restart older iPhones:
- Press and hold both the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button.
- When the Apple logo appears, release both buttons.
According to some, never…
Just buy a new one.
I do remember telling Steve that reboots should be kept to a minimum. I know a few of you want me to reboot myself, from time to time I do, just good hygiene.
Reboot yourself? No, just STFU.
Man, whoever is behind this “I hate the MDN reader Citizen X” campaign must have a pretty sad life. Yikes. Good luck, dude (and I think we can assume it’s a dude).
It’s probably Citizen X itself.
When entering a SCIF, you must first shutdown your phone (any phone, not just smartphone). Place in lockbox next to entrance. Then, you can enter. Caveat: this goes for any electronic device that emits a radio signal.
The phrase “When entering a SCIF…” should be “Before entering a SCIF…”
And…
Actually, all you need to do is put the phone into airplane mode. Why? Because you’re locking into a metal box. The phone will semi regularly attempt to reach another device (cell tower, WiFi hotspot, Bluetooth device, etc.) and slowly run the battery down. In order for it not to do that, just put it into airplane mode so that all transmissions are turned off. You do not have to turn the phone off.
why has iOS / iPhone required more steps as it evolves?!
It’s always best to perform the “slide to turn off” unless absolutely needed. The forced reboot listed above can disrupt the saving of data resulting in file corruption. I once helped a customer that had performed the forced reset over 300 times. The data was so badly damaged that even his iCloud synced data had severe corruption and had to be be erased. A hard reset is equivalent to unplugging your desktop computer in the middle of whatever it’s doing. It may be ok. It may be saving a file or updating its OS. Only when needed is the best rule.
My phone self restarts every day or so, which spares me from having to do it.