Like the iPhone 16 lineup, the new iPhone 17 series and iPhone Air come with Face ID and no Home button. On these newer iPhones, the Side button (located on the right side) replaces the old Power button. By default, pressing and holding the Side button activates Siri instead of showing the power-off screen.
Due to this change, the process of turning off or restarting an iPhone X or later is quite different from iPhone 8 or earlier, where holding the Power key was enough.
So, if you’ve just upgraded from an older model, you might find it confusing to shut down or turn off the iPhone 17 or iPhone Air.
Don’t worry! In this guide, we’ll cover all the ways to turn off, restart, or force restart your iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, or iPhone Air.
How to Power Off iPhone 17, 17 Pro, or iPhone Air
You can switch off your iPhone using buttons, Control Center, Settings, or even Siri.
1. Using Buttons
The quickest way to power off an iPhone 17 or iPhone Air is with the hardware buttons.
- Press and hold the Side button together with either the Volume Up or Volume Down button.
- When the power-off slider appears on the screen, drag it to the right.
- The screen will go black, and your iPhone will shut down.
Note: This method won’t help if you need to turn off your iPhone without swiping the slider, such as when the screen is frozen or damaged.
Tip: From the same screen, you can also trigger Emergency SOS or temporarily disable the Find My network so that your iPhone remains untraceable after powering off.
To turn your iPhone 17 or iPhone Air back on, press and hold the Side button until the Apple logo appears.
2. From Control Center
With iOS 18, Apple added a quicker way to power off your iPhone directly from Control Center. To do so:
- Swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen to open Control Center.
- Tap and hold the Power icon at the top right.
iOS 26 Control Center - Drag the power off slider to turn off your device.
This works across all iPhone 17 models, including the iPhone Air.
3. Without Power Button (via Settings)
iOS offers a built-in option to turn off your iPhone without the power button, which is useful if the Side button is broken or when you need to shut down the device with one hand.
- Go to Settings > General.
- Scroll down to the bottom and tap Shut Down.
- Slide to switch off your phone.
4. Without Touching the Screen (Using Siri)
You can also switch off your iPhone 17 or iPhone Air without swiping on the screen. Starting with iOS 16, Siri supports power and restart commands.
Here’s how to use Siri to turn off your device when the screen is not working:
- Activate Siri by saying “Hey Siri” or long-pressing the Side button.
- Use one of these commands:
- Turn off my iPhone
- Switch off the iPhone
- Shut down my iPhone
- Siri will confirm by asking “Just to confirm, you want to power off this device?”.
- Say “Yes” or tap Power Off to proceed.
This is especially useful if your iPhone screen is broken or unresponsive.
Similarly, to restart your iPhone 17 or iPhone Air using Siri, say:
- Restart iPhone
- Reboot my iPhone
How to Force Restart iPhone 17, 17 Pro, or iPhone Air
If your iPhone 17, 17 Pro, or iPhone Air freezes, becomes unresponsive, or is stuck on the Apple logo, you can perform a force restart. This method won’t erase your data.
To force reboot an iPhone 17 or iPhone Air:
- Quickly press and release the Volume Up button.
- Quickly press and release the Volume Down button.
- Press and hold the Side button until the Apple logo appears, then release it.
Your iPhone will reboot automatically.
How to Restart iPhone 17, 17 Pro, and iPhone Air
Restarting your iPhone can help fix minor glitches or performance issues, but the process works a bit differently compared to Android phones.
Unlike Android, iPhones and iPads don’t include a dedicated restart option — you normally have to power them off and then turn them back on manually. However, iOS 12 introduced a hidden virtual restart button, and with iOS 16 or later, you can even restart your iPhone using Siri.
Restart iPhone Using AssistiveTouch
To reboot your iPhone Air or iPhone 17 series device without buttons — using the AssistiveTouch menu:
- Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch.
- Tap AssistiveTouch and enable the toggle next to AssistiveTouch.
- The floating AssistiveTouch button will now appear on your screen.
- Navigate to Device > More (three dots).
- Select Restart and confirm.
That’s it! Your iPhone will now restart without pressing any physical keys.
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Thank you. As a long-time Android user who’s just switched, I appreciate the help with my new Iphone 17 pro.