How to Force Restart or Get Recovery, DFU Mode on iPhone X, 8 and 8 Plus

Due to the absence of home button on the iPhone X, many normal functions which involved the use of home button has been transferred to other buttons including the power and the volume buttons. Apple not only made these changes to the iPhone X but also to the newly released iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. Now, the previous methods which you used (or still use in iPhone 7 and below) to either force restart your iPhone or put it in recovery mode or DFU mode will not work with the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and iPhone X. Although, you won’t need to perform these functions on a regular basis, it’s good to know how you can do them. So, whether you are prospective iPhone X buyer or a current owner of iPhone 8 or 8 Plus, this is how you can force restart or activate Recovery and DFU mode on your new iPhone:

Note: The power button on the new iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X is now officially known as the side button. So, do not get confused when I mention side button in the tutorials below. The process is same for iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and iPhone X hence I will be using iPhone 8 for all instance and purposes from now on.

Force Restart iPhone X, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus

The process might feel a little tricky at first, but if you follow the steps clearly, you will be able to do it without any problem. To force restart (hard reset) your iPhone 8, press and release the Volume Up button, press and release the Volume Down button and then Press and hold the Side Button until your iPhone restarts (reboots), then release the side button. The trick here is to perform all three steps in quick succession. You might need to hold the side button for up to 10 seconds for the iPhone to restart.

Put Your iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X in Recovery Mode

Putting the phone in recovery mode is a little trickier than just hard resetting it. So, follow the steps carefully.

1. Connect your iPhone to your Mac or Pc using the lighting cable.

2. Now, we will repeat the steps which we used in the force restart. Press and release the Volume Up button, press and release the Volume Down button and then Press and hold the Side Button until your iPhone restarts (reboots). However, you will not release the side button yet.

3. Release the side button once you see the connect to iTunes logo on the iPhone’s display.

4. Now launch the iTunes on your computer and from here you can choose either to update or restore your device.

Put Your iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X in DFU Mode

Getting your iPhone 8 into the DFU mode is even harder than putting it into the recovery mode. So, I would suggest that first, you read through the steps and then try it on your device.

1. We will start with connecting out iPhone to our computer using the lightning cable.

2. Now, press and release the Volume Up button, press and release the Volume Down button and then Press and hold the Side Button until the screen turns black.

3. While the screen is still black, quickly press and hold the Volume Down key for 5 seconds and then release the Side button but keep holding the Volume Down key for another 10 seconds and then release. Remember that the screen should remain black in this entire process hence if the phone restarts, you will have to repeat the entire process again until you get this one right.

4. Hopefully, your iPhone’s screen is still black. Now, launch the iTunes and you should see a message which reads, “iTunes has detected an iPhone in recovery mode. You must restore this iPhone before it can be used with iTunes”. If you see this message then your iPhone 8 is now in DFU Mode.

Exiting the Recovery Mode and DFU Mode

If your iPhone has some problem, you should follow the on-screen instruction and restore or update or device to fix it. However, if your iPhone doesn’t have any problem and you were just trying to check out if this process works or not, its very easy to exit the recovery as well as the DFU mode

• Exiting the Recover Mode

Exiting the recovery mode is fairly easy. Just press and hold the side button until the “connect to iTunes” logo disappears and your phone restarts. Once, the device has rebooted, it is out of the recovery mode.

• Exiting the DFU Mode

To exit out of the DFU mode, just press and release the Volume Up button, press and release the Volume Down button and then Press and hold the Side Button until the Apple logo appears (indicating that your device is rebooting).

SEE ALSO: How to Use Portrait Lighting on iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X

Force Restart and Activate Recovery and DFU Mode on iPhone 8, 8 Plus and X

As you can see, Apple has complicated the process a little bit, however, it’s not that difficult once you get the hang of it. You just need to time your button presses correctly. The main problem for me is that now you will have to remember two sets of processes, one for iPhone 8 and above and the other for iPhone 7 and below. I think Apple should change and bring a uniform process for all its iOS devices. But that’s my opinion, do share yours on the subject in the comments section below.