If you’re going to stash your iPad in a drawer for a while, want to save battery, clean its charging port, or you simply need it to stop doing “its thing” when it freezes, knowing how to fully shut it down (and when it makes sense to force a restart) is one of those small skills that saves you from nasty surprises. Apple has also changed the button combinations depending on the model, so the usual gesture doesn’t always work.
Below is a clear guide to turning off any iPad—whether it has a Home button or not—and what to do when the system won’t respond. Because yes: sometimes iPadOS decides to be stubborn and won’t accept a normal shutdown… and that’s when you need “plan B”.
How to turn off an iPad using the buttons (with or without a Home button)
The most straightforward way to turn off an iPad is with the physical buttons, but it depends on whether your model has a Home button. On newer iPads (the ones without a Home button), you shut it down using a two-button combo: press and hold the top button while also holding either volume button. Keep holding for a few seconds until the power-off control appears, then drag the power-off slider to the right.
If your iPad does have a Home button, the gesture is the classic one: press and hold the top button until the power-off slider appears, then drag it to confirm.
In both cases, once you slide to power off, be patient: the iPad may take a moment to shut down completely. A practical recommendation is to wait at least 30 seconds to make sure the device is fully off—especially if you’re putting it away or if the goal is to “reset” odd behavior without resorting to a forced restart.
A full shutdown is ideal when you won’t be using it for a while, when you want to stretch battery life, or when the system is working but feels like it needs a breather. And yes, it’s one of those things that seems obvious… until you’re faced with an iPad without a Home button and the old gesture does absolutely nothing.
Turn off the iPad from Settings if the buttons don’t work
When the physical buttons aren’t responding well (from wear, a case, or simply because today isn’t their day), iPadOS also lets you shut down from within the system, without relying on hardware. To do it, open the Settings app (the gear icon), go to General, and scroll to the bottom of the menu. There you’ll find the Shut Down option, which starts the shutdown process.
This method is especially useful if the top or volume buttons don’t work, but the screen and system still respond normally. Once you tap Shut Down, the iPad will power off; just like with the button method, it’s a good idea to wait at least 30 seconds before assuming it’s completely off.
In practice, shutting down from Settings is the “clean” equivalent of a physical shutdown: it doesn’t force processes or cut things off abruptly, so it’s the preferred option whenever the iPad is stable. In the end, no matter how premium the hardware is, nothing beats a well-placed system menu when the buttons start acting up (and no, it’s not your fault).
How to force restart if the iPad is frozen or unresponsive
There’s a different scenario from a simple shutdown: when the iPad is frozen, doesn’t respond to the usual buttons, or the system is so stuck that it won’t let you shut down normally. In that case, what you need is a force restart. It’s an emergency tool, not something to use routinely, because it can abruptly close apps and you may lose unsaved work. That half-written document you were “only going to spend a minute on”? Exactly.
The procedure depends on the model:
iPad with a Home button: press and hold the top button and the Home button at the same time. Don’t release until you see the Apple logo, then let go of both.
iPad without a Home button: the guide notes that the method varies by model, but the goal is the same: force a restart until the Apple logo appears. As soon as you see it, release the buttons and let the iPad boot up.
After the Lock Screen appears, you can try a normal shutdown if what you wanted was to leave it fully powered off. This detail matters: a force restart is for regaining control when the system won’t respond, but it doesn’t replace a standard shutdown if your goal is simply to turn it off.
One last helpful note: if your iPad is disabled or it’s outright impossible to turn it off due to a software issue, you can use Recovery Mode to restore or update the device. It’s a more serious measure, meant for persistent failures when the methods above can’t bring it back to normal.
