Talkmobile's quick fixes to turn off Android and iPhones in 2026

Key Points:

• There are many different quick fixes to power off an Android or iPhone smartphone; some require hard resets, and others rely on software.
• Both Android and Apple iPhones have options for voice-powered shutdowns, which means you no longer need to dig through the settings menu.
• If all else fails, there's a decent hard reset option for iPhone and Android phones that involves holding the power button and volume buttons together.

Sometimes you need to shut down your Android or iPhone smartphone as quickly and easily as possible. Maybe it's being a little lower than expected; it could be lagging or misbehaving for any number of reasons. To make the most of your Talkmobile SIM Only plan, we're going through the 10 quickest and easiest fixes to shut your phone off and start it up again without worry.

The first thing you should try is the standard hard reset, which means holding the side button and either of the volume buttons at the same time. This should supersede any software-based problems your phone is having and give you the option to slide to power off as normal.

If your physical buttons are damaged or unresponsive, you can disable your Apple smartphone by going to Settings > General and then selecting Shut Down from the bottom of the menu, which will give you the option of sliding to power off, without needing to touch any buttons.

If voice commands are enabled (which they usually are when you set up your iPhone by default), you can simply say "Hey Siri, turn off my phone" and then tap the screen to confirm. This means there's no need to press buttons or scroll through software options.

If all else hasn't worked, you can force the Apple smartphone to cut its power and reboot by quickly pressing and releasing Volume Up, then Volume Down, and then holding the Side button. By doing this, the phone should go black into a hard reset, where the Apple logo should appear afterwards.

The last option you can try to shut off and restart your iPhone is in the accessibility menu, by using AssistiveTouch. It's a virtual button that appears constantly, and you can turn the iPhone off from this button by tapping it, and then holding the Lock Screen until the power off slider appears.

Many modern Android smartphones, such as devices made by Samsung and Google's Pixel, have a digital power button featured in the main notification menu. To find it, you swipe down twice from the top of the screen, which opens the Quick Settings, and the Power icon is available as a circle with a vertical line inside. Tap that, and the phone powers off.

Today's Android smartphones now ship with a built-in Google Assistant or Gemini functionality, which can be triggered by holding the power button down. You can change this by going to Settings > Advanced Features > Side Button > "Press and Hold" for the Power Off menu. This will map the assistant to another option on the phone instead.

The easiest hard reset to perform on an Android phone is to press and hold the power button and volume down button at the same time until the screen goes back. Depending on the model, this can take between seven and 10 seconds. You may either be given the option to restart or may need to manually power it on again, depending on which phone you have. 

With voice prompts enabled, you can just say "Hey Google, power off", and that'll shut your Android phone down without having to do anything else. Google Pixels have this built in as standard from stock, but some manufacturers may ask for confirmation first, meaning you'll have to tap the screen once to confirm.

If the physical buttons aren't working, you can go into Settings > Accessibility > Accessibility Menu and then turn the shortcut on, which gives you a green button on the edge of the display. Tapping this gives you a Power menu and a quick "Power off" button.