Hard reset procedure (vol up/down, then holding down power button) doesn’t work iPad Pro 2020 13.6.1

The procedure for an iPad Pro with FaceID is correct. But I suspect after you have tapped the volume up button, then the volume down button then press the power button, you are not holding the power button long enough. You have to hold it for about 10 seconds or longer for the iPad screen to go completely dark and keep holding it until you see the Apple Logo appear. Then when the Apple Logo appears, you let go and your iPad will restart.

To offer some clarity as to the actual procedure...

If iPad isn’t responding, do one of the following:

• On an iPad with a Home button: Press and hold the top button and the Home button at the same time. When the Apple logo appears, release both buttons.
• On an iPad with Face ID: Press and quickly release the volume up button, press and quickly release the volume down button, then press and hold the top button. When the Apple logo appears, release the button.

If iPad still doesn’t turn on, or if it gets stuck during start up, see the Apple Support article If your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch won’t turn on or is frozen.

I understand, but a forced restart is typically done on an Ipad thats frozen and unresponsive, the OP's is not unresponsive as far as I can tell (the volume goes up and down, and the screen locks when they press the top button). This is why I suggested the method above.

The forced reset procedure though, just in case it's needed:

1. Press and quickly release the volume up button
2. Press and quickly release the volume down button
3. Then press and hold the top button down for at least 5 seconds until the Apple logo appears (if the slide to power off graphic shows, keep holding til the screen goes black and the Apple logo appears.)

https://www.payetteforward.com/how-to-hard-reset-iphone-why-its-bad/

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2053231

First: the OP got their answer, I didn’t derail the thread, I mearly responded to people replying to my suggestion to try a soft reset, and even provided the steps to properly perform a hard reset. It was the people who responded to me that “derailed” the thread.

Second: Just because you personally haven’t noticed an issue with devices for people you’ve helped by telling them to force restart, doesn’t mean those issues never existed, and I highly doubt you’ve followed the people you’ve helped through the decades checking up on their devices and how long they last before needing to be replaced. The damage is cumulative, meaning the chances of one forced restart causing issues are slim to none. Most device manufacturers have systems in place to handle the occasional encounters with corrupted data and correct these issues. However, when you continuously introduce more and more corrupt data into a system, the likelihood of that system crashing and requiring a complete reload of the OS is even greater. Just ask anyone who has ever run Windows. Yes, Apple products are built well and handle these situations better than most - so these things rarely happen, but they are still susceptible to failure just like any other device.

Per lobsterghost1’s earlier comment, we must agree to disagree. I can clearly offer no useful wisdom, acceptable to you, in this now pointless discussion.

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I wouldn’t suggest this, but it seems from the wording of your post that you are just pressing and then releasing the volume button, then pressing the power button.

The correct way is to press both the power button (top button) and the volume button (either works) at the same time. If done properly, the “Slide to power off” graphic should show on your screen. You can choose from there to power off, or hit cancel. This will disable Face ID until you unlock your iPad with your code.

A Forced Restart is not just appropriate for a non-responsive screen. Forced Restarts can be very helpful in a myriad of situations. It's generally recommended for example to do a Forced Restart immediately after an iOS update and can solve little bugs or UI issues easily.

Regardless, my response to the OP was not in support of Force Restarting their iPad. They were clearly describing the Force Restart process, but it was not working for them and I added clarity to the process. Nothing more or less, so I'm honestly not sure WHY you and I are debating the merits of this or not?

Again, I understand that. But again, the same can be accomplished by simply restarting the iPad using the UI. There is no difference between restarting the iPad using the UI, and a forced restart. It’s like hitting the power button on your computer rather than shutting down the computer from the OS’s menu. In the end the result is the same: both shut down IOS, and reboot it. The only difference is how you accomplish the reboot. There’s simply no advantage to doing a forced restart over a normal restart when the iPad is not frozen.

You and I can agree to disagree. Which accomplishes nothing. I provide a response to the OP which was based on what the OP was attempting to do. This discussion about which process should be employed is not necessary at all.

I think it is, because it seems the OP, and you seem to think that there is some magic behind performing a forced restart over the much easier to accomplish restart. There is no magic. There is no difference. There is no benefit to using one or the other unless the iOS stops responding. Anyone suggesting a forced restart over a restart after an iOS update doesn’t understand that the process is the only thing that’s different between the two, the result is the same.

lobsterghost1 is quite correct. There is substantial difference between a forced-restart and that of a shutdown initiated from the UI.

A UI initiated restart causes the OS and App running-state to be saved prior to shutdown - and reloaded from the saved-state upon restart of the system.

By contrast, a forced restart immediately terminates all processes; the OS to completely reinitialised upon system restart.

So would you recommend a forced restart on a system that is otherwise running fine? To your point: a soft restart reinitializes the system the same way upon restart, the difference being the soft restart allows the system to shut down and close processes to avoid corruption of data. A forced restart does not allow these processes to close properly, increasing the chances of corrupting data.

If you are constantly force restarting your iPad for no other reason then to reinitialize the OS, you are increasing the risk that something is going to get corrupted and your iPad becoming an expensive paperweight. Hence my suggestion, soft restart if you can. Force restart if necessary.

To be clear, my intention here is merely to correct a misconception of your part - and that potentially of others - with factual information over that of information based upon incorrect supposition. Your conjecture is incorrect.

Neither do I necessarily advocate an unnecessary forced-restart, however, it is clearly necessary to clarify the purpose of this procedure.

It is sometimes necessary to use the forced-restart to resolve a process or stack issue. Due to the nature of the system architecture and operation, data corruption is unlikley. The restart mechanism is both designed and intended to be used for recovery of a destabilised system - or to terminate an unresponsive or malfunctioning CPU process.

The only “substantial” difference between the two processes is that the system immediately terminated processes rather than shutting them down, and even that is inaccurate.

If you want to be completely accurate, those processes are not terminated at all. What physically happens during a forced restart is the power to the logic board of the device is temporarily interrupted, causing the system to reboot when it regains power (like taking the battery out of a laptop).

There was no misconception on my part. There only difference between the two processes is the end result, the system restarts. How this restart is accomplished makes no difference.

only1yzerman wrote:

So would you recommend a forced restart on a system that is otherwise running fine? To your point: a soft restart reinitializes the system the same way upon restart, the difference being the soft restart allows the system to shut down and close processes to avoid corruption of data. A forced restart does not allow these processes to close properly, increasing the chances of corrupting data.

If you are constantly force restarting your iPad for no other reason then to reinitialize the OS, you are increasing the risk that something is going to get corrupted and your iPad becoming an expensive paperweight. Hence my suggestion, soft restart if you can. Force restart if necessary.

There is no valid proof or reason for this baseless claim. Please validate your assertion that a force restart increases the risk something is going to get corrupted. In fact, having been on this forum for more than decade now and having recommended Force Restarts to likely now thousands of users, NOT ONCE has anyone experienced any corruption with their devices. Apple simply wouldn't provide a method that could damage peoples devices.

I'm still confused as to why this topic is one of passion for you? You have honestly derailed the thread from what the OP was asking. I won't respond back should you feel it necessary to get the last word. This discussion is simply pointless.