iPhone force reset: Accidentally triggers Emergency SOS alarm sound on iPhone 8, iPhone X and later models

In case you need to force-power down your phone, and are used to using the old method where you hold the side button and a volume button to do so, as of iOS 11 and later, this button combo actually triggers the Emergency SOS feature.

Pressing both buttons briefly will trigger the Emergency SOS screen. You then have three slider options:

• To power off the phone (though Find My Phone stays active)
• To open the Medical Info screen (useful for first responders)
• To trigger the Emergency SOS. This will call emergency services in your area.

Continuing to hold down both buttons will cause a countdown to appear. When the countdown ends, a LOUD siren will start and emergency services will be called automatically.

However, NOTE that in case you are trying to use the old force-restart method to recover from an app that has frozen, pressing both buttons will not quit the frozen app. It will still go into the emergency SOS mode, but the emergency SOS screen will not appear, The countdown trigger and alarm will sound if you continue to hold the buttons down. You may feel the countdown as a set of vibrations instead. (This is a bug that I am going to submit to Apple.)

In order to restart your iPhone 8 or later, on iOS 11 or later, you must:

• First, press the volume up button once quickly without holding it
• Then press the volume down button once quickly without holding it
• Then press and hold the side button until the screen goes black and the Apple logo appears.