How to add a restart button to iPhone Home and Lock Screen

In this quick tutorial, we’ll show you how to reboot your iPhone or iPad with just two taps on your Home Screen or Lock Screen so you can refresh the system quickly.

Restarting iPhone from Lock Screen

Turning your iOS device off and back on can fix temporary glitches and app freezes and free up space by removing unnecessary cached files. Still, restarting isn’t something an average user needs to do every day. I usually restart every 3 to 4 days to keep my iPhone and iPad snappy and lag-free.

But if you’re someone who tests apps, websites, and such, and need a super quick way to restart your iPhone or iPad, then this tip is for you. It lets you perform a restart in just two taps. You don’t have to press and hold the physical buttons to power off the system, wait for a minute, and then turn the device back on.

Restart iPhone or iPad from Home Screen

1) Open the Apple Shortcuts app and tap the plus button (+) in the top right corner of the Library tab.

2) Use the Search Actions bar to find and add the Shut Down action to your build.

Adding Shut Down action to a new shortcut on iPhone

3) Tap the blue Shut Down option and change it to Restart.

4) Then tap the current shortcut name at the top and rename it to Restart.

Building Restart shortcut on iPhone

5) Tap the shortcut name again and select Add to Home Screen. Now add a desired symbol (such as the power button icon) or image to your icon, as it will appear on your device’s Home Screen. Then, tap the Add button to place a restart icon on your iPhone or iPad Home Screen.

Adding restart shortcut to iPhone Home Screen

Moving forward, just tap this button and confirm to reboot your iPhone or iPad. It’s a good thing that iOS asks for confirmation; if it didn’t, even an accidental touch could have shut down your device.

Restarting iPhone from Home Screen

Restart iPhone or iPad from Lock Screen

Recent versions of iOS support adding shortcuts to the Lock Screen as widgets. Using this, you can add buttons to open the camera with one tap or quickly start an audio recording. And of course, you can also add the restart button to the Lock Screen, but remember that it will only work after you unlock the device with Face ID or rest your finger on the Touch ID button.

1) Build the Restart iOS shortcut using steps 1 to 3 under the previous heading.

2) Touch and hold your unlocked Lock Screen to customize it. Then, tap the Add Widgets option, select Shortcuts, and tap to add its small widget.

3) Tap the added widget and select the Restart shortcut you built earlier. Now, tap X, followed by Done, to add the restart shortcut to your iOS Lock Screen.

Assign Restart shortcut to iOS Lock Screen

Moving forward, tap this shortcut and confirm to reboot your iPhone or iPad.

Using shortcuts widget to restart iPhone

Also, check out: How and why to reset iOS settings on iPhone, iPad