How to turn your iPod Touch or iPhone on and off
By Jonathan Schlaffer
Leave it to Apple to design a device that you can’t simply hit the on and off button and expect it to turn off. This fact was lost on some people who purchased the iPhone, pressing the power button does not turn the iPhone or iPod Touch completely off.
Instead, pressing the power button (located on the top of the unit) puts both devices in a standby mode where the display is turned off, kind of like a *gasp* computer, but thinking about it they are like tiny computers.
When the iPhone is in its standby mode, it is still accessing the nearest network and updating your emails, messages you have missed and so forth, this is why its possible to run up a $4,000 bill while overseas with the iPhone.
I don’t really know what the iPod Touch does with its standby mode as it doesn’t have SMS or the email application but both devices resume quicker from the standby modes than if they are turned off and have to perform a full boot each time.
Also, with the iPod Touch, shutting down completely and starting up again uses a large amount of battery life so I don’t recommend doing it unless its going to be sitting on a shelf for a while.
If you are traveling overseas, the iPhone will access foreign network if not turned completely off, to turn either the iPhone or iPod Touch off, first if it isn’t on, turn it on then hit the power button at the top of the unit which places it in standby then press and hold the same button for a few seconds until “Slide to turn off” is displayed, slide the slider and it will shut down, a lot like a computer.
Like I said, when you want to turn it back on from being completely off it will take a few seconds to come back on.
This procedure is more important for the iPhone than it is for the iPod Touch.
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Read more entries by Jonathan Schlaffer.
Stumble It!
October 7th, 2007
The time it takes for the iPod touch to start is definitely one of the most annoying things, along with the shutdown. I wish there was just one quick button to turn the whole thing off.
October 7th, 2007
“Leave it to Apple to design a device that you can’t simply hit the on and off button and expect it to turn off”
Huh? Have you ever used an Apple device? Guess how you turn their computers off? You use the power button. With Windows you have to go to the Start menu and select shut-down, then you can use the power button.
October 7th, 2007
Wow, sounds like such a hassle just to turn off the device, but I think I could live with it :P
October 7th, 2007
My iPhone is never really off. When I’m done using it for the day, I put it on standby and IN AIRPLANE MODE. That way, it does not access the internet or anything. It just sits there, consuming very little power, ready to turn back on quickly when I want it to.
By the way, the iPhone’s power button works the same way my last two phones did – the power button does indeed shut down the phone, but only if you hold it down for a couple of seconds.
October 7th, 2007
I have both mac and windows and half the time I turn of my windowsbox i press the powerbutton, work exactly like you would expect, it shutdowns windows and turns of the computer.
And half the time I shut down my mac I go to the Applemenu and choose shutdown.
So both operating works the same way in the shutdownsense.
–
DaJ
October 7th, 2007
You can disable data in the iPhone when traveling. Now there is no excuse for a $4000 bill.
October 14th, 2007
Yeah with my ipod touch i left it on standby over night and when i went to turn it on the next morning the thing was dead and i was like um…. so yeah the powering down is a pain but what ever. and windows power down is just as easy as mac so quiet..
December 10th, 2007
i just got a ipod touch and i cant turn it on it just gives me the garging thing and a cd on the screen so how cant i make it work
December 13th, 2007
Well, I googled “how do I turn off my iPod touch, and I got this site. So how does one turn it off? It really is hit or miss for me.
December 21st, 2007
thanks for explaining this I was wondering why the battery level didn’t make sense to me, no it does.
December 24th, 2007
rm, I’m having the same damn problem and im pissed. i have charged it for awhile and it still has the stupid cord with an arrow pointing towards iTunes symbol
December 26th, 2007
i just got an ipod touch and when i try to turn it on it just give me and image of my usb cable and a little cd w/a music symbol. HOW DO YOU TURN IT ON!!!!!
December 27th, 2007
you need to install itunes on your computer and if you already have it you need to download the newest version of it…which is like changed everyday. LOL.
December 27th, 2007
u lot are bloody idiots! if you start it up for the first time you need a computer to connect it to… usb lead connecting into an itunes icon… come on ur not idiots(maby)
December 30th, 2007
Wow… What a retarded article. Sleep/wake button basically just turns the display off or turns the display back on again.
As always, I bet you tried spouting this crap without even looking at an iPhone. Also, turning it off is easy: hold sleep/wake for a couple of seconds and drag the power off slider. And you say “leave it up to apple”. In the few HTC phones I have had before, they all sleep when you rest the “power button”.
Of course, I expect the writer of this article to completely hate Apple. Your just making sound 10 more difficult than it really is. Learn your facts.
January 4th, 2008
max hawkins and greg:
hey guys!!! i wanted to congratulate you both for being so smart!! you genius! i can’t belive you find it easy to turn off the iphone! woow! i am amazed, you are the best two persons on earth, you are such a blessing for humanity. thank you for existing, you make such a difference in this world =)
but next time, save your overwhelming knowledge for yourselves, we want solutions, not lame opinions about our problems… by the way. I have just turned off my ipod touch and i’m glad to know how to do it now. thanks everyone.
die max and greg
January 6th, 2008
I was having a hard time turning off my Ipod Touch but thanx to this website, I got it.
January 6th, 2008
By the way, does anybody know how to download free movies to my Ipod Touch?
January 19th, 2008
in the first day i got my ipod i was sooo trilled but i cant get it to work it still keeps showing a cord pointing to the itunes what do i do
February 5th, 2008
i want to know how you turn the ipod touch on?
March 6th, 2008
I guess you didn’t read all the comments. To activate your iPod Touch you will need a PC or Mac with iTunes installed. Untill you activate the iPod Touch with iTunes, you will not be able to use it. And turning the Touch on and off is simple, simply hold the sleep button. The sleep button simply turns the screen off, as this is the biggest waste of power.
March 23rd, 2008
THIS IS THE CORRECT ANSWER BELOW
Wow… What a retarded article. Sleep/wake button basically just turns the display off or turns the display back on again.
As always, I bet you tried spouting this crap without even looking at an iPhone. Also, turning it off is easy: hold sleep/wake for a couple of seconds and drag the power off slider. And you say “leave it up to apple”. In the few HTC phones I have had before, they all sleep when you rest the “power button”.
Of course, I expect the writer of this article to completely hate Apple. Your just making sound 10 more difficult than it really is. Learn your facts.
April 8th, 2008
Thank you for a great article, got a ipod touch with out a manual. Helps alot, Thanks again!
May 7th, 2008
To John –
Thanks a lot bud, I was looking through all the little, bitching comments until I finally found out how, thanks to you! Now my iPod Touch is off, and I can finally remove it from my Mac. And it isn’t as complicated as this article went on about… it was very easy actually.
For iPod Touch Users:
- YOU NEED iTUNES!!! Jesus. What don’t you understand about that?!
- Press, and hold the “Standby/Hold” button for about 5 seconds and it’ll ask you if you want to power off completely
- Slide completely to confirm
- It powers off
Powering on isn’t a hassle at all. It literally takes 10 seconds to power back on! Patience is the key people.
May 12th, 2008
i just got my ipod touch, and while downloading itunes, gave my computer a virus. thanks apple. now i have to pay $400 to fix my computer.
btw, anyone else have this problem. idk, maybe it was from limewire. im not very tech-savvy. so w/e.
~haylieee [cheerbabyy]
June 29th, 2008
okay seriously?
iTunes didn’t give your computer a virus. Unless you were stupid and downloaded it from limewire…oh wait you did. Why would you not use the Apple website to get the REAL non-virused version. Almost every single application of of Limewire will give you a virus.
Don’t blame apple, it’s your fault.
June 30th, 2008
the bad thing is with a i pod touch is that you can’t do anything with it except turn it on and off until you plug it into itunes.
July 30th, 2008
man can you help me how to turn it on my ipod touch because i cant turn it on now??? im so lonely with out my ipod touch! can you help me? sorry for my bad english!! thank you
August 7th, 2008
Thanks so much, this really helped me out. I’d much rather just turn it off because I’m not using it every second of my day, so I don’t mind if it takes a few minutes to turn on. Saving the battery is key.
..And yeah, Haylie, it was definitely limewire that gave your computer a virus…not itunes itself. Silly.
August 29th, 2008
i bought an album on the itunes on my ipod touch and left for a min and it went on stand by or whatever and when i went back to the downloading page on it and it didnt show it downloading and it still charged me the 12$
October 13th, 2008
Turning it off is so easy guys, just hold the standby button down. I duuno which is more beneficial tho, standby or turning off completely. I’ll test it
October 28th, 2008
This is Great. Before posting half of the people here do not even read what has been written.
If you got an Ipod touch, You will be instructed (directions in case that the ipod came in) to download itunes from http://www.itunes.com
Once you have done so you can register your ipod and start loading/purchasing music for it.
As for turning your itouch / iphone off hold the sleep button for a couple seconds and slide to power down. Same to power on just no slide bar.
Good luck to all of you!
October 31st, 2008
Thanks for the blogs I was able to turn off my itouch finally ……till now i kept wondering why it is getting discharged so fast!!! Thanks again!!
November 2nd, 2008
Hey guys I just got my ipod touch and it just shows a usb cable with an arrow pointing up to the itunes symbol. I already downloaded itunes and now i dont know what to do. Please help!!!
December 6th, 2008
I’m sorry there have been such ugly comments on your website. I was also having difficulty figuring out how to “turn off” the iPod Touch, but, thanks to your website and after sifting through the crap, I now know how to turn on and off my iPod Touch. Thanks a million!!!
December 25th, 2008
omg i jus got an ipod touch and it wont work i downloaded itunes 8 and everything but everytime i plug it in my computer nothing shows up on itunes, i had an ipod nano 2 years ago and i never had this problem help me
thanx
December 26th, 2008
Oooh! i was wondering why my iPod Touch was always running out of battery! Now i realise i have been leaving it on standby! Idiot!
Thanks for the help :D
December 30th, 2008
Since I got my ITouch it has been draining the battery. Took it off of Wi Fi and it works more consistantly. The problem is it doesn’t recharge when you plug it into a car adapter charger or a computer charger (sometimes ok but mostly it doesn’t). I bought a docking bay and it recharges well that way. Unfortunately I tried to turn it on after it docked all night and it will not turn on. I have it connected to the computer but it will not even charge. this happens regularly. Any suggestions. The first Itouch never turned on so apple exchaged it with this one. hoping this one isnt messed up too. thanks.
January 8th, 2009
this is not helpful information i want steps to turn ii on.
for example:
1.blablablablablabla
2.blablablablablabla
3.exc.
any way i dont care if you think i was juge mental didnt you read my name: HARD JUGER
next time make the steps with numbers ok because NO one will read that long thing you wrote.
March 22nd, 2009
my ipod was stolen and i was wondering if there was a way on my pc that i can like deactivate it or make it so that the person that stole it cant use it?
April 19th, 2009
Hey, is there any way to change the article above? I read the title “How to turn your iPod Touch or iPhone on and off:By Jonathan Schlaffer” but the article didn’t tell me actually how to turn it on/off!! I had to read thru some of these rather rude comments. Is there any way to add that part to the article? That way the next person that needs to know won’t have to waste a lot of time. Thanks!
May 11th, 2009
My ipod touch wont turn on….i was using the calculator in the ipod touch and then bam it went out like the screen went black and now its not turning on…i hope it does….
May 14th, 2009
That write up was practically worthless. By the way there is an SMS text app and email capability for the iPod touch. Jonathan Schlaffer, do your homework.
June 5th, 2009
Hi, i was using my iphone touch and suddenly the screen went black, it had been on the charger for hours b4 that but i didn’t know wat to do so i put it back on the charger and nothings coming up its still just a black sceen. I’ve tried holding in the on/off button but still nothings happening. I’ve only had the phone 4 a few weeks. Anyone have any ideas how to get the phone to turn on?
June 6th, 2009
Umm, ACTUALLY, I Can Access Emails On My Ipod Touch… Douche, LMAO!
July 27th, 2009
my ipod touch just went black for no reason i have held the on off button and it still doesn’t work any help ?
August 6th, 2009
Don’t be mad at Jonathan Schlaffer. He actually provided some helpful information. You all just need to carefully read it.
He’s right when he says Apple makes things complicated. There should be a simple power off just to make using their high-tech products a little simpler.
However, Mac and Windows shutdowns are exactly the same. No complaining there.
But for all you people who don’t want to read the comments or whatever stupid excuse you have:
Downloading the latest version of iTunes is necessary for all of you getting the picture of the cord point towards iTunes. It will also keep your device up to par.
Turning on:
1. Push the power button at the top and wait a few seconds. Be patient, it will turn on.
Turning off:
1. Hold the power button at the top for 4-5 seconds.
2. An option will pop up telling you to slide the slider to power off.
3. Slide it.
For blackouts:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1808
It will tell you everything.
A lot of the time, your iTouch or iPhone will never be completely charged. I’ve had both and as soon as they completed charging and I unplugged them, they instantly lost a small sliver of power. I returned my iPhone within 5-6 weeks. I was fairly unhappy with it.
The iTouch has more than enough applications to keep you going. I now have a separate phone and my iTouch has my email, texting, AIM, facebook, myspace, etc.- all for free.
Hope this helps some of you.
August 20th, 2009
This is the stuipiest thing i’ve have ever read. It’s SO diffcult to acually find the information and there are so many of the same type of articals that are WHY better. Wow your a dipshit. Get a life abd write an artical that acually helps somoeone.
October 10th, 2009
Wow! The previous post contains 24 grammatical errors in only 47 words. That is absolutely amazing.
November 2nd, 2009
pressing button on top does not work i press and hold and no slider appears
November 11th, 2009
its easy to turn off you know the little button on top of your iouch or iphone ? it looks like a rice grain ? well make sure the bit on yout itouch/iphone is on where it says the battery and slide to blah well hold the lil rice grain button thingy then it says slide down to suht down slide is slow and hold it till its to the end WALA done!