Have you ever wondered how to turn off an iPhone or iPad? If so, you’re not alone. While most users keep their iOS devices turned on all the time, sometimes users may need to power down a device completely, be it for storage, shipping, to preserve battery life, or whatever other reason.

The latest versions of iOS offer a nice software feature that allows users to easily shut down an iPhone or iPad entirely through system menu options, without having to use the power button or any other physical buttons on the device at all. Instead you can turn off the device entirely through software.

This guide will walk through how to perform the shut down function in iOS Settings on any iPhone or iPad.

Note that shutting down via Settings is a new capability in modern versions of iOS, only versions of system software from iOS 11 onward will have this function available to them.

How to Shut Down iPhone or iPad via Settings

Open the “Settings” app in iOS

Go to “General” and scroll all the way to the bottom, then tap on the “Shut Down” option in blue

At the “Slide to Power Off” screen, tap on the (i) button and slide it to the right to complete shutting down the device

The iPhone or iPad will power down and turn off completely.

This is quite simple, and the Settings menu approach to initiating a system shut down is a bit like the  Apple menu shut sown approach on a Mac, or the Start menu power down method available on a Windows PC.

The video below demonstrates turning off an iPad via the Settings Shut Down option. It works the same to shut down an iPhone this way, however.

How to Turn On iPhone or iPad Without the Power Button?

Of course you can turn the iPhone or iPad back on again by simply pressing on the Power button, but if you want to turn on the device without using the power button then you’ll need to connect a charger to the device and plug it into a power source.

You can use this approach to perform a simple restart operation on iOS devices, by powering down the device first, and then turning it back on again.

Another reboot approach that avoids using the Power button or a charger is to adjust certain system settings that require a software reboot, like using bold text or resetting network settings.

For older versions of iOS without the easy Settings option of shutting down an iPhone or iPad without pressing the Power button, they can either hold the Power button (if possible), or rely on the accessibility menus to turn off the device that way.

And if you’re wondering, why would you possibly need to turn off a device without using the power button in the first place, well the answer varies. Sometimes users with disabilities are unable to physically press a hardware button, or sometimes a device is contained within a particular case or enclosure that prevents power button access, and another common scenario is managing a broken power button, where the new Settings approach to shutting down is made notably easier.