How to turn off your Android phone or iPhone

What’s Happening

Alright so For when you need a simple reset How to turn off your Android phone or iPhone By Prarthana Gopal & Sagar Naresh Updated Jan 24, 2026, 3:15 PM EST Sign in to your Android Police account Add Us On Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread 14 Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap Turning off your phone is a solid way to fix malfunctioning apps or apply setting changes.

While you may think there is only one way to turn off your Android phone or iPhone, there are multiple ways depending on the model and software. We outline all the conventional methods for powering off your phone, whether you use an Android phone on Android 16 , a Samsung device using One UI 8, or an iPhone with iOS 26 . (wild, right?)

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The Details

Posts 1 By Parth Shah Why should you turn off your phone? Turning off your phone refreshes its memory.

You’ll want to do this regularly to repair memory leaks and clear minor glitches. Though restarting your device should fix most minor glitches, turning your phone off performs a complete system reset.

Why This Matters

If you find that your phone runs slower than before, power down your device and then restart it. Technically, turning off your phone also stops all background processes, which can conserve your battery in a pinch. In more extreme situations, routinely powering down your device can also reduce the risk of unauthorized access to your data, as the device can no longer connect to networks or apps.

This is part of the broader shift happening across the tech industry right now.

The Bottom Line

On many modern Android phones (especially Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel), a long press of the power button might launch a voice assistant (like Bix Gemini) instead of the power menu. You can often change this behavior in your phone’s settings under Side key , Gestures , or Power button settings .

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